Due to the economic downturn, consumer behavior is being re-shaped. According to an interview with John A. Quelch, professor at Harvard Business School, marketers and business people need to re-segment the way they look at their prospects based on emotions:
Slam-on-the-brakes consumers feel hardest hit and reduce all spending.
Pained-but-patients economize, but less aggressively.
Comfortably well-offs keep buying, but more selectively.
Live-for-todays carry on as usual, though delaying major purchases.
Also identify how members within each segment categorize purchases:
Essentials are necessary for survival.
Treats are justifiable indulgences.
Postponables are desired items that can be bought later.
Expendables are unjustifiable.
The most fascinating part about this shift is that both Quelch and Jim Collins agree that this economy is “the new normal” and that buying habits will be affected in the long term, being further ingrained by the length of this economic downturn. What’s your take on this?
The other day I was checking out some hotels for an upcoming trip in May. I went to multiple websites and clicked on the pictures; they were absolutely tiny. I tweeted about this and received a quick response from Chris Pitre:
If you have a benefit you are trying to show off, such as a great looking room or a wonderful campus, what prevents you from using large pictures and video to convey your story? Bandwidth is no longer an issue, since there are plenty of tools to help you look great such as flickr and vimeo. Can you imagine choosing a hotel from words versus a great photo of what they truly offer? It’s time to change, how fast can you do it?
People often get disappointed when they don’t close a sale within the first or second attempt. Would you be in that category? Take heart! Here’s the data on how many high value contacts/touches it takes per client to make a sale:
2% of all sales are made on the first contact
3% of all sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the forth contact
80% of all sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
So how important is it for you to follow up?
48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
ONLY 10% OF SALES PEOPLE MAKE MORE THAN THREE CONTACTS!
As you saw yesterday, the new #1 reason to not get the sale is not listening to the prospect. So here’s what you need to know:
Make high value contact with your prospect and LISTEN!
Monday March 23rd and time for stimulus for sales?
The #1 catalyst of creativity for 95% of us is stimulus to information, data, reading, art, etc. Here is what we see:
Everything has changed and it’s okay and it will be okay, but here are some thoughts to consider if you want to be better than okay:
The person/company or organization who learns fastest will win.
The ones who do not will suffer, go out of business, or be fired.
You don’t deserve vacation, you earn it. You don’t deserve a job you earn it. You don’t deserve severance, you earn it.
If you do not understand or accept “green” and “lean” you may not survive.
When everything changes, how fast are you to keep up? It is not business as usual. Are you mentally fit and understanding what it takes to play in the new game?
Learn about Twitter then try it out! This video is 5th grade reading level and lets the viewer understand how Twitter works through clarity in the message.
The latest data (2009) shows that the #1 reason for not getting the sale is THE SALES PERSON DID NOT LISTEN! Wow, for 20 years it was that they talked too much, which is now #4. #2: Did not respond to my questions and #3: Did not understand my needs. As a matter of fact, 63% of sales calls are wasted due to talking too much and not listening. Are you talking too much? Don’t worry, we can help! Check out the sales safety tips:
10 seconds: This is how long it should take you to pique someone’s interest on what you can do for them.
Listen twice as often as you speak
Numeric precision on your communications messages greatly increases your credibility and the difference you portray. Example: We return your calls in less than 5 minutes.
Clarity in your marketing messages (5th grade reading level) increases your odds of selling by 70%.
Focusing your marketing messages to one thing increases your odds of selling by 60%. Eliminate the irrelevant.
Your image matters, so do the features, but your overt benefit and the real reason to believe you can deliver that benefit matters the most.
If you have dramatic difference from your competition, you have 370% greater odds of success and profitability. Source: Harvard Business Review. Not sure if you have dramatic difference?
Salt and Pepper: If you were helping a restaurant get more customers, you would not advertise that you have free salt and pepper. Is your company selling salt and pepper to your industry?
Does everyone in your organization know what to say when asked what you do? These sound bites should be artwork on your walls!
Does your business card give the recipient the benefit received when working with you?
We just returned from South by Southwest, an annual music, film and interactive festival in Austin, Texas. The stimulus, the people we met and the inspiration we found have stretched our minds to a new point. We will soon share some of these stories, photos, links, services etc. But first, let us tell you about a client and friend of ours, Blellow, who was a giant hit at SXSW this weekend. They have been written up by TechCrunch and Mashable, and they have picked up over 1,000 new followers on Twitter during the last few days. When you visit their website, click on the video to see absolute clarity on how they can benefit you. This is what it takes to have creative sales today. Take a complex message and make it ultra simple.
I was talking to one of my best friends today. He sells insurance for a company that shuts off the phones during lunch and at 5pm (they stay there later). He said he got his biggest accounts ever due to answering the phone during lunch. Can you imagine shutting things down in sales during lunch and after 5pm? I freak out when there is a message on our answering system that has not been attended to in minutes.
I talked to three different people last week that had made a call regarding sales but had “not gotten a call back yet, so they were waiting.” Other times, they had not gotten a “return e-mail.”
Here are a few tips on what not to do:
1. Don’t assume that people care. Hope they do, but facts can show you yes or no.
2. Don’t stop after the 8th phone call. End at 12 instead.
3. Don’t be afraid to let your prospects know that it is ok to say NO! I love to add that to my requests, as gives them an out or a reason to stay engaged!
4. Don’t think people care that you need lunch or are off at 5pm. We do! This is not like it used to be (except in West Texas) where you must eat lunch between 11:30am and 1:30pm due to restaurants closing.
5. Don’t think people will change and conform to your old ways. This is the new normal. You will hear about technology, you will think it does not apply to you, and you are right if you live on the Moon.
Being involved in about twenty political campaigns, the biggest being the mayoral campaign of San Antonio, something has come to my attention—the candidate matters! Their brand, their words regarding the benefit they offer, how they will offer that benefit, and of course, their dramatic difference. What is most amazing to me is how their team can help sell or un-sell them! Poor communication, lack of understanding regarding technology, communication etiquette and lack of personable skills all matter to an extreme. One person that does not fit the brand of the candidate can make all the difference in having people want to support with cash or time. One person has the ability to de-motivate a team of people that would do almost anything for someone. This is not just in politics of course! It is life. If you or the people that work for you are leading other people, you are selling! When they are de-motivating, giving orders, throwing assumptions out and not living the values you preach, they are un-selling, therefore making it easy to compete against you. Are you setting your team up for success, secondary leaders and a the ability to lead tribes of their own?
Last week, our friend and colleague Ryan Kelly, who works on all the SalesBy5 customer websites, won top awards by technology judges. He won because he took a complex message and made it simple to understand and simple to use. Click the first link below and enter your website. A few seconds later, you will get detailed information for your web developers to use today to make your website your best salesperson. Find out more about Ryan Kelly and Pear Analytics below.
Lately, you’ve seen us writing significantly about the use of social media such as blogs and twitter. Our friend, Liz Strauss, is hosting SOBCon(Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference) in Chicago, May 1-3. 150 people get into a room and discuss issues such as how to build trust online, the essential pieces of a business blog and masterminding visibility strategies. You can take your blog and social media visibility to the next level by learning from the pioneers in the field such as Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. Do yourself a favor and check out SOBCon!
