The Winner's Sales Strategy Blog

What's it worth to you?

What's it worth to you to be able to stop cold calling forever?

I'm asking because I think it's funny when someone says a book or course is overpriced. People have a way of thinking in terms of the cost of materials rather than the value of the knowledge contained within. Let me give you two examples:

1. Last week a package arrived. It was a $1,000 box of materials (a couple of books and a bunch of CDs and DVDs) on marketing. I'm barely into the course - I read the introductory book and got through three DVDs - and it has already paid for itself. How? I made some changes to my websites based on what I learned there, and sales are shooting through the roof as a result.

The cost of materials of this product was probably around $20. In fact a friend saw the modest stack of books and CDs on my desk and said, "Was that REALLY worth a thousand dollars?????"

2. A couple of months ago I acquired another marketing kit also priced at $1,000 (I believe it's since gone up). It's a spiral-bound book, about 120 pages, and a few CDs. I haven't even listened to the CDs because the book is what I was after, and even at a thousand dollars it paid for itself in about a week and has made me plenty more money since. It's that good.

I figure this product cost under $10 to produce. Since I only wanted the book and it's all I've used so far, figure about $2 printing cost. And yet the $1,000 I paid for it is a bargain price considering how valuable it is to my business.

So ... can you see what I mean by VALUE vs. COST? People are always whining about how some book is overpriced and that course is too expensive and no way are they paying $500 for that seminar ... BUT ... what is the VALUE? Sitting right next to my desk are the books & CDs mentioned above that cost me $2,000. They've already paid for themselves, and will continue to do so many times over.

I guess it wasn't stupid after all to spend two grand on $30 worth of paper and CDs.

Where's your credibility?

One of the key components of my sales strategy is positioning yourself as the expert and the authority figure. Many elements of the self-marketing system I teach are designed to do just that.

Seth Godin today posted on his blog about authors who go to great lengths to make their book a bestseller, even if it remains at #1 for only an hour.

The catch, of course, is that even if you're only at #1 for a minute, for the rest of your life you carry the title of "#1 Best-Selling Author."

What would that do for your credibility? Obviously, becoming a best-selling author is not realistic for salespeople ... but becoming regarded as an "expert author" on the Internet is, and it's easy, and it's something I show people how to do every day.

Would you still worry about your competition with THAT kind of credibility on your side?

The new breed of celebrity

I was just on Amazon reading reviews of Joe Vitale's awesome book, Life's Missing Instruction Manual (I do that with books I love to see what others thought).

One of the reviews used the term "Internet celebrities" to describe Dr. Vitale's friends and colleagues who contributed to the book.

I found this interesting because they didn't have to get a lucky break in Hollywood or become rock stars to become Internet celebrities. All they did was build a web presence that positions them as the expert. And guess what - that's the same exact advice I tell salespeople who want to become top producers: build a web presence that positions you as the expert. Contrast that with cold calling, which just makes you look like an idiot.

There's a myth that "It's not what you know, it's who you know." People think connections are the most important thing. That's a half-truth. As Jeffrey Gitomer said it so well, "It's not who you know, it's who knows YOU that matters."

Now this is funny

An angry email came in today from a site visitor. She went for the free downloads I give away on the homepage, then got furious that the site contains a sales pitch for my product.  (Well duh, of course it does.) She thinks it should ALL be free - I should give the product away too!!!

During her next sales appointment I hope the prospect says, "Price? Are you kidding me? There's a price? I thought you were giving it away free!"

Ad Agencies Won't Advertise

Found this in Seth Godin's Blog (I read it every day. You should too). I've talked about how many marketing experts predict the death of the big Madison Avenue ad agencies in the next several years, and in fact "ad agency creatives" was listed in the Top 10 jobs that are going away in a recent article I read (no loss there, they don't really do anything). In any case, here's the link to the post:

Click Here To Read

Staying current = customer loyalty

Today I was thinking about why I bought my new car where I bought it. After all, there another dealer selling the same make only about a mile from where I live, yet I bought from a dealer a good 15 miles away.

When I bought my current car, I wasn't shopping the car lots. I went shopping on eBay, knowing I could find a killer deal on there below what the dealer's sticker prices were. I found a car that was exactly what I wanted, located the seller, and guess what ... it was a dealer.

I went down there to look at it. I was treated much better than at any of the other dealers. Two days later they finally called to offer me the price I wanted so I went straight over and bought the car. Ever since then, I've been treated like royalty by their service department, been way more than satisfied, and chose them once again when I ordered my new car (in fact I didn't even talk to any other dealers or try to get a better price).

So ... what does this have to do with staying current? They won me over with their great service, right? Well, yes ... but I would have never found them had they not been on eBay. This dealer was savvy enough to recognize an emerging sales method and embrace it, rather than dismiss it and sit around waiting for "ups" to walk onto the lot.

Do you have the greatest service in the world? Even if you do, it will go for naught if buyers can't find you. Embrace modern selling tactics to make sure that doesn't happen.