Selling Tactics

Drew Stevens asked:


Copyright (c) 2008 Drew Stevens PhD

Athletes practice, students practice, musicians practice, business professionals should practice, strategic selling professionals must practice. If you tire of working so hard and not achieving, perhaps now is the time to treat your profession like an athlete does. Start thinking like an athlete so that you have the inside track for your profession. Here is a new seven-step formula to create your success.

Strategic account professionals lack a methodology to remain on track with clients. They, like any professional, need a global positioning system to comprehend the relationship, the pipeline, and the close. Similar to methods an athlete practices to achieve success, here is a method for strategic success.

P - Prepare Competitive Intelligence

Customers no longer desire focus on product; they want to understand results. The only method to remediate this issue is the creation of a client-competitive intelligence program. Use investigative tools that promote the client’s organizational comprehension, industry knowledge, and even competitive trends and pressures. A sincere understanding of client issues assists in promoting a strong relationship.

R - Relationships.

The differentiation lies here. Clients today deserve and desire a trusting guided relationship with their account manager. Clients know more about the products and services you sell than you do. A new process is required: movement from product presentations to value. Clients need to understand the impact your offering has on their need and how quickly it assists.

A - Alliances

Strategic selling professionals require alliances. The network one builds provides useful insight into client account activity. The myriad of networks sellers use to remain visible, insightful, and competitive provides client value.

C - Customer Loyalty

Eighty percent of most organizations believe they deliver exemplary customer service. Ironically, less then twenty percent do. According to research by consultancy Bain and Company, only eight percent of companies really deliver on customer service. In fact, U.S. corporations lose half their customers every five years. Loyal customers become adjuncts to the marketing department. Make certain your organization invests in programs that promote customer loyalty. It makes strategic selling much easier.

T - Tools Promoting Value

There are too many barriers to selling. To lessen impediments, the best professionals learn to strategically view accounts as trusted partners. Avatars return calls quickly, communicate account issues inter-departmentally, and decrease silos and bureaucracy. When clients obtain information wherever, whenever, and however, their representatives value results from service, expediency, and commitment.

I - Invest in Technology

Technology is about connectivity. We all feel overwhelmed by the quantities of e-mail and voice mail. However, technology provides the competitive advantage of maintaining customer connections. Preserve clients with proper communication. The best rule of thumb is once or twice per month, either by telephone or in person.

C - Competitive Differentiation

Differentiation stems from doing things the competition does not. However, you cannot design a strategic program if you do not understand the competitive field. Conduct homework to discern competitive characteristics. Develop useful methods designed around client need. Most important, focus on the result and the client outcome, NOT on your organizational outcome—that is client value.

E - Evaluation

Exemplars for strategic selling constantly evaluate programs. Great strategists employ a team of advisors that understand issues, refrain from tactics, and ask great questions. Seek new answers to old issues and produce better outcomes.

Similar to an athlete seeking to gain a competitive advantage, you too must seek the inside track. Clients today are more discretionary. Ensure your success with proper relationships that enable competitive advantage, insight, and availability and watch your goals become reality.

© 2008. Drew J. Stevens. All rights reserved.



DEVIN

Mervyn Love asked:


First Principles. You should realise that your prospects do not buy from you based on how snazzy your website is or how brilliant your graphics are. They buy because you can convince them that THERE’S SOMETHING IN IT FOR THEM! Show them how their lives will be enhanced, how much better they will feel or how their bank balance will benefit by investing in your product. Prospective customers can be wooed at the two most basic of levels: Money or Emotion.

1. On your website or in your newsletter, paint a picture of your product so vivid and desirable that the reader can actually visualize what it would be like if they had already bought the product in your ad. Tell them what results they have achieved and how it makes them feel. They’ll become emotionally attached even before they hit the ‘Buy Now’ button or the link to the affiliate product.

2. Once you’ve got an ad that you like, turn it into an article. This is not difficult. You could tweak it into a how-to article, or you could turn it into a story. People love stories. Intrigue them with your ‘how-to’, or appeal to their emotions with an exciting story and this will lead them into your ad without them hardly realising it is an ad. By the time they get to the sales page they’ll have their credit cards ready.

3. We all like to think we are getting something for nothing. Appeal to the money instinct by showing your reader that they are getting a bargain. Tell them the usual price you sell your product for is $79. Then tell them if they order today they can buy it for $49.95. This tactic is not new, of course, but the amazing thing is it still works!

4. Consider who your target prospects are. Who are they and what do they want? Now direct your headline to this specific target audience. This uses the emotional appeal to your readers so that they feel important and belong to a select group of people who buy your product. For example; “Attention! Dog Lovers! Finding it difficult to train your dog? Customers who have used our 10-part email course…”

5. Make a point of telling your reader how fast they can receive your product or service. Appeal to the emotion of ‘I want it now!’ and you will pull in sales in preference to your competitors if you can promise speedy delivery. Their buying decision may be based on how fast they can receive your product. With downloadable products like ebooks and software, delivery is, of course, fairly instant, but - say it anyway!

6. Bullet points are extremely effective at highlighting benefits. Benefits are the key to selling anything. As we said earlier the customer wants to know what’s in it for them. Make your benefits standout in your ad. by the careful use of bulleted lists. You can use dots, dashes, or circles to highlight them.

7. Remember earlier we talked about turning your ad copy into an article? This idea applies equally to both ad copy or articles. What you do is make sure you are giving your website visitor useful information. Give them a few tips to help them with their problem. Then suggest that the product will many more useful useful, profitable, life enhancing information. You will benefit enormously from the respect and trust of your readers.

I hope you have benefited from these tips and tactics, and I wish you great success in your online ventures.



EARLE

Exhilway asked:


Suggest me on topics of

1. Marketing
2. Supply Chain
3. What tactics should be sused to boost sales

TERRELL

Sean McPhcat asked:


Hard selling is when you go straight to the point and start to try to sell your product without any finesse. It is simply telling your prospective buyer that he should buy your product. Now this hard-core approach may work in some instances but the majority of your prospective buyers will be put off the sale by this approach. Here are 10 good reasons to change your sales tactics.

1. People **** being sold to: hard sell will bring out the worst in people. When aggressive sales techniques are used this will prompt the prospective buyer to be aggressive as well and act negatively to the sales person. Pretty soon they are ready to argue with you and you know the sale is completely lost.

2. Hard sell will intimidate your prospective buyer: This sales tactic will intimidate some buyers and again cause them to have less interest in the sale. Intimidation will again give your prospective buyer negative feelings towards the sale. They will not have a very good feeling about your company when they see the sort of sales people you hire. This is another factor that will cause you to lose the sales

3. Hard sell makes you sound desperate to sell and this will always put off your buyer. The buyer can sense when the sales person is desperate to sell a product to them. The buyer wonders why the seller is so desperate and is immediately suspicious. This suspicion will turn into mistrust of the truth in what the sales person is saying. The buyer will very likely not buy the product.

4. Hard sell in sales copy will often use hype and prospective buyers can see right through this. Prospective buyers are savvier than they were and will not put up with hype. They want the facts not some pie in the sky promise. If sales copy tries to push the sale with this type of tactic there will be no sale.

5. Prospects need a reason to buy: hard sell does not allow time to explain benefits and what the prospective buyer can expect from the product. Hard sell usually uses features rather than benefits. Benefits are the reason for a customer to buy. You must answer the quest on every prospective buyers mind “What’s in it for me?”

6. You need to build rapport with prospective buyers: building a relationship with your potential buyer is a very important part of selling. You will not only make a sale on the initial product you will build confidence in your buyer. When the buyer has confidence, they will very likely purchase another related product from your company. If you use hard sell you cannot build this all-important relationship. Ultimately you will lose not only the initial sale but also a valuable long-term customer.

7. Soft sell will allow the reader to make his own decision without being pushed into a sale. As mentioned people do not like to be sold to, they do not want to feel that someone is dictating to them and telling them that they have to buy something. Most people want to feel that they are making their own decisions and soft sell will do this for them.

8. Soft sell always outsells hard sell: it is a proven fact that soft sell always outsells soft sell. This is because people can be persuaded but do not like to be forced into a sale. Hard sell is literally pushing your product at your prospective customer and not giving them a chance to say no. Soft sell on the other hand is offering your prospective buyer a product and allowing them to make the decision to buy.

9. It is easier and more enjoyable to use soft sell tactics: soft sell will allow you to use more sales strategies. It is a more enjoyable way to sell because you can talk to the customer, demonstrate benefits and build up a good rapport with your prospective buyer. It is more enjoyable to talk with your buyer and get to know him rather than pushing a sale on him.

10. Soft sell is a powerful way of pre selling products and warming your customer for the sale. When you warm your prospective buyer for the sale, you will be far more successful in selling your product or service. People like to know more about products before they buy and pre selling will allow you to do this for them.

Hard sell rarely works because of the above reasons. Additionally there is a stereotype of the pushy sales person using hard sell tactics. When hard sell is used this image comes into the prospects mind and prevents them from accepting the sale. In this way you will lose many sales.



SAMMIE

Robert Evans asked:


is no excuse for NOT employing this marketing tactic. It will not cost you any money and it can be duplicated as many times as you like and once you have set it up it will go on sending traffic to your site for months, even years ahead.

The tactic I refer to involves placing as many keywords as possible on Pay Per Click Search Engines. And I will show you how to get up $500 worth of free targeted traffic just by following the guidelines below.

As well as the more popular PPCSEs such as Kanoodle, Overture, Sprinks and FindWhat there are a number of newer ones that offer sign up bonuses in the form of a starter balance in your account. These range from $1 to as much as $250.

Bids start as low as 1 cent, so if you get a $1 bonus you will receive 100 visitors to your site. There is usually no limit to the number of keywords you can list. I have over 1000 keyword phrases listed on 30 engines and every visitor “costs” me 1 cent.

By the time I have used up all my credits I will have generated many thousands of hits to the four sites I am promoting. And all for free. This is genuine, quality, targeted traffic. How do I know it is targeted? Because I employ a simple but effective tactic to ensure that the visitors I get know what they are going to my site for. On one of the sites I am looking for freebie hunters and on the other three I am selling a product or service - and I state as much in either the title or description or both.

I realise this breaks the established rule of advertising in that you should not reveal the price in the ad itself - but remember, this is a Search Engine with a difference because we are “paying” for the visitors I get.

For the products and services I am promoting I either reveal a price or make it clear that something is for sale - that way we keep the freebie hunters from wasting their time and our account credits!

So what do you need to kickstart your PPCSE marketing campaign? First of all you will need an Excel spreadsheet. If you don’t have Excel then you can pick up a streadsheet here:

http://garbo.uwasa.fi/pc/spreadsheet.html

Divide your spreadsheet into 5 columns: In column 1 type in your keywords or phrases, as many as you can come up with relevant to your site. In column 2 put in your bid price. We recommend 0.01. Make sure your spreadsheet programme does not enter a comma, or the PPCSEs will NOT accept your listing. In column 3 type a title or headline. Make this short but interesting and if relevant mention a price or something like “under $30″ or “at a competitive price” etc so the visitor knows you are selling something. In column 4 type in the URL of the site you are promoting. In column 5 type a short description.

Here is an example of one of my listings:

marketing resources 0.01 Free internet marketing action plan http://www.market4profit.net/free_marketing_action_plan.html Build your downlines in several programmes quickly and easily

Use a resource like Word Tracker to find relevant keyword combinations. Then prepare your spreadsheet as in the example above.

Next, find some PPCSEs and create your accounts. (For a list of PPCSEs I employ simply send a blank email to: ppcse@market4profit.net) Before you sign up make sure they are still offering the bonus credits on your account. Once you have signed up, simply log in, click on Manage Listings, then Add Listing, then on “Click here if you have multiple listings” under the form.

Go back to your spreadsheet, copy the entire contents and paste them into the box on the Multiple Listings page. Click the button. Your listing will then either be added instantly to the database or you will receive a confirmation by email some hours later.

You can keep adding keywords for other sites, but try not to duplicate any given word or phrase as this might be classed as spamming. To check your ranking on any PPCSE you have an account with just do a search on a keyword or phrase.

The great thing about these engines is that you can check your stats in real time. You can find out which keywords are clicked on, how often, how much it has “cost” you and how much there is left in your account.

AUGUSTINE

PixelDust asked:


I think that if you have to have women dancing in little outfits, thrusting their hips all over, then you must not be confident in your musical abilities. If you were, you wouldn’t need to use the “sex sells” tactic. Unless of course your song is just about having money and cars and being so awesome that you can sleep with any woman you want. Or you are a woman singing about how **** and fly you are and that all the guys want you. In that case, at least its relative. But I prefer songs that tell a story, or at least go with what they are singing about in the video.

LAURENCE

Fran asked:


Hello,

I would like to make a brief introduction about myself. I am the lead singer/vocalist in a rock/pop band, The Embezzles, (name have been changed quite a few times within the past few months)and we’re very similar to Paramore and Linkin Park. We’re sort of a big deal in East Texas with an increasing fan base which continues to grow expendably great but we have a big problem communicating and contacting fans. We’ve tried everything from Post Office boxes, Private Mailboxes and social networking sties. Unfortunately, the Postal Services are on shaky ground. Postal Services have rules and regulations to combat mail fraud and other crimes committed using postal and private mailboxes which sounds convincing but the postal services are on the wrong side here.

Rather than protecting privacy they are seeking to invade it and rather than allowing some consumer choice they are looking to stifle what little competition exists. Unfortunately, scam artists also utilize the convenience of private mailboxes to hide illegal activities, such as credit card fraud, identity theft and schemes to swindle the elderly. In other words or simple terms, P.O. boxes and Private Mailboxes are growing concerns of the postal services used in order to single out P.O. boxes and PMB(private mailboxes) who have personal accounts instead of business accounts.

We would like to have an address rather than using one of our own physical home address because you guys are aware of fans(groupies) can be a bit psychotic at times when bands are in the limelight destined for stardom. Instead of selling merchandise, passing out flyers, etc. from our tour van/hotel (lol) J, we decided that we want to be able to reach fans outside of our 100 mile radius giving fans the opportunity to write personal letters to one our band members, pics or whatever the fans want to give their favorite band (The Embezzles ) <<<< >>>>,in order to converse on numerous occasions, but we do not want to give the government or postal office or any carrier service speculations or any misleading ideas that we are subjecting to a scheme to earn money or somehow get personal information from individuals. All we want is to build a connection with our fans in order to solidify our relationships to remind them of upcoming tour dates, nearby performances, or any updates we might have in order to refresh the memories of our fans.

We were recommended on some international mail forwarding service sites but getting an international P.O. or Private box seems a little suspect, wouldn’t you agree? Although they offer great services they only require your personal information….sometimes to much information. I have scavenged many postal services sites and some websites seem a bit puzzling. Even though they have U.S. Postal Forms and identification requirements they false advertise and some sites even have numerous complaints from previous customers. If I were to come across one of these misleading websites how would I be able to recognize a true and faithful postal or forwarding service from any other website posing as a legit mail forwarding service? Are there any services that allows you to apply online if so this would be my first option to cut out the hassle and run around the postal services have been giving us.

Thanks for your all your time and help.

ALFREDO

joe@familybusinesstips.com asked:


Is network marketing a simple business where you just share your company’s products with a few of your friends and family, or is it really a full on sales business? This question is very heatedly discussed among network marketers, and this article will surely create a host of fiery emails from some who read this. Is it Sales or Sharing?

2 Questions To Help You Decide If Network Marketing Is Selling Or Sharing.

What Is Sharing?

When you share something, you typically have nothing to gain. As a matter of fact, when you share, you usually offer something with nothing in return. Could a person share products they believe is helping them with other people? Sure, it’s very possible. I suppose it’s a question of motive. If you think your company’s products are going to help someone, yes, I would call that sharing. On the other hand, if you’re making up a names list and calling people to tell them about your products or your business opportunity, then that’s probably not sharing. It’s not wrong, it’s just not sharing.

What Is Selling?

Selling is where goods and services are exchanged for something of value (usually money). Selling is an honorable profession. It’s a great thing to be able to persuade people to buy into your idea or product. It means you have influence with people! What makes it honorable is that you can help interested people solve their problems.

If you’re calling your friends and family to talk with them about your company or products, in the hope that they will buy into your program, then that is selling to. It’s actually a fairly aggressive form of selling, because that person never asked for your information or sales talk. It can be uncomfortable for both the seller, and the person being sold to. It doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, it’s just aggressive.

Many of us have experienced these tactics where selling was done in a bad way. Just the other day, my friend had it happen to him. He’s putting together a public works project to help abandoned children be able to turn their lives around, and he’s looking for investors to help fund the project. He was approach by a “millionaire investor” who was said he wanted to help my friend raise money for the project. To make a long story short, my friend met with this “investor” and the man starts drawing circles on a little white board, telling him how he can make a bazillion dollars with CompanyXYZ.

And then my friend realizes that he’s in a presentation to join a network marketing company. Can you imagine how angry my friend was? You better believe it. That wasn’t merely an aggressive form of selling. It was dishonest, and that’s not going to work for most people.

So What Is The Point?

1) Don’t resort to aggressive forms of selling that are dishonest. No one likes it, and you shouldn’t do it. It’s not honest. Don’t trick people.

2) If you sell your products to your friends and family it’s ok. Just tell them what you’re doing up front. Ask their permission first. Say something like “Hey Bob, I think I’ve found something that I think could help you. Would you be open to looking this over”? And then give room for Bob to say “No”. Believe me; you don’t want to drag anyone into this thing.



HOUSTON

Kevin Sinclair asked:


If you’re in the internet marketing field, “guru” is a word you probably hear a lot of. In fact, you are probably well aware of who these gurus are. While most of them are very personable and nice, there are some who are quite the opposite. Even the nicest among them will employ the following tactics. You can have a clearer picture of what these gurus can really offer you once you are aware of them.

You’ve certainly seen something along the lines of: “You can work only 2-3 hours a day…” in a sales letter or on a website. Of course, the truth is if you begin your internet marketing career by only working a few hours a day, you are going to be disappointed with your income, to say the least. If this is going to be a hobby rather than a career, then 2 to 3 hours of work a day is perfectly fine. However, if you want this to be your career, than you are going to have to work far more than this, at least as you start out.

What gurus are showing you is the end product of the hard work which goes into internet marketing - they already have gotten to the point where they have other people handling the day to day tasks so that they can work only 2-3 hours a day. When they were just beginning though, you bet they worked hard to get their business off the ground.

This is one of the guru tactics you have to watch out for. They’ll tell you all about where they are now, but hardly anything about how they got to that point.

A guru will almost always leave out important parts of the picture. While any guru will tell you to write articles to build back links to your site - so you write articles and submit them, or perhaps use PLR articles. You check your traffic after a week - only 40 views! Another few days go by and you are up to 70. You decide to quit using PLR articles, thinking that original content will work better for you. You wait another week and look at the traffic; it’s down. So what are you doing wrong? Wasn’t article marketing supposed to be the best way to build your business? You’ve looked at the articles the gurus write - they’re not very good in many cases, yet they are getting thousands of views.

The gurus never told you the most important thing about article marketing. Which is…

The article that you write must be properly salted with keywords, especially long tail keywords. This is how you get lots of traffic. Have you ever heard a guru say that in one of their courses? Probably not.

This is the final guru tactic - half truths. They will tell you things like “I earned $67,000 in my first month of internet marketing”. Is this true? Maybe; but that’s not all there is to it. The full picture is they made $67,000 in a month, but spent 6,000 in expenses of all sorts. While spending $6,000 to make $67,000 is a great return on investment, most of us don’t have $6,000 to spend in a single month when beginning.

The courses offered by most of these gurus include a lot of hidden costs which their promotional materials won’t tell you about. Unless you’ve got a lot of money to begin with, you probably won’t be able to spend the amount you’ll need to while waiting for your revenue stream to grow.

These are all tactics which gurus will employ in the effort to get your business. Armed with the knowledge of the truth behind these claims, you can make a better decision about how to respond.



VICTOR

tothequarter asked:


In a nation full of yellow ribbons and patriotism you’d figure a service member could choose any state to live in. Not so, Montanans demonstrate endlessly that the only people they want here are Montanans and Super Wal-Marts. They’ve learned to blame outsiders coming in for loss of identity, instead of dealing with their “sell-out” neighbors. But hey, all’s not too bad; Perhaps that’s why everywhere I have been in the world, and I am very well travelled; the absolute most evil of people are Montanans. I haven’t met a Montanan yet that hasn’t told me “If you don’t like it, leave.” I think I will, Montanans deserve to have Californians come up and buy everything, big corporations like Wal-Mart to employ their drop-out kids, and to bring an onslaught of outsiders where Montanan tactics will be met with swift big-city tactics, Montanans will become extinct. Want a job here? Be sure to include “these ones” somewhere on your resume. Know what happens when inbreds breed? Montana.

MITCHEL