B2B Rainmaker is a B2B lead generation and complex sales site, dedicated to providing practical information and know-how to attract suspects and nurture them to be qualified prospects ready to engage in sales opportunities and become lifelong customers.  

Here is a link to the site:  B2B Rainmaker

Enjoy!

Here is where you can learn more about this report:  CLICK HERE!

This report, first published in November 2006, was downloaded nearly 3000 times the first 12 months of its release and forwarded to others countless times.

The first report included an offer for a no cost lead generation tune-up consultation.  Over two dozen companies took us up on the offer - I expect many more will request such a meeting after reading this second edition.  Those meetings raised a lot of great questions and topics of discussion about lead generation in general and direct mail in particular.  And that’s what led to the second edition of this report.

What we’ve done in this edition is take the most common questions we’ve been asked since this report first published and answer them here for all to benefit.  We picked the questions and offered answers we believe will be most beneficial to creating new direct mail lead generation campaigns.

If you read the first edition, there’s enough new meat added in this second edition to make reading this revised report a worthwhile - the original report was 21 pages, this second edition is 57 pages.  

If you didn't read the first edition, this is the report where I break-down every single element and thought put into an actual complex sales lead generation letter I wrote and successfully used to sell a client's expert service to county government, school districts, and F1000 enterprises.  It had a 75% response.

Several people reached out to me after the first edition of this report and shared they thought it was by far the most valuable report they had ever read - many couldn't believe it didn't cost anything.  The first edition is nothing compared to the second.

I want to personally thank all of you who contributed to the success of this report and for taking the time to read and share it with others.  I especially appreciate the volume of kind words and appreciation many of you expressed after having read the first edition. I hope you enjoy this second edition as much as the first and find it as valuable.  We put a lot of thought and effort into it.

Be sure you read page 56.  The offer is good to everyone who reads this report.  And believe me when I tell you it is worth every minute.

Here is where you can learn more about this report:  CLICK HERE!

Longevity is an interesting thing. You’d think (and hope) that doing something longer makes you better.  Maybe it does.  Better than you were before, but not necessarily better than others.  That may be the problem with longevity as it relates to experience, longer doesn’t mean better or best.  Longer just means longer.

Years of experience are important, but it needs to be put in context.  It’s conceivable 40 years experience could be less valuable than 10 years or even five.  Hanging around for a long time alone is not a good indication of value, competence, or ability.  You have to put it all in perspective and value its relevance.

Where am I going with this?

You see a lot of businesses proudly declare their longevity -  businesses often proudly proclaim 20 Years Experience.  It sounds good on the surface, but what does it really mean?  Why should I be impressed with years of experience?  Are 20 year old businesses inherently better than comparable businesses open for only 10 years?  Maybe.  Or mybe not. 

Years of experience is likely something we should care about.  Something meant in a different way, but poorly worded. 

Companies who claim longevity most likely want to convey the feeling of success earned and expected as a result of their years of experience - number of satisfied customers, certifications, variety of projects, number of problems solved, number of opportunities created, amount of money made, volume of business, etc.  But merely saying 20 Years Experience doesn’t mean anything.

It would be nice if the oldest person or business were the smartest, most accomplished, highest value, and best reasoned.  It would make electing a President hiring a CEO, and investing in your 401K a lot easier.  But it doesn’t work that way.

You and I need to remain mindful that while our years of experience are valuable, we can’t rest on the fact that we have 20 Years Experience, the world doesn’t owe us anything for it.  Instead, we need to define that value and put a face on what makes our longevity beneficial to our customers. 

What do you think?

It’s an important a critical concept:  The purpose of B2B lead generation isn’t to sell.

Here's why: B2B sales prospects, especially true in complex sales, won’t and can’t buy without a direct dialogue with the seller.

So, your B2B lead generation activities should focus on compelling the prospect to agree to meet with you or otherwise engage in a direct conversation by piquing their qualified interest.

B2B lead generation campaigns should attract suspects, qualify them as prospects, and compel them to engage with your company in a sales opportunity. You don’t sell to prospective customers until you’re directly engaged with them.

It’s the critical part of a successful B2B lead generation campaign - create qualified leads first, sell later.

What do you think?

(More info to follow soon…)

(More info to follow soon…)

(More info to follow soon…)

(More info to follow soon…)

Ask for a referral.

If a prospect won’t buy, ask them who they believe you should call next. Ask for the name of a business or person they believe you should call that will find value in your product or service. Then call that business or person and use your first prospect’s name as reference to your call.

Here’s how it works:

Me: It doesn’t look like we’re going to do business together. If you were me, who would you call next? Do you know anyone that might need a service like mine?

First Prospect: Why don’t you call Joe Prospect, I met Joe a while back and he mentioned a need for something like this.

Me: Thanks! Can I have Joe’s number and contact information?

Fast forward…

Me: Hi Joe! I’m Jim Logan. First Prospect told me I should call you, he believes I have a service you’ll find of value…

Just because a prospect doesn’t buy, doesn’t mean they’re without value. Ask for referrals, stay in touch, and network with them. Your next customer is just one referral away.

Do you have any good referral stories to share? Any tips to getting referrals from prospects or customers?

What I’m about to say may bug some of you, but I’m going to say it anyway.

If you’re like most direct marketers, the concepts you’re running are mediocre at best. And they could be costing you a lot of money – even if they’re dirt cheap to produce.

At our direct marketing agency, we’ve tested unusual concepts against common ideas – like the “pieces of the puzzle” visual near the top of this entry – and tracked the results.

In spreadsheet after spreadsheet, we’ve seen that unconventional creative ideas often whup so-called tried-and-true creative directions.

But to win in split-run tests, those new ideas can’t simply be different. They’ve got to be relevant, captivating, smart – and responsive.

As David Ogilvy said, “If it doesn’t sell, it isn’t creative.”

Fortunately, advertising creativity isn’t a black art. Just about every successful creative team has a methodology. We call ours “controlled chaos.”

We start by sending a client questionnaire. We study the client’s marketing history – and their competition. We do one-on-one interviews with people inside and outside the client’s organization – and comb through every interview.

From there, we collect lots of ideas. We empty our brains of what’s expected. We look at the problem from a variety of angles. When it’s time to present ideas, we only show stuff we believe is potentially great.

When a client has a “control” approach – something that’s been running successfully – we recommend a head-to-head test. Whatever wins continues to run. It’s that simple.

As direct marketers, we aren’t supposed to rely on speculation, opinions, and biases. In our marketing communications discipline, it’s all about actual dollar votes.

And because this is marketing communications, it pays to pay attention to the communications end. In fact, it may be the source of your greatest triumphs.

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Robert Rosenthal is founder of Mothers of Invention, an 18-year-old direct marketing agency that’s created record-breaking campaigns for dozens of clients. His blog is Freaking Marketing.

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But it’s not always simple, easy, or as obvious as it should be. Or is it?

You can’t be in much more a commodity business than whiteboards. I’m talking about the boards littering the walls of offices around the world – capturing dry erased plans, projects, priorities, and wild ideas of employees and business leaders alike.

There aren’t a lot of options with whiteboard – size is the primary consideration when purchasing. A try to hold markers is about the only variable. Accessories are pretty much limited to markers and erasers. Magnet boards offer a choice of sorts for magnets. For the most part, we buy whiteboards based on price per size. They’re a commodity.

Or are they?

A StartupJournal article showcases a tiny company named Magnatag Visible Systems. Magnatag is an orange in the world of apples filled whiteboards. They’ve separated themselves from the commodity market they exist in. What they do is simple, easy, and obvious – using magnets and grids, they make whiteboards for specific purposes and uses.

The doctors on NBC’s “ER” series used a Magnatag on set to keep track of patients. This year, the New Orleans Saints mapped NFL draft picks on a Magnatag. A Colorado sheriff’s posse swears by their Magnatag for plotting search-and-rescue mountain missions.

If you want to know what an orange looks like, here’s a great example. The founder of Magnatag describes his business like this: Our boards are problem-solving devices — they are aspirins for people’s headaches.

That’s an orange.

And the result is Magnatag commands up to $1500 per board, with systems offered up to $10K+! Systems of whiteboards???? You can’t get much more an orange than this.

Unless you like competing on price and low margins, the benefits of not being a commodity are great. And it can be simple, easy, and obvious. The trick is to focus on your customer, think as they do, and solve the problem or create the opportunity they’re working to achieve. Then have the courage to act, test, and adjust to feedback.

I spoke to the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce last month about the dangers of being a commodity and ways to be an orange and avoid competing on price. The host told me it was the most attended teleconference they’ve held. It’s a good topic.

Is commoditization and its effects a concern in your business? Are you competing in a market driven by price, spec sheets, and everyone looks alike? Would you like to learn more about ways to avoid being a commodity, reducing price pressure, and maintaining – if not increasing – margins?

Please let me know your thoughts on this topic and your interest in discussing it more on this site.

In particular, I believe the discussion on NOT treating all customers alike and leveraging your Power Users to increase the performance of your customer-base is information many companies can use to spur creative ideas to make more money.  Also, the topic of creating flexibility in your business model and reducing your risk of business in dealing with repeat buyers is information many businesses can employ tomorrow to immediately grow revenue - I've done it in mine time and again.

For those of you on the call and those who registered and couldn't make it, you should have already received an email from me with a link to the call's resource page.  The resource page includes the following:

• MP3 file of the teleconference
• Teleconference outline
• List of sites and resources mentioned on the call
• Summary of key points and messages

Also, I included a bonus…

As a bonus associated with this call, I'm offering a no cost personal discussion of the opportunity to grow your business' repeat revenue.  I'll schedule time with you to discuss your particular situation and explore ways to increase your rate and volume of repeat business.  This won't be a sales call, just a sincere effort to help you take the information I shared in this month's call and make it meaningful for your business. 

Our conversation comes without obligation or expectation of being anything other than a sincere attempt to employ the information I shared.

The resource page includes instructions on how to claim this bonus.  

If you missed today's call and are interested in getting the audio, associated conference documents, and bonus, I'm offering all of them as an information product.  You can have access to the resource page for this call for $100.00.  The discussion alone makes this a great offer. 

Here's the link to place your order. 

To be sure, there are many things we can put off today that have no immediate or noticeable impact and consequence. That's a problem. We teach ourselves to put things off. We work procrastination into the formula and become comfortable with it.

The US Army use to have a tagline along the lines of We do more by 9AM than most people do in a day. It's greatly true. And the secret isn't starting your day at o-dark-thirty. The secret, if there is one, is the elimination of idle time and indecision.

Eliminating the BS in your workday and taking actions with true priority results in two things: shortening your workday and increasing productivity. And if you're consistent day after day, you're likely to fit a month's worth of productivity into a couple weeks.

What we have to do is discipline ourselves to act when we know we should be taking action. The next time you find yourself sitting at your desk thinking you should do something…simply do it.

People who consistently take timely action are generally more successful.

What do you think?

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There's the phone company that lost my business who waited until after I called to terminate my service to offer me a package to lower my bill. And the news weekly which offered to lower my subscription price months after I failed to renew. I subscribed at the higher price for two years…and haven't subscribed now for over three. I'll never forget the 500 company ending a string of multi-hundred thousand dollar a year purchases in great part because a sales rep hadn't called on them in over a year. All were unnecessary.

Churn can kill a business. It's part of the customer acquisition challenge - the more customers you lose, the more the pressure to chase new customers. For many companies, you can't get new customers fast enough to make up for the one time buyers and lost customers you already have.

I've worked with and for a number of companies who missed the key message in this post and paid for failing to understand: You need customers and repeat business to have a business.

There are exceptions, but exceptions are just that.

Repeat buyers provide a base of revenue, level of protection against lean times and time to cash that can't be replaced and should never be taken for granted.

What do you think?

• A couple nights’ travel
• Offsite meeting
• Customer entertainment
• All-hands meeting
• Catered lunch
• …the list goes on

- Or-

You could spend several hundred dollars cutting your accounts receivable about 56%.

Here’s how one company did the latter.

Here’s how we can work together.

The impact of Danzey’s collection effort has been nothing short of miraculous. As of mid-July, 96 percent of patients paid their bills within 30 days of receiving their first billing statement. Only two percent were in the 31 to 60 day range, and 2 percent were 61 or more days past due.

More importantly, Danzey slashed total accounts receivable by more than half in just five months, from $790,000 in late March to less than $350,000 by late August. “As a result of our financial controls in place, we have leveled the peaks and valleys of our cash flow, thereby ensuring that our bills are paid in a timely manner, getting completely away from financing our debt with credit cards,” Danzey wrote in his AllBusiness.com blog.

Guardian’s success has been so dramatic, in fact, that Danzey is exploring the possibility of doing contract billing work for other physician practices to produce another revenue stream.

It often works. But at what cost?

Some companies just toss discounts around randomly as a tactic to close a sale. Customers learn the best deals are always waiting at the end of the quarter and business year.

Discounts, special offers, and promotional pricing are all valid sales tactics. I’ve used them all and have closed sales as a result of each. What I learned in the process is most B2B companies sabotage their revenue potential with inappropriate discount strategies - the results of which are unnecessary discounting, reduced margins, and lost revenue.

New customer discounts aren’t the only problem – volume discounts are an irritant too – but they’re the greatest area of discount abuse. The greatest missed opportunity are discounts applied to existing customers.

I’m convinced most B2B discount structures are upside-down and right-siding them can substantially grow your business. That’s your opportunity. It’s one of the topics I’m covering in next week’s teleconference on building greater and more frequent repeat business.

What do you think about new customer discounts and discounts in general? Do you agree with most businesses that new customers can and should be attracted with discounts?

Sponsor: Pick My Brain If you liked this post, maybe you should give it a try.

That’s it.  There are no other ways to make more money.

The first way, increasing the number of new customers, gets about 99% of a company’s marketers, salespeople, and management. If you’d argue I’m off on the 99% claim, I’m confident I’m not far from reality.  The business world is titled towards attracting and winning business from new customers. 

I’m not sure of the psychology behind it, but businesses put an disproportionate amount of focus on new customer acquisition, often at the sake of higher margin business from existing customers. 

To be sure, businesses need a continual flow of new customers, mine included, but to overlook the two other ways to make money is ridiculous.  I feel safe in saying businesses of all type and size are needlessly leaving money on the table each and every day in the form of unrealized opportunity with companies and individuals who have already decided to purchase or already are among their customer base. 

You should be maximizing all forms of revenue generation.

On Tuesday, June 26th, 10AM Pacific, I’m hosting a teleconference on the third way listed to make more money – increasing the rate and volume of repeat business.  In this fast paced one hour call I’ll offer straight forward and practical ways you can grow your revenue by increasing your rate and volume of repeat business:

• Learn why repeat business is critical to the long-term financial success of your company
• Learn why you should market differently to existing customers and how simple changes in your marketing approach can boost repeat business
• Understand why margins are greater when selling to existing customers and how you can use this fact to boost sales
• Learn why discount structures to attract new business are upside-down and how right-siding discounts can grow your business
• Discover something simple you can do tomorrow to immediately increase revenue from your existing customers, this can be a boost to relieve a cash flow problem
• Learn five things you should do to tighten your relationship with your existing customers and ripen the relationship for revenue growth
• Understand why it doesn’t matter if you have 1000, 10, or even fewer existing customers…you still can leverage your install-base to increase your revenue
• Learn why all customers aren’t alike, how this influences repeat business, and how it works in your favor in growing revenue

…and more!

Here's the link to register and reserve your spot on the call.

All registered attendees will receive an MP3 file of the call, as well as access to a resource page containing all links and documents mentioned in the call.  So, even if you can’t make the call on June 26th, you still can take advantage of the information I’m going to share.

The cost of this call is $43. 

If you register before 5PM Pacific, June 20th, the cost of this call is only $21. 

After the call, you may purchase the MP3 file and access to the associated resource page for $100.

I can't promise wild success in your business from having participated in this call.  But I can promise the value of the $43 fee. And I can guarantee this call will be a practical, no BS sharing of what I sincerely believe and use in my own business, as well as recommend to clients. 

Here's the link to register and reserve your spot on the call. 

If you can't make the call, there will be an MP3 file available to all registered attendees. 

Space is limited. There are no refunds or guarantees.

=====

UPDATE:  Here's the link to the post conference wrap-up and information on how to get the conference materials if you didn't previously register to attend. 

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That’s the question Dan Kennedy asked before giving a brief list of the four qualities of a good prospect.  I was recently skimming through one of his books, No BS Sales Success, and that question caught my attention.

It's a great question for sales people.  Selling to the wrong person is a mistake made by new and seasoned sales people alike.

If you’re selling to the wrong person you’re:

• wasting your time;
• inaccurately forecasting revenue;
• often killing the deal by aligning yourself with the wrong person in the organization;
• likely opening yourself to undue competition;
• artificially extending the sales cycle.

None of those are good things.  They make you an underachiever.

So, what did Dan list as the characteristics of the right prospect?  The right prospect is: 

• someone who has reason for interest in your proposition;
• someone with the financial ability to say yes;
• someone with the authority to say yes;
• someone that is predisposed to say yes.

If you're not sure you're working with the right prospect or are having trouble attracting your ideal customer, here's a simple way I can work with you to hone your skills finding quality sales opportunities.  

Regardless, is there anything you’d add to Dan’s list defining the right prospect?

Sponsor: Pick My Brain If you liked this post, maybe you should give it a try.

This service is the latter.

In summary, I'll review and comment on any sales or marketing copy you wish.  I won't rewrite your copy from scratch, but I'll give substantive comments, ideas, and suggestions to make it better and more actionable.  While I won't rewrite your copy, I'll most likely change a sentence here and there and won't hesitate to add a paragraph or two if needed.  

I'll read your copy looking for key ingredients proven to increase response rates and compel readers to act.  My review, comments, and input will be on ways to enhance these ingredients, resulting in an improvement to your copy and greater reader impact.

This service is an economical way to improve your copy and its ability to grow your business. The cost is $150 per page or 1000 words per URL.

Following is an example of the service and possibility of results you might achieve.

Here is what I was given to review.

Here is my review.

Here is the result (no emphasis added): "My response per letter last year was 3%. This year, due to your letter, I am getting an 11.5% response!! An increase of almost 400%!"

Bottom-line…The result of my review was a 400% increase in response as compared to previous mailings. The cost was a couple hundred dollars to purchase this service. The return was thousands of dollars in increased sales. No matter how you slice it…a great investment.

Here is the link to order this service. 

The first step is giving me some basic information on the copy you wish me to review and the upload of your copy.  The second step is a reroute to PayPal for payment.  Once I receive your copy and payment, I will acknowledge your oder with an email and give you an expectationon when you will receive my review.  Depending on my current workload, schedule, and size of your copy, I typically will get my review back to you within 48 hours.

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If you were a small business owner, focusing on local markets, and only had the resources – people, time, money – to have one marketing tool or activity, which would it be? This would be the one tool or activity your company can use to build your business. You have to produce meaningful results within 9 months.

I’ve thought about this a bit and I’ve decided if I could only have one marketing tool or activity, it would be business cards. A business card, with a compelling message about your offering, is the most effective marketing tool you can have…if you can only have one.

Beyond simple contact information, you should have a statement about your key benefit. Make your card a mini postcard about your most compelling offer. Use both sides of the card and get creative.

Business cards are the most underused marketing tool available. You can carry them with you anywhere. And they’re inexpensive enough to give away to everyone you meet.

Everyone you come in contact with should walk away with a card or two to remember and refer you when a need arises.

Here’s how I weighed other marketing tools and activities:

• Web-site. Having a website with no other marketing campaign is nearly worthless. You have to do something to get your target audience to your site. You can only do one thing, therefore, it’s out.
• Blog. You could blog and get people to your site eventually, but it’s hard to find your target audience using blog posts, especially as a small business. You need something to go with it. Next.
• White papers. Close. But you have to mail them, make them available on the web, etc. It takes two marketing tactics. We only get one.
• Brochure. Close too. But you’re not going to carry around brochures and hand them out at the kid’s ball games.
• Telemarketing. Maybe. We all hate cold calling, but if you could only do one thing…no, we all hate cold calling.
• Direct mail. I almost chose this. In fact, if I didn’t include business cards as marketing tactic and had in mind a market beyond my immediate region…this would have been the one. It can stand on its own and it still works.
• Email marketing. No. Too much of a wild card. And you have to collect email addresses first. I like the idea of having an ezine and believe most businesses should have one and send it regularly, but I wouldn’t use email as the only means to support my business.
• Radio. Possible, but too expensive in many markets and hard to target a specific audience.
• TV. Next.
• Local newspaper advertising. Dependant upon the business, this might work. For example, if my business were a local bakery, this is the one I might take.
• Press releases. I thought about this one a bit. Press releases can be used to announce any event in a business – launching a new product, opening a new market, changing locations, hiring key staff, hitting a milestone, etc. There are a lot of uses for press releases. But you have to get interested people to read them. That is tough and often requires a second activity.
• Tradeshow. Too expensive. Too long between events. But it works well with my business cards :-)
• Yellow Pages. Depending on your business, this would be the one to do. But it’s printed once a year, so it’s eliminated from my thoughts.

So, those are the tools and activities I thought of. Which did you choose? Or did you choose one I failed to mention? Remember, you can only have one. Let us know which one you chose and why.

Sponsor: Pick My Brain If you liked this post, maybe you should give it a try.

The lawsuit claims that Dell and Dell Financial Services LP engaged in fraud, false advertising and deceptive business practices.

The news is just that, Dell is being sued by the Sate of New York. The lawsuit is driven in part by a claim of deceptive bait-n-switch tactics related to a 0% financing offer – offering 0% financing and switching to a high interest rate loan at the close of the sale…or afterwards.

I have no idea if the claims against Dell are true of not. It’s not the point of this post. The point I’d like to address is the increasing sad state of marketing and customer service. This news of Dell is just a catalyst to share some thoughts looming in my mind.

Marketing today – it actually stated well before today – appears to be driven by fine print and caveats. I know not all marketing is deceptive, but enough is that it feels that way.

Just yesterday I ordered a phone from a cellular company that promoted a free phone…then they slapped an activation fee onto my account at checkout and disclosed the free phone was following a mail in rebate. My free phone cost $75 at checkout. In a month, I should recover $50.

Two weeks ago I canceled a bill pay service only to find out they extended me the courtesy of extending my service another 30 days…they charged me for the courtesy. Mind you I cancelled the service before they billed me for another month as part of a courtesy to clear my account.

A year or so ago I canceled a phone line in my office…the phone company offered me an incredible deal to keep my account, reducing my monthly fee by over half the cost I had paid for years. I asked the customer service rep why didn’t make me that offer while I was customer – I’m still waiting for the answer.

I received an offer in the mail last week for a line of credit I was guaranteed to qualify in receiving. The large print said the credit line was some crazy amount like $50K. The asterisk at the backend of the number led me to small print on the backside of the letter stating the offer was subject to approval. In other words, there was no offer…just an invitation to apply.

Earlier this morning I saw a weight loss product advertised on television. As the testimonials of one smiling skinny person after another glowed about the product, the small print on the bottom of the screen started to build. The print was small enough it couldn’t be read. I have no idea what it said, but am sure it pointed out the testimonial were either paid for or so rare no one could reasonably expect to share their success. Slightly larger print reminded us proper diet and exercise was required as part of the product’s weigh loss program.

Where does all of this leave us?

I believe we’re all jaded. We all look for the fine print, caveats, limitations, and disclaimers when we receive an offer. We expect there to be no such thing as the offer that’s too good to be true. We expect the claims to be exaggerated and the reviews to be fixed. At least I do.

How about you?

Your radar should remain alert for famous last words and when heard, challenge whoever speaks them. You're likely looking at the leader of the final collapse.

Some of my favorite famous last words follow:

• They'll never find out.
• The new supplier's not that great, but they sure are cheap.
• It's the only product of its kind.
• We only need four month's working capital.
• We.ll be cash flow positive in no time.
• We can float the taxes.
• Tell them we'll deliver next month for sure.
• The interest is high on the loan, but our margins are off the chart!
• We just have to get through this quarter and then everything will be okay.
• Just give it another month and it'll turn around.
• This is a can't lose deal.
• By this time next year, we'll all be millionaires!
• It's perfect! Don't change a thing.
• What's the worse that could happen?

What famous last words of business would you add to my list?

That's what I was once told by a start-up technology company I was asked by a friend to meet with. My friend, the majority investor in this company, asked me to review their sales presentation - a 50+ slide presentation loaded with features and functionality.

Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, considered by many to be the greatest American speech of all time, defining democracy and our purpose as a nation, took three minutes to deliver. So, why would it ever take anything more than 30 minutes to describe a company, it's offering, and benefits to a prospective customer? That's 15 times longer than Lincoln used at Gettysburg!

In my business, I see an awful lot of presentations. Emphasis should be placed on awful.

Companies spend way too much time bragging on themselves and extolling their greatness as opposed to focusing on the meaningful ways they aid the interests and alleviate the concerns of their customer. Customers could care less about the things you do, they're interested the things you do for them.

Customers buy benefits, not features. Features and functionality exist to support the benefits you offer. Get to the benefits first.

I don't believe there is such a thing as the right or wrong number of slides in a sales presentation. That being said, never have a sales presentation that is over 10 slides. If you need more than 10 slides to convey your value and benefits, something is wrong. Limit yourself to 10 slides and challenge yourself to get to the main points faster. You don't have the luxury of time with a prospect - you need to lock their interest early.

An interesting exercise is to make a presentation from the customer's perspective, addressing information the way they are likely processing your conversation with them. Use the following titles for each slide and put information on the slide that answers that slide's question. Compare this presentation to whatever you have today. Which is more meaningful to your prospect?

1. Opening Slide
2. "Who Are You?"
3. "What Do You Do for Me?"
4. "How Do You Do It?"
5. "How Are You Different?"?
6. "Why Should I Believe You?"
7. "What Does It Cost?"
8. "Do You Offer a Guarantee?"
9. "How Do We Start Doing Business Together?"
10. Closing Slide

What do you think?