Tuesday, April 17th, 2012
What are your customers doing when your marketing or sales messages show up in their lives? Sitting there waiting, minds clear, all prepared to devote their full attention to what you have to say?
Of course not!
Any time your customers encounter your marketing or sales messages, you can be sure that they already have a deep, rich, personal narrative happening in their minds. Your challenge: Become part of that story without interrupting it. Have a look at today’s newsletter, Don’t Knock Her Story Out Of Her Hands.
Posted in Brand Harmony, Conversation, Customer Encounters, Ditch the Pitch, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Today’s newsletter, “Don’t Stop the Conversation When You Hang Up the Phone,” focuses on creating ongoing conversations with your customers, giving you ideas for strengthening your customer relationships.
We’re all good at creating ongoing conversations with our friends. Let’s try to be just as good at it in business!
Read the newsletter: Don’t Stop the Conversation When You Hang Up the Phone
Posted in We relationships | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
Today’s newsletter article, How to Turn a Sales Conversation into a Shared Story is the third in a series outlining Ditch the Pitch Habits.
This article focuses on one of the most important principles of ditching the pitch: If your customer doesn’t want to hear your sales pitch, how do you get the customer to understand your story, and find it compelling?
These Ditch the Pitch Habits can help you whether you are selling widgets, selling ideas, raising money, convincing bosses, renting office space … etc. … anytime you need to persuade someone, you’re better off ditching the pitch!
Posted in Ditch the Pitch | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
It’s time for Ditch the Pitch Habits #3 and #4 – Say Yes and Explore and Heighten in my series of The Seven Ditch the Pitch Habits. These habits are about creating mutual agreement and affirmation with your customer … pay attention to them and you will know How to Propel a Sales Conversation Forward.
Posted in Ditch the Pitch | No Comments »
Saturday, January 21st, 2012
In a scene from the movie The Social Network, the story of the early days of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and his partner Eduardo Saverin are riding in a taxi after their first sushi-restaurant meeting with Napster founder Sean Parker. Eduardo had been lobbying to sell ads on Facebook, and Mark had been resisting because he thought it was too early. (Facebook had 75,000 members at that point, in 19 colleges.) The issue comes up again during the cab ride, and Mark reminds Eduardo that Parker had said that being “cool” was the best thing Facebook had going for it, and ads could ruin that. Mark then quoted Parker directly: “Selling ads would be like throwing a party and having it end at 11PM.”
Eduardo responds that he has to worry about paying for the party, and Mark shoots back this line: “There won’t be a party if it’s not cool.”
This is a great lesson for ditching the pitch: Don’t turn a genuine encounter into a sales conversation too quickly. Be patient. Earn the trust of the person you are dealing with, and you will earn the right to have your discussion evolve into a sales conversation. And never, ever, let it turn into a sales pitch.
Imagine being invited to play golf by a friend who sells insurance, and realizing by the 3rd hole that the only reason he invited you was to pitch you life insurance. Imagine talking to a neighbor at your street’s block party, and realizing that his enthusiasm for the conversation is really just eagerness to sell you new siding for your house. In either case it might be possible to turn you into a customer, but not if they do it too quickly. Once you see the sales pitch coming, you duck.
In hindsight, it’s interesting to see that Facebook now has many “uncool” things about it that it didn’t have back in its early days – ads, stretching the limits of using member data, open to everyone (not just college students). Facebook clearly gets away with this – it’s the #2 trafficked website on the Internet (after Google.) But Zuckerberg and Parker were right, the party would have never happened if it hadn’t been cool first.
Have patience. Let’s the party get going. Relax and have a good time with your customer. You’ll know when it’s time to start selling.
Posted in Ditch the Pitch | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
In my last newsletter article I described the Seven Ditch the Pitch Habits. In today’s issue, How to Start a Sales Conversation I focus on the first two of those habits, Be alert to be quick on your feet, and Size up the scene.
Everyone can ditch the pitch and learn to be more persuasive, whether you are a sales star, a sales neophyte, or someone who is not in a sales job but needs to persuade people to do things or agree with you. These two habits lay the foundation for great sales conversations. Start using them now!
Posted in Ditch the Pitch | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011
Want to sell more? Don’t Think So Much is the topic of today’s newsletter.
And … you’ll see how the director of comedy studies at Second City and a professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine arrive at the same conclusions.
Posted in Ditch the Pitch, Improvisation | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
Does it irritate you when a sales person talks too much? (It irritates me!)
Doesn’t it make him or her less effective? (I think so!)
Today’s newsletter, Say Less. Sell More., focuses on this key principle of selling: Talk less.
Posted in Conversation, Ditch the Pitch, Sales - Ditch the Pitch | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Imagine this … one of your customers is speaking with a friend, and suddenly notices that the friend should also be your customer. After witnessing this opportunity, what does he do? Recommend you, or let the opportunity pass by?
Check out today’s newsletter, Will your customers be witnesses for you?
Please share your comments … are your customers witnesses for you? Do you ever serve as a witness for others, noticing business opportunities for them?
Posted in Conversation, Customer Encounters, We relationships | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
What’s my answer when somebody asks me for 3 Tips for Better Customer Conversations?
- Don’t talk about yourself.
- Leave things in your pocket.
- Use callbacks.
You don’t want to miss these tips… they can help you improve your conversations today.
Read the newsletter: “3 Tips for Better Customer Conversations“
Posted in Conversation, Customer Encounters, Ditch the Pitch, Sales - Ditch the Pitch | 3 Comments »
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