Selling Is Dumb » Blog

The Networking Shift — Sharing What You Know

Brent — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 20:14:59 +0000

Now that you have your “Who and Do What” statement in place, let’s talk about how to network. In the Book Yourself Solid method, networking is doing three things:

Sharing who you know
Sharing what you know
Sharing your compassion

In today’s post, I’ll focus on number 2, sharing what you know. Here’s a short video showing how I do this every day:

Let me know how it goes with a comment!

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The Networking Shift — Sharing Who You Know

Brent — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:17:41 +0000

Now that you have your “Who and Do What” statement in place (last post), let’s talk about how to network. In the Book Yourself Solid method, networking is doing three things:

Sharing who you know
Sharing what you know
Sharing your compassion

In today’s post, I’ll focus on number 1, sharing who you know. Here’s a short video showing how I do this every day:

Let me know how it goes with a comment!

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The Networking Shift

Brent — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:02:40 +0000

For 2011, let’s change how we approach networking! For the next few posts, I will be discussing the “Shift”, things that we can change to make our networking more comfortable, more effective and more fun.

This starts with changing your attitude before you start networking.

If you are thinking about getting leads or getting someone to do business with you before you enter a networking event, you need to change. Start with a simple goal, have as many conversations as you can.

All sales ultimately start with a conversation. All sales ultimately happen once trust and credibility are established. So how the heck can you establish trust and credibility if you aren’t having conversations?

Here’s a video on one way I use to start meaningful conversations:

I look forward to your comments!

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Are you “transacting” or “building relationships”?

Brent — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:48:55 +0000

One of the basic premises in the Smarter Selling Program is the approach that salespeople take when they first come into contact with a customer.

For some (the “dumb” ones), they just look at that customer as another “unit” or “transaction”.

Smart Sellers will look at the potential client a little more closely. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Is this person in my target market?
Was this person referred to me by someone else?
Do they seem like someone who would refer me if they had a positive experience with me?
Am I connecting with them?

If you answer yes to any of these questions, this could be a great customer not only for this transaction, but for the long term. Make the effort to spend some time with this person and build a relationship that will last into the future.

I look forward to your comments!

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The Customer Is Always Right, But Only If It Is The Right Customer!

Brent — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:07:22 +0000

Another selling ‘dumbism’ came across my desk the other day, “The Customer is Always Right!” proclaimed the author (will remain anonymous). What a load of you know what that statement is. I agree that we, as service providers, have a responsibility to listen and react to our customer’s wishes, but what if they are wrong? What if the customer is not right for us? In the Book Yourself Solid system, one of the first things I teach is to “dump your duds”. Fire (or suggest a colleague who may be a better fit for them) for those clients that sap your energy and replace them with those that let you do your best work.

Firing a client or customer is one of the hardest thngs to work up the courage to do, but it will pay off in the long run, I promise!

Your clients or customers should make your day better, not worse. Dump a dud today and let me know how you felt in the comments section.

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A Great Sales Experience!

Brent — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:38:29 +0000

I want to give a shout out to my new friends at Holiday Chrysler Dodge Jeep (www.holidaycdj.com) in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. I had the opportunity to meet Nancy Berg, Mike Marvin and Randy Sabel last week when I purchased a Chrysler Town & Country mini-van for my wife. You might ask, “what does this have to with selling?”

Here’s the thing. My wife knew exactly what she wanted. This van was one year old which made the price right, it had the dual DVD system in it which keeps the kids happy on long trips, and the color was right. That said, I found 10 or so vans like this on the internet, none of which were in my local market, so I could have done anywhere. Worse yet, I had contacted the dealers in my local market to ask about finding a van like this and only got one call back. Even worse yet, I was headed to southern Illinois to buy one, was almost there and the salesman called me to let me know he had just sold it – ugh! When I first contacted Nancy, she was pleasant, was appreciative and gave me just enough insight into the dealership that I was instantly comfortable with her. I let her know I was coming up (2 1/4 hour drive) and I arrived to find the van parked in front and ready for me to see. Better yet, they had two vans of the same style, so I now had a selection to choose from. Nancy introduced me to Mike, who took me for a test drive. Wanting more assurance, I asked Mike about his time with the dealership and learned he has worked there for 14 years — how great is that? My first three interactions (I also spoke with Randy on the phone before heading up to do a credit app) built an immense sense of trust and credibility.

Now, I will say that I took the first offer they gave me on the van. I also purchased the paint sealant, the interior protection and the 100,000 service contract. All of these add on items sometimes get a bad name in the consumer world, but they all were of value to me and I hope that they made money on them.

So, I was an “easy sale”. When I was in the car business many years ago, I might have called someone like me a “lay down”. In reality, what I was was a customer who knew exactly what he wanted, had a good idea of what my trade was worth and got that amount and knew that the van I bought was exactly the right vehicle for my family at this point in our life. My point is that a real “sale” happens at moments like this. No pressure, no selling me something I did not want or need, no BS, none of the “dumb” sales approaches that other car dealers take. These were real people listening to what I wanted and finding a way to make it happen for me all brought together through the power of the internet.

To conclude, the folks at Holiday CDJ are great folks and I wanted to let the world know. My hope is that if you are ever in the market for a new or used vehicle, you will go see my new friends in Fond du Lac!

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When does the “sale” happen?

Brent — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:34:17 +0000

I ask this question during most of my presentations and I get some very interesting answers, but the number one answer from salespeople is, “When I convince the customer they need to buy”.

Why do we have to convince anybody of anything? How about we start listening to what our customers want and then craft unique solutions to meet those wants? How about we build trust and credibility over time with our clients and then they come to us when they are ready? How about we focus on our customer rather than on ourselves?

This is my quick thought for the day. Have a great weekend!

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Coach John Wooden, RIP

Brent — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 22:19:42 +0000

Our world lost a great leader this past week in Coach John Wooden. His Pyramid of Success is legendary and I wanted to share it with you. John said

Success is the peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.

A great leader, a great motivator, the pure definition of a team builder.

I’ll miss him.

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Customer Retention 101

Brent — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:00:33 +0000

Do you remember the old adage referencing the three most important words in real estate? Of course you do; Location, Location,Location, right? Well, what if you are a small business owner, what are your three most important words in small business right now? Database, database and database! Not having a detailed database of your current customers is not only inexcusable in today’s challenging economy, I maintain that it is a sure sign that you, as a small business owner, are not in this for the long haul.

Customer Retention Strategy #1: Put together a database of your clients!

There are many programs available to help you do this, you can simply Google “CRM” or “Customer Relations Management” and you will get over 65 million hits. ACT!, Contstant Contact, Goldmine are just a few of the database applications you can use. I don’t care if it is a simple Excel spreadsheet, just get a list of your customers on paper.

Now that you have the database built, what should you do with it?

Customer Retention Strategy #2: Build a “Keep in Touch” strategy that communicates with your customer in an appropriately timed and value added way.

Too many business owners either over-communicate, bombarding their customers so often and with so little value that they just eventually tune out or add you to their “spammers” list; or they never communicate at all. I agree with my mentor and author Michael Port who said in his book, Book Yourself Solid, “The lack of a solid keep in touch strategy is where most businesses fail”.

This first means that you have received their permission to keep in touch!

Most of my database comes from the individuals in the groups that I speak to. At the conclusion of my presentation, I hand out a simple, one page survey. I ask them about the room, the content, the one thing they got from my presentation, etc. Most importantly however, I have a checkbox that says, “I would like the opportunity to keep in touch with you and continue to provide value to your sales and marketing efforts after this presentation. Please check the box to give me permission to do this”. Guess what, I get 100% of the boxes checked.

You, as the business owner, have to decide what the appropriate frequency of communication is as it relates to your business. I’ll give you an example of one business that communicates too much, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. Once you get into their list, you literally get an email every week, sometimes more often, about their latest sale. I often wonder who the really foolish people are who wander in on the 1 day a year they don’t have a sale and pays full price. How stupid. There is no value for me in the never ending sale. Eventually, I just added them to my “blocked senders” list and I never shop there. A more appropriate strategy might be Nordstroms. Once a year they have a Menswear sale. I get the one email they send, I mark it on my calendar, and I make special point to attend, even though the closest store is 45 minutes away. I can confidently say that I have never missed this sale in my 10 plus years as a Nordstrom customer.

Customer Retention Strategy #3: Include a “call to action” and ask for the referral!

End every customer communication with a call to action! Ask your customer to do something! It might be as simple as “have a great holiday” (non-selling message), or it might be as direct as “these sale prices will only be available on Monday”. Simply keeping in touch to keep in touch is not enough. Also remember to tailor your call to action to the group you are communicating with.

On the subject of referrals, I think that there is a stigma attached to that phrase sometimes that puts people off. In my mortgage practice, I usually say something like this, “My team and I appreciate you very much, especially for those that you have introduced us to over the years”. This, to me, is the same as “Thank for the referral”, but more customer friendly.

So, to conclude, I maintain that designing and implementing your customer retention marketing program is more important than your new client acquisition marketing and, in the long run, pay bigger dividends. If you don’t have a structured customer retention program in place, now is the time to start.

I look forward to your comments (see below). If you would like to know about what I do, contact me here.

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Start selling smarter today!

admin — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:56:04 +0000

Here’s the thing, I don’t really think selling is dumb; after all, we live in a capitalist economy where we will always be exchanging money for goods or services, so there will always be a need for people who can help facilitate those exchanges (salespeople).

What I do think is dumb however, and what I am on a mission to change, is the approach that many salespeople and many companies take with their sales process.

That’s why I created this site. I want to change the world of sales forever with my speaking, my online writing and my corporate trainig programs. I hope you will join me on this quest, watch the video below (if you didn’t already), leave a comment and let me know what you think and be sure to download my free report “5 Ways to Start Selling Smarter Today”.

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