All Entries in the "Getting The Sale" Category
Using Content Marketing To Make Sales and Eliminate Puffery
You think you are awesome. And god bless you for it. After all — if you don’t toot your horn, who will? Right? You do need to toot your own horn — but here is a news flash for you – If that’s all you’ve got — we aren’t buying it. Today, puffery alone is [...]
Sales: How To Get Around Any Gatekeeper
Do you know what it feels like to be shut out by the gatekeeper? If you have been in business for any length of time, I am sure you do. I started a business in 2004 (that failed miserably) that required me to do a ton of cold calling. [Well, required isn't the right word [...]
Tips On Negotiating A Contract & Doing The Money Dance
Following is how I royally screwed up a contract negotiation for both me and my potential customer: I received a referral for a website design, blog design and social media project from a great friend of mine and colleague. The following activities ensued: I looked at the existing website of the potential customer (~30 mins) [...]
Why People Don’t Buy & Why I Hate The Word “Cute”
My wife: “Ooooh! Look how cute this store is. Look how cute these knick-knacks are. Look how cute the little old lady is that owns this cute little place that sells all of this cute stuff!” For me, cute is another word for useless. Non-practical. Nevertheless, I found myself shopping in one of Missouri’s cutest [...]
One Solid Sales Generating Tip and Why We Eat at Applebee’s
Every day for three years or so I drove past a restaurant called Legends not more than a mile from my home. I never once went in. The restaurant went out of business this winter. It’s not like I will only eat at Applebee’s, O’Charley’s or TGI Fridays — actually I prefer to eat at [...]
Let’s Have A Conversation! As Long As It Is About Me
Don’t let this be your mantra online! There is no money in it. Remember that the rules of human behavior have not changed just because we are now on the Internet. The rules (if anything) have become magnified by the enormous amount of communication on the Internet every day. Consider Dale Carnegie’s classic business bible [...]
3 Marketing Tactics That Sank My First Business
I started a business in 2004 with $10,000 in start up cash and a ton of good intentions. It failed. Miserably. But not before I could spend the entire $10,000 and 18 months of my life. It wasn’t a complete waste, however. I received a greater education from this experience than I would eventually receive [...]
The Disconnect Between Sales And Execution
Advantage: Tiny Business Owner I have experience working with a large service based organization that had 100′s of sales representatives beating the street. These sales reps would secure deals, get a contract signed and then pass it on to us for implementation. We were the ones executing on the terms placed in these contracts. Big [...]
The Most Important Word In The “Marketing Dictionary”
What is the most important term in the “Marketing Dictionary” in the age of the Internet. Remarkable – worthy of notice or attention. Seth Godin, in his must-read marketing book “Purple Cow”, lays out the challenge that is before all of us as tiny business owners — we must find a way to be different. [...]
Are Your Marketing Messages Ignored, Tolerated or Desired?
Today, the customer chooses what they will give attention to. In this environment, the most effective marketing messages are those that are DESIRED. Anything that is not DESIRED — will be merely tolerated and, more often, IGNORED. Consumers have taken the reigns of power away from the marketer. Consumers have TIVO, iPods, DVD’s, blogs, social [...]
