May 10, 2010
Promotional products are perfect for creating an incentive for a prospect to visit your booth, a salesperson to sell and a customer to buy. The statistics are there, you’ve seen them in action, people love to receive promotional products – they like getting stuff. Unfortunately, that’s the problem. All too often we just give something to put our logo on and expect the magic to happen.
There’s a lot more to using promotional products and with a little extra help they can go a long way in strengthening your bond with your target and strengthening your brand. The first part should be the easiest but is the most overlooked. You need to choose a product that relates to the story or information you want the recipient to take away from receiving the promotional product to begin with – you talk about the many tools you have in your software but hand out a pen, your system is the most flexible but give out notepads. You need to tie in the product with your message – talk about your tools… give them a tool, flexible system…prove it with a flexible promo product. Not rocket science but the science of persuasion none the less.
Once the product is chosen you can take the extra step and really anchor your message to their minds. Picture a trade show, people going up and down the aisles looking for the best giveaways, an adult version of trick or treat. They stop at your booth, get scanned, listen a little to our pitch and it’s on to the next booth. At the end of the day they end up back in their hotel room, dump their bag of goodies and start sorting through their treasure. Twelve pens, a blinking ball, some notepads and more. All this great stuff with logo’s galore. What are the odds that when they pick up one of these items they can remember the conversation and pitch they received from the company. Pretty small when you think of the number of booths they hit at the show. Now, what if you included with your promotional product a small card that carried the theme of the product and anchored this with your product or service offering?
By adding a simple card with a connection to the promotional product you can effectively anchor your product and company to the recipients thought process every time they use the product. A simple addition of a $.08 – $.20 card can provide you with a more solid and lasting impact than a simple promotional product on its own. Tell a story, create a link, make your customers and prospects think of you every time they see or touch your gift to them. Anchor your brand to their minds and create the sale.
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April 27, 2010
Wrestling for Sales
Interesting title, but we’re not talking WWF or UCF here. We’re not even talking about fighting at all. The title came from my original thought which was on Tag-Team Selling but that just didn’t seem to draw a lot of attention in my mind. When we talk about tag team selling or its more popular name cross-selling. That title brought a whole other thought process to mind but we won’t go there.
Cross-Selling is defined many ways and can be accomplished the same. The top three are:
Selling additional items with a single purchase, this can also be referred to as up-selling.
Adding on warranties or installation covered by a second party.
Selling of one product that enhances the use of another.
This third version is what we are covering today but hope to take it a little further than how most people view it. We experience cross-selling promotions every day, mainly in the fast food arena where a soft drink (Coke, Pepsi, etc.) is pictured next to a hamburger or other food item. You’ll notice that most of the time the cup has the brand of the soft drink on it rather than that of the fast food chain. This serves two purposes; one is co-op funded advertising the second is cross selling. While co-op advertising helps keep the costs shared it’s the cross-selling that both companies are relying on. You get hit with a one two punch – you’re either hungry for a hamburger and think of the taste of the soft drink to wash it down or you think of the soft drink and figure you’re hungry anyway why not get a burger while you’re at it.
What many companies are missing is the opportunity to do this with their own brand as well. Some may say it limits them to a specific partner or turns away others that may prefer another brand than you partnered with but then you are missing the point. People buy because they want to and they are going to buy whatever appeals to them at the time they are ready. With cross-selling you give them that extra nudge of permission to extend their purchase. At the time they’re not taking sides of which brand they prefer on the secondary decision or cross-sell. They are happy to be purchasing and as an added benefit they get an idea to add to their enjoyment of buying.
Businesses need to examine what else is used with their product and look to partnering with companies that can benefit from cross-selling together. By working together they achieve twice the marketing coverage, twice the sales power and lose little if no profit at all in doing so. So how does this work?
Let’s take a mattress company – they sell mattresses and usually covers, pillows, frames, etc. What they don’t sell is what people do on them besides sleep and some additional recreational activity now and then, like the books people read in bed or the headphones for the TV they watch. How many times have you heard the phrase “curl up in bed with a good book”? Here’s where a company like Simmons and Barnes & Noble get together for cross-selling/cross-promotion. Buy a mattress and receive a gift card for books. Buy a book and receive a coupon/book marker for a great deal on a mattress. The next time they are reading in bed with their bookmark/coupon, that bed just might feel as comfortable as the one pictured on the bookmark. They buy the mattress and are headed back to the bookstore for another purchase. A Win-Win-Win.
How about a chemical company that sells cleaning supplies. Their job is to make you feel safe and happy with your home cleanliness. What’s a good reason to keep your home so clean – children. Who wants their kids crawling around on a dirty floor and spreading germs to the rest of the house? What are children doing on the floor to begin with… playing with their toys. Here’s where the chemical company can tie into a resource and product line it may never have thought of – a toy store. By demonstrating that your floors will be clean enough for your children to play on, the bottle of cleaner has a coupon to save money on your next toy purchase. When you get to the toy store you are greeted by a sign on the door that the toy store keeps their place clean using whose chemicals? Then on the back of the receipt or even on their website is a coupon so that you can keep your home clean and safe thanks to the toy store and the chemical company.
With the right creative thinking and incredibly little effort, almost any business can join in a cross-selling relationship and double their marketing and exposure. Take the competition to the mat when you pin more prospects in less time and less effort.
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February 15, 2010
One of the biggest mistakes made when marketing products and services is that of assumption. You are around your product(s) or service(s) everyday, you talk about them, you research them and you live with them. You know everything that they do, how they work, how they can help and why people should buy them. The problem is, many times we assume that our target prospects and customers know as much as we do about our products and services.
This causes you to skim over areas you think are inconsequential or feel are not big selling points, when they may be the very features a prospect has been looking for to enhance their productivity. What begins to happen is your marketing begins to get too personal, the feature sets provided are what you fell in love with and may not be what your prospect is looking to fill their needs.
To break the habit of assumption, bring your marketing to the newest member on your team and have them look it over. Ask your best customers why they use your product/service? What was the initial sales point that convinced them they needed to take a closer look? What are the top three sub-points that helped them close on the sale? These simple questions will help you build a stronger marketing plan and help emphasize whether you have been on the right track or need to change gears.
Questions are the key to learning what makes your product/service tick and keep your points as relevant to your customers and prospects needs.
The principle of course being not to assume everyone understands what you are presenting them. Never assume. You know how the rest of the saying goes.
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January 15, 2010
When people think of a bad economy the first things they think about are about their job security, their salary and their budgets. This is not a problem, simple fight or flight in action. The problem begins when we start making these thoughts our constant thoughts; we begin looking for ways to ease the pain of these thoughts, making them “not real” in our minds.
These thoughts start to take you away from your actual priorities of enhancing the company. You start thinking of maintaining rather than growing, holding rather than letting go. The best part is you’re not alone - Yes, I said the BEST part. Your competition is embroiled in the same tug of war with their emotions over the economy as well. Their guard is down, just like yours.
I know what you’re thinking, so tell me something I don’t know. Everyone is constantly hearing about the economy and sales being down, cutbacks, budget cuts, etc. The thing is; these conditions only affect you if you let them. If you constantly bemoan how sales are down and your budget has been cut and there is nothing you can do – well that’s exactly what is happening – you are doing nothing.
Times like these do not come along very frequently, which IS a good thing. But at the same time, times like these don’t come around very frequently! Everyone is in a frozen state, afraid to move, afraid to lose anything and the thing is this is the best time to gain.
Your competition is in the same state as you are; it’s like an old western gunfight. You are looking each other straight in the eye waiting for one or the other to make a move, only neither of you are moving, the DVR is on pause. Neither of you are willing to make the first move and you really don’t know why.
I recently read that in a bad market you can take 15 to 20 percent of the business away from your top competitor. You can also obtain 20 to 30 percent of all new business coming in and convert sales 30 – 40 percent more from people coming to you. These are big numbers.
How is this possible? By simply ACTING rather than reacting to the current situation. Marketing in its simplest form is basically telling your prospects and customers how you can help them. What better time to offer help than now. The only thing you need to do is change – change how you approach your prospects and clients. Change how you push or pull your product or service through the market.
Bruce Barton said it best: “When you are through changing, you are through.” Start looking past the obvious of what your product does, examine more how it helps. People want and accept help more freely when your offer is sincere. Be sincere and truly care about your prospects and clients business and they will repay you using your product and service.
So there you have it, a simple HELPFUL way to add more clients and sales to your bottom-line.
Be helpful.
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A Sign from Above, behind or the side…
December 28, 2009
Trade Shows represent the best opportunity to showcase your products and services. With your prospects and customers all gathered in one place to learn how to improve their business and make life a little easier for themselves. You have a captured audience, now how are you going to bring them into your booth?
Offering a free promotional item is a start, smiling people at the front desk, greeters in the aisle. All nice but how about that person way over in the corner, down the aisle about six booths across, 5’ 8” dark hair, nicely dressed? What are you doing to get their attention and draw them to your booth?
Oh, your logo is on your booth. OK, what if they don’t recognize your logo or it just doesn’t peak their interest? Now what? Let’s take a step back and look at this from another angle. When in an airport or a grocery store what makes you buy the magazine or newspaper you’re looking at? The Headline correct? The headline drew you in to want to learn more.
So if you want to draw people in to your booth to learn more about your company and products – where’s your headline? We get so caught up in getting to the show, ordering the literature, picking out the promo item and getting the lead machine working we forget that we need to get people to the booth first. That voice in the cornfield wasn’t talking about tradeshow booths – “Build it, they will come.” Yours isn’t the only ballpark out in the middle of nowhere.
A great deal of time and money has gone into the design of your logo, your booth, the graphics and color inside. Time and money that has been looking from the inside out, everything looks great. The colors flow, product names are there, stations look good, product displays in order – you’ve written a great article but forgot the headline.
Picture in your mind the last tradeshow you attended, look at all the booths, the people walking by, the bags filled with trinkets and literature. Do any of the booths standout to you? The really large ones with the logo hanging from the ceiling, maybe; otherwise they all just start to blend together.
Signage is your ultimate headline, the reason people are drawn to your booth. Most people blow opportunities at trade shows strictly due to signage. Your signage is your headline. Change it and you can increase both the quantity and quality of your booth traffic. Your signage provides a reason for attendees to visit your booth and learn more. A simple logo on a backdrop is not going to cut it.
Ask an engaging question, tie in your offering with the theme of the show, anchor your booth and company as the reason this show exists to begin with, compel them to answer your call and learn more. Your booth doesn’t need to remain stagnant because that’s what you paid for, a simple sign can add more to your bottom line than you could ever imagine.
Add a topper to your expandable banner, place a sandwich sign out front, if they have to walk around it they have to read it. Look beyond the norm, add floor graphics, use the old Burma Shave style of the 50’s, provide a solid reason for prospects to come inside your booth to learn the benefits you offer. With the right approach you can win the battle for the prospect, dominate the competition and acquire enough sales and leads for your pipeline to keep you busy for months.
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All the World’s a Stage – Act Like It
November 11, 2009
It’s amazing how many articles, books and websites are dedicated to the art of the most dreaded sales job – the Cold Call. Type it in as a web search and a staggering 55 million hits come up – MILLION. That’s probably 4 or 5 times the total number of cold calls that are ACTUALLY made each year.
If so much is written on being more effective with cold calling, cold calling is a waste of time and no fear cold calling, why is it still so hated? Simple – FEAR. Fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, just plain old fear. So, you are asking yourself, why are you writing about Cold Calling when no one else can help. Well, I discovered something quite by accident the other day when I was taking care of this fearful job.
I started to fantasize about what it would be like if I could pay someone to do this for me. What it would be like if someone stepped into my shoes and said the things I wanted to ask without worrying about the response. First I thought it would be a great idea to trade calls with someone, they make my calls I make theirs. Great idea I need to research further (don’t steal this now) but not an instant answer. The more I thought about how nice it would be the better I felt. I was relaxed, not anxious, relieved beyond belief. Then it hit me – BAM – like Emeril the chef likes to say, I cooked up this great idea.
When I make Cold Calls who says I have to be ME? We watch television shows and movies all the time where actors and actresses play characters that are anything like the real person playing the part. Why not play the part of ME as someone else? We do it on first dates all the time, creating someone we know the other person will like. Why not create a character that is an employee of mine, one that listens to what I have to say; knows what I do, how I do it but has no fear when it comes to making cold calls.
“Roger”, my new employee, knows all about my company, products and services. He can answer any question that comes his way, he’s bold, brash and doesn’t take no for an answer. If someone says they’re not interested or have no need for our product or service “Roger” could care less – just one more call down and one less to make the next time around. “Roger” has that way about him, very confident and loves what he does.
Well good old “Rog” went on to make forty calls that day without a care in the world. He was almost “too” confident, wanting people to say “no” quickly so he could get to the next call. This guy is a real go getter when it comes to the phone now. To “Roger” All the World is a Stage for him to act on and carry out Cold Calls. “Rog” is one of my best employee’s now. Works for almost nothing and is always up to the task.
Creating your own “Roger” or “Linda” is easy and amazingly simple to do. Sit back and simply imagine what the ultimate cold calling guru would look like to you. Picture the color of their hair, their eyes, complexion, even how they dress. Do they have any outstanding characteristics? Maybe a chin like Leno or a smile like Jennifer Aniston, if you build them…they will come.
Next imagine how they would talk, sit, handle themselves on the phone. Envision them with more confidence than you could ever conceive in a person. Make them into someone you would want as a best friend. Got them pictured in your mind? See them making calls and sales one after another. Carefree, having the time of their life and enjoying work like no one you have ever seen. Do you see them now, can you feel their confidence? Now pick up the phone and start making calls, no not you, “Linda” or “Roger”. Add the little inflection “Linda” has in her voice when saying the company name, that little southern drawl “Roger” has, like he has talked to this stranger before.
Make several calls like this and see if you don’t feel different. Check your results, number of calls, meetings, messages left. How did you feel when “Linda” tripped over a word and then simply laughed it off without a care in the world? Pretty darn good I bet.
This isn’t a one act play; this is going to be the longest running show in history. Every time you schedule yourself to make calls you need to picture “Linda” or “Roger” in your mind. What great thing did they do over the weekend, what trip do they have planned? Amazing how their sales numbers are consistently the best in the company isn’t it? They really have their act together and the attitude they use on the phone shows this to be true.
If you really want to take this to the next level and get really good at it, join a local theater group or take some basic acting classes. Too much…then read a book on acting for beginners and learn how to develop and get into a character. All the World’s a Stage – Cold Call like it is.
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