The Finney School of Real Life

Some people say we live in the Information Age.

I call it the Distraction Age.

My new hometown is Distractionville. Everything and everybody shouts, “Hey, look at me!”: E-mail, Internet, TV, telephone, newspaper, radio, family and friends. The Distraction Faction is as bright as the midday sun and louder than a freight train in Distractionville.

I have had conversations lately with many small business owners about promoting their businesses for more sales. Traditional methods of advertising are more expensive than ever for the results they offer. Newspapers, magazines, radio,TV and Yellow Pages worked well in the past but due to the increasingly shortened attention spans in Distractionville, these methods for getting information to your customers aren’t getting results.

Business owners tell me they are often exasperated when their regular customers tell them about buying goods or services from another vendor that are readily available from their own businesses. The owners think what kind of customer loyalty is that for all of the service I offer to you? The owners say to the customers, “We offer that, too, you know”.

“I didn’t know you did that!” is the response from the customer.

Even if the customer should have known from your previous marketing efforts, it doesn’t matter. The sale is lost forever.

How can you get your message heard and seen in Distractionville? Consider increasing the decibel level of your business by using some of the following ideas adapted for your business:

-A florist offers to put bosses on a tickler list for advanced contact and products for secretary’s day for next year.

-The tire shop presents a coupon book of free tire rotations with every sale of new tires to get customers back for oil changes, brake inspections, etc.

-The dress shop calls its best customers to annouce the fall line is in with the customer’s size in stock.

-The computer repair service mails post cards to customers with older systems annoucing a special on systems upgrades and wireless networking.

-The coffee house offers coupons to each customer for a discount on its fresh baked blueberry muffins for the next visit.

-The lawn service puts door hangers on current customers’ doors with weeding and edging service information.

The solution for promoting all of your business goods and services to your existing customers is simple. Find new ways to tell them what you do. Then tell them again a different way. Then to be heard and seen above the roar of the crowd of Distractionville, tell them one more time.

Three easy steps:

1. Do it
2. Do it

3. Do it

Doug Emerson trains,consults and coaches small business owners daily about how to make more profit in less time.

He writes a FREE electronic newsletter filled with ideas about how you can improve your profits and create a life that balances work, rest and play. Go to this link and subscribe. http://www.douglasemerson.com/3Iwrotethis.htm

Or visit the website: http://www.douglasemerson.com

All pumped up to attend that upcoming sales training workshop? Maybe a little anxious as it’s been a while since you took a course. Expecting good things for the coin you are shelling out as the company isn’t paying the freight this time around. Perhaps a tad concerned how well you will do, or how tough the content might be to master. Will it be better than the last sales training workshop you attended? Bottom line - will you improve your sales success upon completion?

These are common anxieties. You have every reason to wonder about effectiveness. It is not just the financial commitment you or your company is making; it is the time investment as well.

I’ve always looked at sale training as an opportunity. I’d be surprised if you didn’t learn something new, or at worst, a forgotten past learning is dusted off and put back in the arsenal. There is the advantage of benefiting from the knowledge of others in the class; some may be more experienced, or more successful. What makes them so?

You no doubt are aware there is a plethora of sales training programs in the market place today. You can attend in person, participate interactively on the web, and work with a CD or workbook. With so many options out there designed to appeal to your preferred learning style, why do so many sales training programs fail?

In most cases, the course content is adequate to very good. I cannot recall ever having a facilitator that was not top notch in presenting the material. The facilities are generally not the culprit. So why do so many sales folks think back on training they have taken and question the return on their investment?

In most cases, the shortcoming of the program may not be just the program. Let me explain. Any learning on any topic can only have impact when put into practice immediately after the training has taken place. This is especially true where the learning requires behavioral change. If you don’t practice what you have learned, as awkward as it might feel at first, the longer you go, the less value you will receive.

For a number of years I taught one of the leading programs on the market, many will know it. It started at Xerox and has moved about since. The content, structure, and learning methodologies were, and remain, excellent. It was the first sales training program based on extensive empirical research. With literally hundreds of thousands having taken the program, why did they all not turn out as effective as the three in the video?

Regrettably, what happens is we get back to the day-to-day sales environment. We know the pressure to produce; the emphasis to close business, with the stark realization, that failure to do so may result in not being paid.

We get to our first appointment and forget to properly structure our opening remarks and establish the agenda. The first “concern” comes up and we can identify it as a misunderstanding, but what were those steps on how to respond? If only I could play that video back in my head, or visualize the wall chart at this very moment.

The sad reality is that after many sales training programs, there is a lack of reinforcement and coaching necessary to become proficient. The classroom or the video or workbook is just the beginning. We have all heard, “practice makes perfect”, well there is a lot of truth to this saying. If there were only one thing you could do to avoid the pitfalls of training this would top of the list.

What can you do to ensure greater sales success and avoid “failing”? You could buddy up with someone who took the same course and practice together to re-enforce the acquired skills. You could set up weekly reviews, or drills, with your Sales Manager or Training Manager to re-visit the material until it becomes second nature? You could commit to a weekly review of one element of the training program you attended. If you are in a corporate environment, you might suggest you have a formal annual refresher program to hone your skills and discover nuances of the program you took.

Is it possible to obtain a better return on training programs? Absolutely. Looking beyond the training “event” to the recurring sales coaching and practice sessions is critical to leveraging the initial investment. After the sales training program, the real work begins. Changing techniques, modifying behavior and habits, being open to trying your new learnings, will all contribute to you becoming a more productive and efficient sales professional.

Clayton Shold shares his experience at SalesDialogue Systems Inc. a company committed to assisting sales professionals better understand how their internal conversations affects sales success. Learn more at http://www.salesdialogue.com

When I was in graduate school I wasn’t contented accepting the paltry salary I earned as a part-time college instructor.

So, I trekked to USC’s career planning office and scanned the part-time job postings.

One caught my eye.

It was a commission-only job selling office supplies by phone.

Having had many years of experience in telephone sales and management, I thought, why not? Anything I earned would be an improvement on my fixed income.

So, later that day I stopped over for an interview and I was asked if I wanted to try the gig, to make a call or two.

“Sure!” I replied, knowing they wanted to hear if I was as good as advertised.

I noticed that the fellow I had been listening to was selling ballpoint pens to bakers, a gross at a time, so I borrowed his list, which was a Yellow Pages directory, and I called the next name.

To everyone’s astonishment, I closed the deal on the spot, earning about $18 for two minutes of work.

Of course, I was, and still am, great on the phone, but that’s not the point of this article!

There was another key to success that is less obvious: whom I chose to call. In this case, I imitated what the veteran did, and I called a baker.

When I was officially hired, I found my own category: restaurants. Between using them and losing them, they burned through thousands of pens per year, by my calculations, and I was right.

I made a very nice supplemental income for a considerable time after that, calling cafes around the country.

At one point, the boss asked me how I settled on restaurants, somewhat surprised, yet still pleased that I had discovered their appetite for writing devices.

I didn’t reply this way in so many words, but I can tell you, it was in large measure because nobody else was selling them ballpoint pens.

I occupied the high ground on the competitive battlefield because my army was the only one that showed up, day in and day out.

I bought pens at 17 cents from the company and resold them at 33 cents, and I pitched them, two gross (288 pens) at a time. The pens were marked 49 cents on the barrel, so my customers perceived they were getting a bargain.

But here’s what’s essential. There was no Gary-competitor coming in at 30 cents or 25 cents or at any price at all.

If you can choose your prospects, go where nobody else is asking for the deal.

They’ll have less sales resistance. You’ll encounter no competition, and everybody will be happy!

Mortgage insurance is coverage to the mortgage lender in case of the potential default of payments by the borrower. It is an insurance policy like any other, and requires premiums to the paid. Premiums are generally passed on by the mortgage lender to the buyers of the mortgage. Mortgage buyers may wish to pay the premiums either on a monthly basis, or as a lump sum amount at the end of the year or closing period. Since mortgage insurance premiums have to be paid by the borrowers of mortgages, mortgage insurance companies target their advertisements to the borrowers.

Mortgage insurance companies are on the lookout for leads of potential mortgage insurance policy buyers. These are people who have taken mortgages from a financial institution. A person making at least 20% of the down payment is not required to buy mortgage insurance, but it is obligatory for the others. Hence, mortgage leads are invited from those mortgage buyers who have paid less than 20% of the down payment.

Telemarketing is the most viable option for garnering mortgage insurance leads. Call-center employees may cold-call various mortgage companies, who wish to pass on mortgage insurance to their buyers. Companies interested in buying mortgage insurance for their borrowers constitute leads, which are forwarded to the insurance company. Call centers may also cold-call the mortgage borrowers themselves. Once the mortgage insurance company gets hold of a potential lead, it follows up and tries to close the insurance policy on the mortgage borrower.

There are not many mortgage insurance websites that generate leads. The few mortgage lead generation websites that exist have mortgage borrowers fill in online forms and pre-qualify them for mortgage insurance policies. Pre-qualified leads are passed on to the mortgage insurance company. Since the leads are already pre-qualified, it saves both time and money for the insurance company.

The reason for the lower number of lead generation companies existing in the mortgage insurance field is that most of the mortgage insurance companies are tied up or affiliated with leading mortgage providers. Hence, when a mortgage is sold, the insurance policy is bundled along with the mortgage. This is known as capitalization of the mortgage, and is the norm employed by most companies.

However, mortgage insurance companies still try to improve their businesses by getting more leads. They may be willing to pay upwards of $35 for a good lead.

It’s been said before that one unsatisfied customer will
go out and tell 10-20 of their friends and family about
their unsatisfactory experience, but the opposite doesn’t
seem to occur. Your customers, vendors, suppliers and
associates might think you walk on water, but they won’t
seem to tell everyone else how great you are unless you
show them how and give them an actual reason to do it.

There are many ways to get testimonials from your
customers. You can actually hold contests for best
testimonials. Request letters of endorsements from your
customers, vendors, suppliers, and any associates you
have. Use those to promote your products and services.
When you use testimonials to add credibility to what you
do, you’re letting your customers do the marketing for
your business.

Testimonials from your customers are one of the strongest
marketing tools available.

What is a testimonial? It’s a statement, usually written
by your customer, saying nice things about some aspect
of your business, you, your employees or your products
and services. If you want to use the testimonials in
marketing efforts, you need to get a written release
from your customers who wrote the testimonials giving
your business the right to use the testimonial in
marketing.

The best time to obtain the release is at the time the
customer delivers the testimonial to you.. You might
tell them you want to share their insights with your
other customers or some other complimentary statement.

When you use these testimonials, you want to weave
them into your marketing story. Use them to embellish
and support your claims and promises. For every benefit
or objective you need to overcome in your products
or services, it is the best scenario to have testimonials
establishing or referencing each of those benefits or
objections.

You can take the next logical step and establish that
your business delivers what it promises. This becomes
a very powerful statement.

You don’t need to use all of what it says in each
testimonial letter. Here are some choices or ways
you can use testimonials.

You can print the entire letter.

You can print one sentence.

You can print one word.

Print with a picture of the person whose testimonial it is.

Print the person’s initials only.

Print the entire name of the person providing the testimonial.

You can actually do video or audio recordings of a person’s
testimonial.

Ideally, you want to use all of these techniques. The
benefit of using testimonials on your web site can
help link popularity in search engine results as well.
Whether you use this marketing tool for both inbound
or outbound reasons, you will have an advantage over
your competition. Check them out next time you visit
their office or web site and see for what people are
saying about their business practices. You’ll be amazed!

You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter on
your web site as long as the byline is included and the
article is included in it’s entirety. I also ask that you
activate any html links found in the article and in the
byline. Please send a courtesy link or email where you
publish to: support@multiplestreammktg.com

Copyright © 2005

Abe Cherian is the founder of Multiple Stream Media,
a leading performance-based Internet advertising
company dedicated in helping small businesses create
online presence, brand recognition and online automation.
Main company web site: http://www.multiplestreammktg.com

Abe Cherian’s online automation system has helped
thousands of marketers online build, manage and grow
their business. Learn how it can benefit you too.

Do you own a mobile car wash or mobile detailing business and have considered setting up at a local regional mall with a captured audience? Selling the account to the mall is not so difficult and as long as they do not shove you into a corner you will do well after the first few months, as mall employees get to know you and the word of mouth gets out.

In some cities you will find Valet Parking cleaning cars at the mall, but usually not. So if you get to a regional mall with Valet Parking then it makes sense to work with them in selling car washing or detailing services.

Allow them to assist in helping the car wash concession get business using co-marketing strategies and commissions to the parking folks. They sell a car wash, park the car in car wash row and keep $2.00 for the deal. That drives traffic.

The most important thing is having the 5 million in liability insurance for slip and fall, completed operations and garages keepers liability, since you have the keys; you are in the care, custody and control of that vehicle.

Also to be successful at this you need good signage and professional image. Make sure they do not stick you into a corner somewhere, as that is the kiss of death. You can make a car washing or detailing concession at a regional mall work if you are careful in your selling strategies. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow