Steve Yastrow's Blog http://yastrow.com Author, Speaker, Consultant: Ideas on Creating Profitable Customer Relationships Tue, 08 May 2012 13:44:56 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 SteveYastrowhttp://feedburner.google.com Show Me You Know Me http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/SkynLYHXtvY/ http://yastrow.com/2012/show-me-you-know-me/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 13:44:56 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2181
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    • ]]>     I spent last week at my favorite resort, Rancho La Puerta, and was inspired to write this newsletter, “Show Me You Know Me.” If you’ve ever been to “the Ranch,” you’ll have felt the deep level of personalized service. And your customers want the same experience! Read the newsletter for my thoughts on today’s key competitive advantage: differentiating your customers.

    Read the newsletter: Show Me You Know Me

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/show-me-you-know-me/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/show-me-you-know-me/     Don’t Knock Her Story Out Of Her Hands http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/y6Je7IaijJI/ http://yastrow.com/2012/dont-knock-her-story-out-of-her-hands/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 13:42:21 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2175
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    • ]]>     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.

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/dont-knock-her-story-out-of-her-hands/feed/ 1 http://yastrow.com/2012/dont-knock-her-story-out-of-her-hands/     Brand Entropy vs. Brand Harmony http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/FVZoEnrA0OY/ http://yastrow.com/2012/brand-entropy-vs-brand-harmony/#comments Tue, 03 Apr 2012 03:19:43 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2168
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    • ]]>     My first newsletter of April, Brand Entropy vs. Brand Harmony, encourages companies to do a little “spring cleaning” to keep their brand from becoming disorganized, confusing and unappealing to customers.

    Entropy is the tendency for systems to move progressively from states of organization to states of disorganization– and your brand is not exempt from this powerful force.

    Read the newsletter: Brand Entropy vs. Brand Harmony

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/brand-entropy-vs-brand-harmony/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/brand-entropy-vs-brand-harmony/     Don’t stop the conversation when you hang up the phone http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/dplcvfRlN2Q/ http://yastrow.com/2012/dont-stop-the-conversation-when-you-hang-up-the-phone/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:19:34 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2162
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    • ]]>     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

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/dont-stop-the-conversation-when-you-hang-up-the-phone/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/dont-stop-the-conversation-when-you-hang-up-the-phone/     Marketing with Tabasco sauce http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/sMMd6MA8i4M/ http://yastrow.com/2012/marketing-with-tabasco-sauce/#comments Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:16:11 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2156
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    • ]]>     “If you want me to think you’re different, show me that you know what makes me different.”

    This is the mantra of the modern customer, and today’s newsletter, Marketing with Tabasco Sauce, gives you some ideas for how to personalize your customer interactions, without over-taxing your systems … or your brain.

    Read the newsletter: Marketing with Tabasco Sauce

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    Free Ebook: Encounters - The Building Blocks of We Relationships


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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/marketing-with-tabasco-sauce/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/marketing-with-tabasco-sauce/     How to Turn a Sales Conversation into a Shared Story http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/DJ_U24uu37I/ http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-turn-a-sales-conversation-into-a-shared-story/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 18:58:56 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2151
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    • ]]>     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!

     

     

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-turn-a-sales-conversation-into-a-shared-story/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-turn-a-sales-conversation-into-a-shared-story/     How to Propel a Sales Conversation Forward http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/cgB3ug0YtLw/ http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-propel-a-sales-conversation-forward/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:41:29 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2144
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    • ]]>     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.

     

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-propel-a-sales-conversation-forward/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-propel-a-sales-conversation-forward/     There won’t be a party if it’s not cool http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/siKuwHH1j1M/ http://yastrow.com/2012/there-wont-be-a-party-if-its-not-cool/#comments Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:52:33 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2132
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    • ]]>     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.

     

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/there-wont-be-a-party-if-its-not-cool/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/there-wont-be-a-party-if-its-not-cool/     Museum of Badvertising: Volkswagen’s weird coda http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/bxvI7OnWyjs/ http://yastrow.com/2012/volkswagens-weird-coda/#comments Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:28:39 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2124
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    • ]]>     Have you seen the latest Volkswagen TV ad, focused on safety?

    Little boy buying a bike: Is it fast?

    Older boy selling bike: It’s got 10 speeds, my friend.

     

    Same boy, slightly older, buying a small motorcycle: Is it fast?

    Seller: It’s got a lightning bolt on it, doesn’t it?

     

    Same boy as young man, buying a flashy red car: Is it fast?

    Seller: I’m not even sure if it’s street legal.

     

    Same guy, a bit older, buying a Volkswagen and revealing a baby as he asks: Is it safe?

    Volkswagen salesman: Of, course, it’s a Volkswagen.

    Announcer voice over, about Volkswagen safety.

     

    Great ad so far. Instrumental rock music has been playing in the background, and in the last seconds we realize it is Ted Nugent’s song Stranglehold and we hear these lyrics:

    “I’ve got you in a stranglehold baby.”

    An ad about safety, where the customer is shown holding an infant, that ends with the words “I’ve got you in a stranglehold baby.”  What were they thinking?

     

     

     

     

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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/volkswagens-weird-coda/feed/ 5 http://yastrow.com/2012/volkswagens-weird-coda/     How to Start a Sales Conversation http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SteveYastrow/~3/oH8PMNlmWwU/ http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-start-a-sales-conversation/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:20:00 +0000 Steve Yastrow http://yastrow.com/?p=2115
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    • ]]>     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!

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    Free Ebook: Encounters - The Building Blocks of We Relationships


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    1. How to Turn a Sales Conversation into a Shared Story Today’s newsletter article, How to Turn a Sales Conversation into a Shared Story is the...
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    ]]>     http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-start-a-sales-conversation/feed/ 0 http://yastrow.com/2012/how-to-start-a-sales-conversation/