There has never been a time in the history of man that so much information floods the mind. Our children start their day with hundreds of television channels [we had 2 in the 50's]. There are stacks of videos to watch, so Mom and Dad can have a "Time Out" from parenting. Commercials, stacked one on another, teach them that if you will badger your parents, they will buy it for you [The guilt of a two wage-earner family is matchless].

Learning from the Successes [and mistakes] of Direct Mail Marketers

In the Lead Generation activity, Marketers attempted often to reach the masses via Direct Mail. But how do they differentiate themselves from the competition? How does their message stand out from the mound of junk mail in the mailbox?

Too seldom, they take a Professional approach. Using a value-driven message, companies like Lens Crafters and Capital One promote their market advantages in very professional campaigns. But sadly, we are more likely to see:
"CONFIDENTIAL!"
"Dated Material Inside!"
"Savings inside!"
"Important Notification!"
or the yellow envelope that looks like it came from the Government. I'm a sucker for those.

SETTING YOURSELF APART

When I am asked, "What is it that you do?" I respond with: "I am a sales trainer."

The next thing I hear is:

"Oh, you're a motivational speaker."

My response is swift. "Well, many salespeople do become motivated as a result of our sales training, but we leave the rah-rah, Mother, Apple Pie, and Chevrolet to the Zig Ziglars and Tony Robbins'.

Have you taken any chances lately? Invested in a penny stock? Took out full-page ads in the local newspaper? Blasted e-mail to 10,000 prospects? Cancelled your life insurance? Used your credit cards to finance your business?

Probably not. Yet in the 90's, these risky actions were often taken by CEOs, investors, marketers, and individuals. High-risk investing and instant gratification had credit cards at the max, retirement savings in the dumper, record numbers of small business bankruptcies, and enough corporate debt to break down the entire economy. I'm betting that those days are over.

Everyone's favorite word is now: caution.

Have you read a financial statement recently? Does it accurately reflect the company's results? Are you sure?

Once upon a time, we took a public company's financial statements at face value. Why? Because the auditor's opinion in the Annual Report read: "In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements accurately reflect the results for the period. . . . ." humma, humma, humma.

Weren't we the suckers . . . born every minute! As the auditors continuously allowed the Top Management of their clients to skirt accepted accounting principles, we were given a set of financial statements that often contained inflated key numbers [like revenue] understated important statistics [like costs], missed key relevant data, or just contained outright lies.

Attack Uncertainty head-on. Your sales challenge is to build the prospect's Confidence. Confidence offsets the Uncertainty related to the purchase decision. Here are some tactical sales approaches designed to create Confidence.

Step 1: SELECT THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO BEGIN WITH

FIRST: Recognize that you must attract good talent. That means investment in newspaper and/or job board ads to draw good candidates. If you are unsure about the best way to create an ad, let a professional organization (CRI or other) create the ad for you. Quit trying to hire from your competition. They won't let the really capable people leave, and you don't want the people they let leave. Family, friends and referrals from the people who work for you rarely possess all the sales traits you need in a salesperson. You must spend the money necessary to attract sales talent.

SECOND: Put in place a logical, consistent screening system that differentiates and qualifies an applicant from a jobseeker. There is no need to have someone review applications and resumes and contact applicants to qualify them. There are automated screening systems that can do this work for you. CRI's Employment Center is one economical example of such a solution.

The Information Overload has altered adult lives, too. Voice Mail boxes are full, because by turning off the phones, we can hang out an electronic "Do Not Disturb - you are not that important" sign. E mail boxes are crammed, too, because every time that someone in the organization wants to suck up to a manager with a valuable random thought, or the manager has a wild hair, you get an e mail.

Learning from the Successes [and mistakes] of e-Mail Marketers

The dot-com world - that new channel of distribution that has caused more investor pain than any enterprise in history.

Hey, if it's so great, why have the bulk of internet-based marketing companies failed to make money? The answer is simple. Where Amazon.com could succeed, because a book is a book, the clothing retailers, and other web marketers, found that you and I want to try on that turtleneck. We want to drive that car. We want to know that it "looks" good on us, and no amount of beautiful online photography can provide adequate proof of that product's value.

So the internet marketers attacked the challenge. And rather than taking the professional approach, most took the path of least resistance - Manipulation.

Sales managers are increasingly asked to respond to the newest Command and Control tool -- software. Yes, managers are now swaying away from High Touch and learning toward High Tech. Personal effectiveness [leadership] is minimized.

More and more, your manager is being managed closely, and you will be also. How do you like it? Not!

The culture is increasingly directed toward EFFICIENCY, rather than EFFECTIVENESS. Sometimes I believe that managers would be happier if we exceed our Appointment Attempts more than we exceed Appointments Made.

In the article, "Closing the Sale in a Risky Environment," I discussed the difficult challenges related to the Risks related to selling in the New Economy. The risks are both perceived and real, but to a buyer, they impact the decision to buy or reject. The first solution to minimize risk is to follow the Law of Psychological Reciprocity, but for my money, here is your best way to take Risk out of the equation.

SOLUTION "The Comfort Zone"

For salespeople, the key to managing Exploding Risks is to sell in what I like to call "The Comfort Zone." This zone creates several to-do's for you:

In the article, "Selling to Different Buyer Types," I discussed the uncertainty in the marketplace that is making our sales lives nervous. Now let's take a look at other uncertainties:

Legal Uncertainty

Since our lawmakers are all lawyers anyway, political and legal uncertainties are often related. As marketers, we are constantly reminded of copyright infringement issues, and they often prevent us from entering new markets. What a shame, especially when the product is for the common good.

Legal complications can make any business owner pause before reacting. Let me share a personal example. For years, Hawaiian visitors have been treated to one of the world's great confectionaries. It is frozen, and it is called "Shave Ice." It looks like a frozen cone, or snowball, but it is much, much better. So my wife and I considered bringing it to mainland USA.

Know your Prospect's Standards

Regardless of the product or service, the buyer has a set of standards upon which they base their decisions. The standards may be based upon opinions, experiences, or expectations.

As the war in Iraq enters its third year, the U.S. military is facing an increasing shortage of manpower and declining recruitment. Less stringent enlistment requirements and various incentives have been implemented to increase the number of men and women who enlist. But, should the focus be on the recruits?

A recent study of recruiters for the Florida National Guard revealed that the recruiters themselves may provide insight into an alternative way to increase enlistment. The study established that recruiters who consistently meet or exceed recruiting objectives have 11 critical traits in common. More importantly, the study revealed that the 11 critical traits the successful recruiters share are consistent with the critical traits that successful salespeople possess.