Loss vs. Gain

What works best to get action? Loss, gain, or something else?

Playing on loss or gain too transparently, at times, just seems too crude and blunt an instrument for use in professional sales and marketing. What to do?

You really don’t care, do you?

As long as qualified people respond, and enough go the distance for you to achieve your objective of getting new and incremental business, you probably don’t care, do you? And like you, I want be proud of what I do, and how I do it.

On one hand…

Imagine that a neighbor wakes you in 3:00 A.M. in the February darkness to tell you that Home Depot is giving away a gas barbeque to the first 25 people to open a credit card account at their new location near you. You would probably think the neighbor was crazy.

On the other hand…

Imagine this same neighbor wakes you in 3:00 A.M. in the February darkness to tell you that you left your garage door open, and a couple of teenagers are wheeling your gas grill out of your garage. You might thank the caller, dial 911, or grab a baseball bat and head for the garage.
Same gas grill; different feelings

The physical feeling of loss is dramatically different from the pull of potential gain. This is how your targets feel. Use it carefully.

OK, so you made your point

The psychologists tell us that fear of loss motivates action roughly two-to- three times more effectively than hope for gain. But at what price?

Is there an option for elegance and grace?

I hope so. Here is the structure of some possibilities:

“I work with (target market) who are ready to be done with (some high probability of pain for the target market), and get on with (goal or aspiration).”

“I help (target market) people who want (goal) without (target market pain) as a downside.”
We help (target market) fix (cure, reduce, avoid, remove, stop, etc.) their (high-probability pain for the target market) and get (whatever it is that is desired).

We help (target market) improve (measurable element) by (percent, dollars, etc.) within (some specific time frame).

We help (target) who aren’t actually in (some market pain) but who just need (type of help) to achieve (some aspiration).

And here are some examples that use the structure above:

“I work with manufacturers representatives who are ready to be done with disloyal suppliers and get on with building success with a few lucrative & loyal suppliers.”

“I help medium-sized city governments who want to have a better relationship with developers, without getting taken advantage of, as a downside.”

We help supply-chain software companies reduce their low premium service renewal rates and get the bottom line profit growth that Wall Street requires.

We help chief financial officers improve return on equity by five percent to 15 percent, within 18 months.

We help small business owners who aren’t actually in financial trouble, but who just need cash flow help to achieve the business growth that they know is possible.

You are on to me by now

The trick here is to just use both the problem and the outcome or the pain and aspiration together, without jumping up and down hard on the pain. Consider using the structures above as a starting point for your own efforts.

Testing is the real key

Whatever message you decide to use must be tested. Always build two messages (elevator speeches) and run a test. Use one at least 25 – 100 times in a row and record the results. Then try the other on as similar an audience as possible. You may be surprised that the one you like wasn’t the one that performed the best. More on testing, later.

Cheers,

The Gearbox of a Different Future

The gearbox of a different future

Today, I’ll try to share with you, at a high level, what some of the experts have learned about the mechanics, or “gearbox” of getting a future different from the past. These will be practical steps you can choose to put to use starting today if you are so inclined.

Change or Die

Change or Die is the title of a book by a fellow named Alan Deutschman. It is a very good read. It essentially says that most people will choose to die instead of changing. It also covers some of the strategies that lead to real and lasting change. Under normal circumstances this might be true. “Normal” is a choice.

If you read this newsletter

You are probably one of the brave, the proud, and the few who are very committed to making each day better than the last. You already know that, “If if it is to be, it is up to me,” along with a little help from friends, family, your faith and maybe even a couple people who write the ccasionally-useful newsletter.

Relate, repeat, reframe

Deutschman’s prescription is essentially that change comes from being in a firmly-supportive relationship that demands new behavior, supporting repetition, and gaining new perspective (reframing). In short: new hope, new skills, and new thinking. I’ll get to some practical pplications of this, and more, in a bit. Please keep reading.

So what’s missing?

In my opinion, lots. There is more research and more experience in getting change to happen that is not covered in Change or Die. Here are the bullet points covering some of what
might be missing:

1. Clear and precise intent (that is, an
   authentic and passionate goal)

2. Goal agreement

3. Aligned commitments

4. Twice daily visualization

5. Having a basic recipe and then adjusting as
   you go

6. Daily progress recording or writing in a
   journal

7. Knowing what success looks like

Many of the reviewers of Change or Die mentioned that they had given away many copies of the book. I have given away exactly none. Why? As written, I think it is just entertainment, albeit good entertainment. Let’s get on to some things that I think help “relate, repeat, and reframe” make it over the finish line.

Let’s get to the “gearbox”

To give you the “gearbox” that leads to a new
future will simply require that I expand on the seven points above.
You then can choose if you wish to put them into action in your
life. The items covered below are the things that, if not dealt
with, often derail change efforts.

(By the way, this is one of those checklists I promised you.)

Let’s get after it:

1. Clear and precise intent (that is, an
   authentic and passionate clear goal)

2. 2. Goal agreement

3. 3. Aligned commitments

4. 4. Twice daily visualization

5. 5. Have a basic recipe and then
   adjust as you go

6. 6. Daily progress-recording or
   journal writing

7. 7. Knowing what success looks like

If you really see the win, all this is no big deal

Yes, doing all of this will require some big changes and some fairly tedious activity. No big deal if you are really committed and if you really intend to achieve the goal. All this works. In my eperience, most of the alternatives just don’t work — reliably.

Wishful thinking or a committed goal?

For most people, if they don’t do something a lot
like what I have described here, their goals turn out to be a lot of
wishful thinking, rather than real goals.

So now you have the “gearbox” of a new future

You just need to turn the engine on and push the gas pedal. This “gearbox” process will force you to drop the stuff that is not really, really important to you. It forces you to get real and get simple. The simple get’s done and the complex kills.

What will you do?

I want you to get what you really, really want in your business and your life. Who really gives a rip about day-dreams. Now the choice is yours: Get busy, or get ready to accept whatever your normal and comfortable pattern in life will bring you in 2008.


Cheers,
Eric

Proper expectations can take the stress and discouragement out of marketing and sales

The two things to get right in business

Recently, someone faxed me a 37-point list of
things that cause business failure. As usual, the inability to
market and sell reliably and effectively was right at the top of the
list. Plus, it carried this admonishment: “If you don’t get these
two right, nothing else on this list really matters.”

If I had to pick just three things that are most responsible
for success

I was discussing this list with a friend in the
banking business when he asked me what I thought were the top four
things that he should tell his customers to attend to about sales
and marketing. I gave it some thought, and decided I would share my
recommendation with you today.

Four things, plus a critical realization

As I pondered my friend’s question, I remembered
a long ago realization that had changed my results and my life in
marketing and sales. Here are the top three success factors in
marketing and sales, in my opinion, followed by that critical
realization.

1. Define a goal

2. Pick your target

3. Build your offer

4. Manage your conversion table
   

Define a goal

The goal simply defines the gap between the
situation today, and what you want to achieve in the future.
Everything that follows is relevant only to the extent that it
closes the gap between your condition today and the goal. If you
have no goal, it is hard to have a gap between today and where you
want to be. With no goal, you probably don’t need to worry about the
other three strategies.

Pick your targets

Some call this list of targets your “ideal
customers.” In direct marketing, where everything is measured, we
know that picking the right target and target list often accounts
for up to 70 percent of the success or failure of a marketing and
sales effort.

Build your offer

This is the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) from the
client’s perspective. Nine of ten offers I hear are way short of
what they could be. The offer accounts for up to 20 percent of the
success rate. (We give you the science and art of a great offer in
the Marketing Fast Track course, starting January 21st.)

Manage your conversion table

By this, I simply mean track your numbers so that
you can test and improve. It also means rigorously sticking with an
offer for some period of time, or number of attempts, until you have
a good idea about what needs to be changed to improve performance.

The long ago realization

When I was eight years old I won my first sales
contest selling newspaper subscriptions in my little town of 2,000
people in the mountains of the Oregon Coast. Initially, I was very
discouraged by this until I realized that for every 10 doors I
knocked on, I got one subscription.

Pure magic; I could always see
the light at the end of the tunnel: I was encouraged; not even
remotely discouraged.

Once that fact settled into my young brain, I
practically ran from door to door, asking people to buy. The more
doors I knocked on, the better my results. I won the contest by a
wide margin.

The implication

Working the three things above is one of the
major keys to marketing and sales success in any business, anywhere
on this earth, in my opinion.

The other big realization was that each type of
offer has its own hit ratio.

• Cold drinks after a 5K run on a sunny day are
  probably a one-for- one. Everybody will take you up on the
  offer.

• Life insurance, to new parents, has a hit
  rate very different from life insurance close rates for single,
  50-year old bachelors who work the graveyard shift at
  convenience stores.

• Selling stocks and bonds via phone in a lower
  income Zip Code is quite different from working referrals from a
  CPA or a lawyer in a high-income Zip Code.

Knowing what to expect: seeing the light
at the end of the tunnel

My real point here is for you to determine what
to expect so that you can: 1) get enough targets to work through, so
that you; 2) know how many no’s you’ll likely get before you get
another yes.

Make more and work less via testing the market
and message

Once you know roughly what the appointment and close rates will be;
when you have gathered enough targets; when you are disciplined in
working through the list, you are in a spot to start testing
strategies to optimize your conversion table.

Optimizing simply means that you make refinements
so it takes fewer calls to get the sale.

A sample conversion

Calls - 1,000 - 100%

Connect with target - 250 - 25% of total calls

Interested - 25 - 10% of connects

Appointment now - 5 - 20% of interested

"Not now, maybe later" - 10 - 40% of interested

Sale - 2.5 - 10% of interested

This is just a hypothetical example. Your conversion table will
serve you best if it reflects your actual process and if it is
simple enough that you will use it daily. Action is always the key
ingredient that only you can provide.

I help most of my consulting clients do the three things
above

One client quit trying to sell to everyone. She elected to serve
only the top 10% of Zip Codes (in terms of net worth) in the USA.
She also decided to work only with targets that have already had a
certain level of financial success in life.

The impact

My client’s close rate zoomed to about 80 percent, and her
revenue went up 144 percent, along with her confidence and self
esteem. I brought the plan and she brought the execution.

If you can wisely:

1. Set your goal


2. Pick your targets


3. Build your offer


4. Manage your conversion table

You too should have a good shot at making more, while working the
same or less. You should also be able to enjoy the fact that you can
always see that light at the end of the tunnel.

To your success in 2008.

An easy rule for 2008: The simple gets done; complexity kills

An easy rule for 2008: The simple gets done; complexity kills

If you can give me two or three minutes today, I will give you some insights that will help you make more, and give you the option to work less. Read on if this interests you.

What is Occam’s Razor?

“All other things being equal, the simplest solution is usually best.” This is also known as Occam’s (sometimes spelled “Ockham’s”) Razor, a maxim from a 14th century English logician named William of Ockham. This razor is still sharp after more than 700 years of steady use.

So why did I bother with the other 80 percent?

The 80/20 rule is also known as the Pareto Principle. The rule suggests that 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your activities. For me it seems that it is usually the 95/5 rule. So why do we bother with the other 80 percent?

The simple gets done

The bonus of the two rules above is that the simple things get done, while the complex ones are ignored. At least, by me and most folks I know. In all this, action is the key. The only difference between the top and bottom performers is (on average, and in my observation), the action taken or not taken.

Action + now = WOW

Pick the best few and consider making a choice to take action now.

Start, stop & how

With the above in mind, consider taking five minutes and asking yourself the following three question:

1. What did I accomplish last year? Name the top 3 things.

2. What disappointed last year? Name the top 3 things.

3. What am I going to do differently this year? Name up to 3 things.

A simple challenge for 2008

If you can take action on just two or three of the items below, I’ll bet your 2008 will be dramatically wealthier, healthier and happier than your 2007 was, no matter what the economy does.

1. Get your goals written and look at them twice a day, every day, for the rest of the year. See below:

2. Build and maintain a target list of ideal customers you want to do business with.

3. Get your elevator speech down and know exactly what you want to say after your prospects say, “Tell me more.”

4. Get clear on a simple sales process that reliably yields closed sales.

5. Become clear on how to get the second sale over and over again with your customers; it’s really the only one that matters.

6. Understand how to get paid what you and your offering are worth.

7. Understand how to manage your activities to achieve your goals.

8. Have fun doing the above. This is actually the most important of all. If you aren’t having fun, you won’t stay with it. Pay close attention to this one. After all, it’s the only life you have by my observation.
   

As you read this newsletter in 2008, I’ll help you on each of the eight items above. Yes, even the fun part, this year.

Remember the 80/20 rule

If you just nailed two or three of the above, I suspect you would have a banner year. Do them all, and I suspect you will be on top of the world.

My friend, Bob Proctor, of The Secret

Many years ago my friend, Bob Proctor, got married. His new wife sold insurance. Bob is a famous productivity guru and all-around great guy. Bob married for love; his wife was not doing well in the insurance business, as I recall, when they married.

Just try this one thing, Honey

The new Mrs. Proctor asked Bob, “How can I be more successful, Mr. Guru?” Bob said, “Just be in front of one new prospect every day, by 10 A.M., and ask that prospect to buy, no matter what.” She said, “Is that all?” Bob said, “That’s it.”

Simple

Sounds like something simple that could actually be done.

Simple execution = WOW

The new Mrs. Proctor’s sales increased more than 10 times in the next 12 months, because she followed these simple instructions, according to what Bob told me.

Now the ball is in your court

So what are the one to three simple things you will do differently this year that could help you put the 80/20 rule to work in your life?

Remember; the simple gets done while complexity kills. Keep it simple and get it done!

To your success in 2008.

Eric

PPS: The Marketing Fast Track “Mafia Offer” Class is quickly filling up. This is the last open-enrollment class I intend to do. All future classes will be aimed strictly at industry verticals, such as insurance, real estate, manufacturers reps, legal, etc. To learn more about the Marketing Fast Track Class and how to take advantage of the "Mafia Offer" click here.