The Winner's Sales Strategy Blog

Seth Godin's new, free e-book

Just last week I posted about how Seth Godin's books should be required reading for salespeople, and as luck would have it he just released another free e-book - I love when he does that! Click here to get it. We salespeople can especially appreciate the title!

Sales and marketing. Which is it?

I laugh every time I hear, "I was expecting a sales book. You teach marketing. This isn't what I wanted. I demand a refund." Sales is the process of convincing someone to buy something. Marketing is the process of attracting someone to you who is ready and willing to buy. If you are a poor marketer, you'll be spending all of your time selling. If you're a great marketer, people will simply buy and you won't have to sell or 'close' them.

That's why I teach marketing to salespeople. Because once you know how to do it right, you'll be an order taker, and that's every salesperson's dream.

Attention MBAs (especially in NY)

Nigel Edelshain is hosting a Sales Skills for MBAs event on Tuesday, February 28th in NYC. As Nigel points out, MBAs typically do not take jobs in sales, but inevitably find, as all businesspeople do, that sales skills are a must for success in any endeavor.

Struggle with cold calling? No, re-invent.

If you've read my books you know that Seth Godin's Permission Marketing is always on my recommended reading list. It's a marketing book but should be required reading for salespeople. I was browsing Seth's blog and found this post about cold calling. I found it interesting because I'm always adapting his marketing suggestions for use in sales, and was glad to see him state directly that cold calling is out.

And while you're at it, add Permission Marketing to your reading list:

Are you making an Irresistible Offer?

I just finished reading Mark Joyner's new - and awesome - book, The Irresistible Offer. Mark includes a chapter just for salespeople but points out that the book can be applied to anything, be it sales, marketing, or even dating! What I learned from the book is that every salesperson needs an Irresistible Offer. I coach and work with a lot of sales organizations on a lot of marketing aspects such as websites, but very few people actually make an Irresistible Offer. What is an Irresistible Offer? Well, for me, everyone who visits my site can download a free copy of my Cold Calling e-book. And everyone who purchases my product receives several bonus books that would cost quite a bit elsewhere.

A fantastic example of a site making a true Irresistible Offer is one by Tom Beal - click here to view.

$97 in free bonuses, just for visiting! (By the way - even though the site isn't geared toward salespeople, I've checked out the bonuses and they are full of value and knowledge for anyone in sales. I strongly encourage you to download them.) And everyone who gets those bonuses goes into Tom's sales funnel ... sort of makes cold calling obsolete, doesn't it? ;-)

Think about it ... are you making an Irresistible Offer? And, if not, how can you? Do it right now!

Wanna stop cold calling? It takes action!

The most disappointing thing about what I do is the sheer number of people who buy my system and do nothing, or worse, assume it won't work and send it back for a refund. Late last night I was up getting some work done and this email came in ... THIS is what I like to hear!

Hi Frank,
I hope you can forgive my impatience, I could not talk to anybody except the Order takers... but finally it did arrive. I sent some e-mails that were well not nice and I am DEEPLY SORRY. Please understand that I have been ripped off before on stuff that promises you a TON of business, and all it was, was Bull Puckey! Anyway I have to tell you what has happened since I recieved the book & Cd's. as YOU requested, First I read the Book, the listened to the CD'S, then Read the book again taking notes and did the same with the CD's And I did it all over a 3rd time. Still NOT quite believing, I was going to send it back for a REFUND! So one night at 2:45 in the Morning I thought I would give it one more go, and the LIGHT came on, Now I REALLY understand what you are saying, and WOW, what Power. So I am in an Emergency situtation here, like almost going out of business. I have known for along time that COLD CALLING DOES NOT WORK! But after finally opening my mind up, and listening to your CD's I finally GOT IT, I did what you said to the Letter. Now being BURNED OUT, it took a little bit to start the flyer bit YOUR WAY, and YES it can be FUN! So on the first day out Believe it or not I got 1 Commercial Job & 1 House job, the second day out I recieved a call for another Commercial Job, and Today I recieved another Commercial Job.

WOW this has NEVER happened! This all totals up to around $936.00 so I guess it is safe to say "I DO NOT QUALIFY FOR A REFUND" I am getting faxes and phone calls for Business every day now, and I have NOT engaged your entire system yet! But I Will!...... and the Prospects, well they DO talk to me like I have the POWER! Gosh I cannot believe it, so YES you & your system has saved my Business. So we are way into the Month, It doesn't matter....I passed out over 200 flyers and have 6 new accounts, and others who will call. All I can say is THANK YOU...AND YOU ARE THE MAN! You not only save me & my Business.........You saved my family ! And that is VERY dear to me! This information is TRUELY THE BEST BAR NONE! Thank You a MILLION times!
Sincerely
Rob ~
Super Dry Carpet Care
Reno Nevada

Most ridiculous item of the day

I just e-mailed a company I'd like to advertise with, requesting a phone call from a sales rep. Immediately a Spam Arrest verification e-mail came back asking me to validate the e-mail as non-spam. Here is an organization making it difficult for ready-to-buy prospects to contact them. I verified, but I wonder how many prospects do? Something to think about: Are YOU making it easy or difficult for hot prospects to contact you right now?

Cold calling? Or new ideas?

Lately I've been learning from some amazing internet marketing genuises, because I obviously sell my products online and want to make the most of it. What blows my mind is just how much I learn from these guys and how much of it can be directly applied to sales! The premise of my systems is self-marketing instead of cold calling, and the beauty of self-marketing is that, unlike cold calling, which restricts you to only one activity, there are dozens and dozens of self-marketing techniques that are extremely effective, not to mention free or very low cost. So, the question is, do you actively seek out new ideas that you can use in your day-to-day selling? Or do you stick with the same old "activity plan" as always? Whether cold calling is part of your plan or not, you'll be amazed at how many new ideas you'll come up with if you move outside the sales box and delve into the world of marketing.

Do-not-call ... for business?

Now the UK is proposing a new law that would expand their version of do-not-call to cover businesses as well as consumers. We already know that businesses are sick of cold calling. I've talked about a university study showing that over 80% of executives refuse to do business with a cold caller. Now it looks like the UK is taking the next step and banning business cold calling!