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Marketing Hype and Coffee

July 24, 2008 | 1 Comment

I love coffee.  I drink 1-2 pots per day.  (My wife has 2 or so cups of the two pots, even though I tell her not not touch it.)

There are those occasional days that I drink too much and the coffee starts to taste bad.  No matter how much I love coffee, there is a point where I’d rather drink water to clean the palate.

It is no wonder that we are all so immune to marketing hype as well.  I get a lot of newsletters, read a lot of blogs and talk to a lot of people.   Opening an email and seeing “Ready to make millions?” or “Think of it as 1,000 miles per gallon.” creates a very tire, annoyed reaction.

If you want to be 100% sure that I delete your email without reading beyond the first sentence, start out with some hype.  I maxed out on hype years ago and I would rather eat dirt than read hype now.

And don’t invite me to waste an hour of my life in your sales pitch/webinar.  I might come if you are giving away the farm, but if you are just selling me something, keep it to a decision I can make without wasting more than 30 seconds.

I cringe at hype.  I know the sales cycle.  Let’s just cut to the chase and get on with life.  You either have something that will make my life MUCH easier, or you do not.

The funny thing is that most of us like to buy things.  But we do not like to buy everything and we hate to be SOLD.

Do you want me to read your email?

Start out like this in a text only email:

Hi Ron,

I read your blog regularly and get a lot of value from it.  I have something that I am certain will interest you (or your readers.)

Since you read my blog, it really might be true and I have to read your email.  Probably twice, because it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.

If you are still trying to force people to drink their 50th cut of hype for the day, maybe it is time to become a human being and appeal to them by showing them you care.

PS:  Buy My EBook and Get Richer Than Warren Buffet

Offline Activity that Drives Website Traffic

July 15, 2008 | 2 Comments

Because online marketing is newer than other forms of marketing, it is easy to think of them as two different worlds.  However, if you think of business being about relationships and providing value, that barrier breaks down right away.

The question is not whether online will work for you.  The very legitimate question is, Do you have the time and inclination to use online tools to extend what you are doing?

I do not do direct mail.  I don’t want to, and while I may be losing out on some clients, I do not care because I do not believe in direct mail as an effective marketing tool in most cases.

For many business owners, they have a website, but they do not believe in internet marketing.  That is fine as well.  It is your choice, and it is less about whether it works or not, and more about your inclination to try to do it right.

Something that is often lost is that online extends off-line.  Here are some ideas on how to use your real-world marketing and online marketing to form a great marketing alliance.

1. Speech Teaser – When you give a speech, mention the limited time but let the audience know where to go on your website to find a video of 5 more secret tips.  Ideally it is after they sign up for the newsletter.
2. Direct Mail – Go to the website and sign in to get your secret discount code – or to see if you have won a prize.
3. Brochure – Expand your paper brochure with a website address that has video of your product, service, etc.
4. Business Card – Don’t just list your main website.  List your blog or other resources.  Use the back of your business card to add value.
5. Networking – When you have a chance to meet people and work with people, use sites like LinkedIn to connect and leave testimonials and endorsements.
6. Cold Calling – When you call someone and they are interested in your offer, get their email and send them a link or two to video or resources that will interest them but not be too sales oriented.
7. Print – Always have ways to get more information by visiting the website.  I recently saw a whole proposal done as a public blog to demonstrate the companies commitment to social media.
8. Advertising – No matter what your advertising, they should be able to explore the topic more by going online.

If you are doing all of these things, you could say that you are doing Internet Marketing, you could say you are doing traditional marketing, or you could just say you are a damn fine marketer.

7 Reasons Idiot Optimists Beat Their Head against the Sales Door

December 5, 2007 | 1 Comment

You may know that studies have shown that optimists make better sales people. They do not quit and go start slinging burgers at the BK like the more intelligent pessimists do.

Do you believe this is a good thing?

The optimist keeps trying, and trying….

Don’t they understand that even the most positive optimist, when faced with someone trying to part them with their money, becomes a pessimist?

The deck is stacked against you, my optimistic friend.

Here are 7 reasons your optimistic attitude hurts your sales.

1. Optimistic Sales Person says: Look at all these great features and benefits my product has…
   Pessimistic Prospect thinks: How do I end this meeting faster?
    
2. Optimistic Sales Person says: You are going to save a lot of money!
   Pessimistic Prospect thinks: I am going to lose a lot of time and money converting.
    
3. Optimistic Sales Person says: This will make your company run more efficiently.
   Pessimistic Prospect thinks: Anything that adds complexity to my business will make things worse.
    
4. Optimistic Sales Person says: You owe it to yourself.
   Pessimistic Prospect thinks: I owe myself an early retirement because I am debt free.
    
5. Optimistic Sales Person says: This price is only good today.
   Pessimistic Prospect thinks: Liar.
    
6. Optimistic Sales Person says: We don’t have customers, we have friends.
   Pessimistic Prospect thinks: I don’t buy friendships.
    
7. Optimistic Sales Person says: We can customize it for you.
   Pessimistic Prospect thinks: Great. Now it is more expensive and won’t work at all.

If you are cursed with optimism, there is hope.  Understanding pessimism and how people are thinking, beyond what they are saying, will help you deal with your disadvantage.

Tags: Sales, Optimist, Pessimist

Buying a new digital camera

August 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Sneezers are people who say something and other people react to it.  There was a time when marketing experts projected that 90% of the population did what 10% told them too.  More refined research later on revealed that many more people have a center of influence, even if they are not widely listened to.

For example, I call my dad for car or computer hardware information.  So do about 30 other people.  However, he is not extremely social or influential to a wide audience.

The unfortunate thing about this from a marketers perspective is that you cannot just focus on 10% of the population and expect them to tip the scales and tell the other 90%.  You have to create remarkable products and services that people will talk about, and you have to get a critical mass aware of the product or it will never be discovered.

So yesterday I bought an HP Photosmart R937 digital camera.  Just a mid-range camera that I could use every day.  It is worth talking about because someone else completely influenced me to not only buy it, but to run out and buy it within an hour of talking to them.

Steve and I were talking weeks ago about how I keep putting off buying a decent new digital camera.  He owns very high end photography equipment and reads all the magazines, so I knew that he keeps up to date on what is good. 

Yesterday morning he called (not about the camera) and he started telling me he bought the HP camera for his wife and it really impressed him.  He knew the price, the model number and told me about the features, which memory card to buy and how much it was on sale for, and where to buy it.  He also told me they were selling really fast and to call first because they were probably out.  (Good job by the sales people to create the aura of scarcity.)

Well, I’d been putting off buying one because I knew I needed to research digital cameras first, but I kept putting off researching them.  So within an hour I called, had one held at the store and ran out and purchased it.  It is a nice camera but I do not know if I got the best deal or not, I just took his word for it.

This phenomenan is common with electronics, books, cars, music and some other products.  How can you make it happen for your business or product?  Do other people really get excited about working with you?

Handshake HQ - Give It A Try

June 20, 2007 | Leave a Comment

 Handshake HQ

We have not fully launched Handshake HQ yet.  It is fully functional but we continue to look at ways to improve the interface and marketing.  That said, give it a try if you would like.  You can sign up at http://www.handshakehq.com/ and there is a free account as well as a paid version.

What is it?

OK, long story short.  I wanted a better tool to follow up with people after I met them, so I tossed together the first version of Handshake HQ to help me by templating my emails so I could craft better messages with better goals.  Then I could power through a stack of cards in seconds and send each person a highly personal email. - No SPAM, these had to be sent one at a time.  It just helped me write better emails and not have to retype the whole thing.

I started using it with a great deal of success, and as soon as I told the first person about it, they wanted it for their organization. Handshake HQ is the commercial version of this simple solution.  Better Messages Faster with Better Results is what it boils down to.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.  It is an attempt on our part to share tools we find useful and profitable with other people that may benefit from the same strategy.

Rain Today Report on Sales and Leads

March 12, 2007 | 1 Comment

I got an email from Aaron Joslow, Editor of RainToday.com (http://www.raintoday.com), an online content site focused on marketing and selling for professional services.

Here is what he wrote:

We recently surveyed over 700 professional services firms and asked them, among other things, what has worked to generate leads for them in the past, what has not worked, and what they are planning on doing to generate leads in the future.

We released the results and analysis in the report, The “Future of Lead Generation” Benchmark Report (http://www.raintoday.com/leadgenreport.cfm). Some results I thought you might find of particular interest include: 

• 33% of respondents reported they currently approach the goal of getting new clients by generating referrals – aka generating buzz and word of mouth for their products and services.
  
• 38% of respondents reported that becoming members of industry organizations is “very” or “extremely effective” in generating new leads. This speaks to your point #2 about cultivating relationships with people that are influential in areas that benefit you.

• 27% of respondents reported that “publishing our own e-newsletter” is “very” or “extremely effective” in generating new leads. This speaks to your point #4 and as we both know can certainly help to nurture leads and stay in touch with your network.

This data certainly supports your points about the best ways to generate buzz! I thought that you and your readers might be interested in some of these results for your blog.

———-

Go check out their site.  I have been getting their email newsletter for years and they do a great job at providing highly useful information for sales.  They have a free executive summary of the report here: http://www.raintoday.com/6insights.cfm.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Marketing ROI, Networking, Sales, Word of Mouth Marketing 

Levels of Conversion

December 8, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I have a long history in Internet Marketing before Buzzoodle.  We started out with simple eNewsletters and grew a big content management system for ePublishing.  The right client found our tools very effective.

The wrong clients found us overpriced or too complex.

I fully understand the value of focus in a business.  However, I think it is worth thinking about the various levels of conversion that can take place, and how all of these help you in the long run.

Conversion is getting people to take action.  On the most basic of levels, you subscribing to my RSS feed would be a conversion.  You have let me create a long term relationship with you (that you can delete any time).  And it is free.

Then, something I was lacking until just recently, is the easy conversion.  Purchasing my book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, is an easy, low risk conversion that gives me the chance to help you and make a couple of dollars.  This is wonderful because when someone calls me and wants to hire me, but has no budget, I can now suggest the book.

Next is the moderate conversion.  For us, this was the addition of the coaching program where we help people get some of their staff up to speed on creating buzz and we help them stay motivated and results oriented.

Then I do speaking, which is getting paid to go out and create some buzz.  I would say this is also a moderate conversion for companies and organizations that do not want to commit to an ongoing engagement but want a shot in the arm to create some buzz and get staff to think about ways to increase the organizational visibility.

Next is the custom Buzz Marketing.  This is the most complex sale that involves a significant investment of time and money by a client.  We only want 10 of these a year because having too many dilutes our effectiveness.

Why am I telling you this?

There is an important Buzz Marketing point here.  None of these things are separate products.  They are part of our unique message and brand, and are just different ways to create relationships and value for organizations with different needs.  And they all feed off of one another.

Can you create a worksheet that you could give prospects and they will appreciate, because it is valuable and does not just sell you?  (Easy Conversion)

Can you go out and speak about your industry? How do people know if you can?

Even if you have a complex sale, can you develop something that is a simple sale for people that are not ready for the complex sale yet?  An online course?  A book or DVD?

If you are frequently turning away people that are interested in your products or services because they are not the right fit, make something ancillary that is of value to them and will get them to remember you and buzz about you.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Sales, Small Business 

Worlds Leading Sales Guru Endorses Buzzoodle

December 1, 2006 | Leave a Comment

OK, Dan Tudor may not be the world’s leading sales guru.  However, he might be depending on the criteria we use to judge.  How can any of use ever really know who is #1?  He does have an excellent sales blog called www.landingthedeal.com and I read it regularly.

As he is so good at, he adds great value to the conversation about customer service that I mentioned. He also endorses the book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing.

It is fun when you know all the coolest people in the world.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle, Sales 

Randomness and Luck

November 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I sat down to watch a presentation yesterday by Connie Dieken (An excellent speaker) and the woman next to me, Joan Looman of GEMS and I started talking. She asked me some questions about what I do and I eventually mentioned the book.  I happened to have one demo copy with me and she bought it on the spot.  I did not try to sell it to her, she really wanted to buy it.  Random sale

The same evening someone was telling me about stopping in to cold call a business to sell them advertising about 10 years ago.  He said the receptionist tried to blow him off, but the woman behind the desk smiled at him and asked him to come in.

She took him to her big, executive office and when she turned to him, she asked, “Don’t you recognize me?”  It turned out to be his teacher from middle school.  She bought some advertising just because of the chance meeting.  Random.

You can count on a certain percentage of sales from any given activity (assuming it results in at least one sale.)

You can also count on a certain percent of good luck, which is not truly luck.  If you create more buzz, you are communicating with more people and spreading more good stories.  This will increase the frequency of things that happen to you just out of luck.

Maybe I should have named the book 57 Ways to Get Lucky.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzzoodle, Networking, Sales 

Selling out of the Trunk of your Car

November 14, 2006 | 2 Comments

I was reading an article on CNN about Organic Chocolate.  One portion of the article talks about a guy selling chocolate from the trunk of his car.  Yuck!  I would not buy chocolate from someone that opened up his trunk and was selling home made stuff.  Of course, it may be a metaphore for selling in farmers markets and such.  I am not sure.

That got me thinking though.  The Internet is the new trunk of your car.  I do not know if you are storing your products in a warehouse or under your bed.  If your Internet Trunk looks good, your price is good and your product is good, I am going to be happy and tell other people.  The Internet helps you take the shady out of very small businesses.  That means global buzz is possible for everyone.?

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Internet Marketing, Sales, Small Business, Word of Mouth Marketing 

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