Do It! Marketing Blog: Marketing for Smart People™

Had a terrific marketing mentor call with a new client who has made MILES of progress in the short time since we started working together.

During our last conversation, I praised his action-orientation, and the great progress he’s made in recent weeks. He acknowledged how much better he felt about his marketing, positioning, and programs.

But then he asked me a powerful question - “David, if I’ve made this much progress, why am I not making more money?”

I gave him my initial responses (it's still early in the game, not enough prospecting activity, no consistent sales process) but since then I’ve developed many more reasons that speakers, authors, coaches, and consultants aren’t making the money that they know they could and SHOULD be making.

Here are the top 17 reasons YOU might not be making the money you want and deserve. Do a quick self-check with the ones that resonate the most with YOU:

1. You’re great at delivering your product or service but you’re terrible at marketing and sales
2. You’re not getting the right kind of marketing or sales help in time – or at all!
3. You’re not delegating or hiring part-time help to take care of the “intelligent gruntwork.”
4. You don’t have a business plan/goal/vision/destination in mind, including failure to plan for failure!
5. You have no differentiation – you’re trying to market me too, “Same-o Lame-o” boring stuff
6. You don’t take yourself seriously (indicated by homemade business cards, freebie website, trying to cut every corner, etc.)
7. You over-invest in these same things – fancy business cards, $25,000 website, overly expensive and overly broad advertising, and you think that’s enough
8. You lack obvious expertise and you ignore thought leadership in your marketing mix
9. You’re a mass generalist not an expert specialist – you try to be all things to all people
10. You don’t develop alliances – Stop trying to succeed alone. Joint venture, build alliances, or use strategic partners
11. You’re not connecting with prospects on their most relevant, urgent, and expensive issues
12. You don’t have a defined sales process and find yourself winging it almost every time
13. Your proactive outbound prospecting plan consists of sitting by the phone waiting for it to ring. (Not good!)
14. You’re forgetting that we live in the Attention Economy - first you must earn your prospects’ attention and only THEN will you have a chance to earn their money
15. You’re relying too much on one marketing channel (email, social media, direct mail, networking) and your prospects are starting to see you as an annoying pest, not a welcome guest
16. You’re not adding enough tangible sources of excellence to your marketing mix - in other words, you’re failing to create marketing materials that are too good to throw away!
17. You underestimate the amount of time and/or money it will take to grow your business successfully. Remember, not all things are going to work the first time. Or the tenth. Plan for experimentation, testing, and thousands of small adjustments along the way

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p.s. Want to make sure your business is focused on what matters most to maximize your influence AND income?

Download your copy of the Do It! Marketing Manifesto for free right here.

You're about to meet one of my favorite people and a super-smart sales guru... My sales speaker pal, Mark Hunter.

Pull up a chair, grab a coffee and join us as we talk about High Profit Selling and the secrets of how YOU can sell smarter. 

Good selling is all about GETTING clients and great selling is all about GETTING profits, so it makes perfect sense that Mark is an expert in both!

Get ready to take some notes on how Mark's brilliant ideas apply to YOUR business...

Get "real deal" insights on sales that will blow the competition away. See how many valuable nuggets YOU can implement in your business - right NOW!

What do you think? Please leave a comment below and let's discuss...

There are only three problems that you, as a small business owner, entrepreneur or professional service provider, are ever going to be in a position to solve.

You may sell the world’s greatest widgets… You may have patented the most efficient doo-dad your industry has ever seen… Your flagship service may be the most effective on the planet with the only 100% bulletproof guarantee in the business…

Hard truth:

• None of your prospects has a widget problem
• None of your prospects has a doo-dad deficiency
• None of your prospects stay up at night searching for a bulletproof guaranteed service

Let’s reframe your sales conversations as a delicate balancing act of investigating your prospect’s most important priorities and connecting your product or service to solving those specific problems or advancing those specific goals.

For the executives and decision-makers you’re selling to, at any given moment in time, their priorities might fall into one of three categories: Solving people problems, process problems, or profit problems. Which of these 63 sales triggers do you use the most? (Please use the COMMENTS area below to chime in...)

People Problems

People problems come in all shapes and sizes, but here’s a starter list so you can probe them more intelligently during your next sales conversation with a prospect:

1. Recruiting top talent

2. Retention of top talent

3. Employee engagement

4. Recognition and reward

5. Staff utilization

6. Leadership

7. Teamwork

8. Communication

9. Coaching

10. Collaboration

11. Succession

12. Silos and turf wars

13. Gossip, gab and the grapevine

14. Delegation

15. Micromanagement

16. Perfectionism

17. Negativity

18. Entitlement

19. Arrogance

20. Complacency

Process Problems

Process problems show up as inefficiencies, gaps, missed opportunities, too much wasted time or effort, too many steps, too much waste, too much bureaucracy or paperwork or too many layers between customer and company.

There were entire industries built around business process innovation and a handful of fads from the 1950’s to the 1990’s didn’t help – the total quality movement, business process re-engineering, outsourcing, insourcing, rightsizing, you name it.

Let’s cut to the chase and catalog a brief list of potential sources of process problems that you may want to discuss with your prospect in order to get their attention focused on the desired impact of your products or services.

1. Accounting

2. Billing

3. Call Centers

4. Contracting

5. Customer Service

6. Delivery

7. Distribution

8. Engineering

9. Facility management

10. Finance

11. Information Systems

12. Innovation

13. Inventory management

14. Manufacturing

15. Marketing

16. Operations

17. Payroll

18. Product development

19. Regulatory compliance

20. Research and development

21. Sales

22. Strategic planning

23. Workforce diversity

Profit Problems

Profit problems come in many shapes and sizes.

What’s important is that when you are marketing and selling your products and services that you do NOT overlook this vitally important problem that is NEVER far from the mind of any serious prospect.

Often placed at the end of a chain reaction of internal and external variables (where your products and services come into play), when you talk about solving your customers’ profitability problems, the outcomes almost always end up with YOU using the following “so that” phrases:

1. So that you sell more…

2. So that you sell more often…

3. So that you sell at full price…

4. So that you avoid discounting…

5. So that you open new markets…

6. So that you expand your product line…

7. So that you cut costs…

8. So that you manufacture and distribute more efficiently…

9. So that you speed up time to market…

10. So that you cross-sell…

11. So that you up-sell…

12. So that you open new channels…

13. So that you raise prices…

14. So that you boost your margins…

15. So that your per unit cost goes down…

16. So that you franchise…

17. So that you license…

18. So that your stock price goes up…

19. So that your revenues increase...

20. So that you conserve more cash…

Use these 63 checkpoints and you’ll be better equipped to isolate your prospect’s real issues - and you’ll more quickly identify the “problem behind the problem” and position your products and services in the context of solving the root cause of your prospect’s current challenges.

Do THAT and your sales conversations will become more successful in the short term and much more profitable in the long term.

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Want hundreds more marketing, sales, and business development ideas, templates, and tools? Buy the Do It! Marketing book and get over $747 in business-building bonuses. You'll also get a kickass marketing book that might be exactly what you've been looking for to take your business from average to awesome. Buy the book now then grab your bonuses from this link.
You can thank me later. Rock on! 

Buyers who lie should be deeply ashamed.

Salespeople and marketers have a bad rep for lying and deception but in my experience (both in my own speaking and consulting practice and via the hundreds of other consultants, entrepreneurs and independent professionals who tell me THEIR horror stories), PROSPECTS are much, much worse liars.

Somehow (for buyers) they think it's perfectly OK.

In reality, it's an unconscionable breach of professionalism.

For me personally, this has become VERY unusual because I've learned to be relentless in nailing down commitments.

Except once in a while, a buyer totally blindsides me. This is the story of how that happened and how YOU can avoid it happening to YOU. 

You will also get my voicemail and email templates and scripts to circle back with elusive "closed" prospects multiple times. 

Back story: 3 questions to lock in commitment

This prospect (an association executive director) gave me a verbal agreement to hire me over the phone - as in answering point blank my questions:

1. "So are you still looking at other options or are we closing this deal right now on the phone?"
2. "Who else needs to sign off on this before we make it final?"
3. "Are you sure that you're ready to sign the agreement?"

Answers were:

1. "We're closing the deal right now"
2. "Nobody else - I hire the speakers and my marketing person will be in touch with you to get everything we need for the website and the program book"
3. "Yes we have a deal."

Within 30 minutes of hanging up the phone, I emailed her the agreement, the invoice and my "Welcome Kit" email.

This was followed by WEEKS of radio silence, unanswered emails, unanswered voice mails and then an email from her this morning which says, "We decided to go with a local California speaker"

In the rest of this post, you'll get my follow-up sequence which will make YOU money if you use it. So the good of the many outweighs the good of the few... or the one. 

This is a classic case of "The operation was a success. Unfortunately, the patient died."

How to circle back with a "closed" sale with dignity  

Here's my recommended timeline for you when you get a verbal YES commitment from a prospect (which should be as good as a signed agreement but let's face it - it's FAR from it!) and they disappear on you. 

1. Phone call with prospect. 

2. Ask qualifying/closing questions

3. Send agreement/invoice paperwork. 

4. If they go radio silent, EMAIL #1 is 6-7 days later and you simply resend your original email with all attachments and this added note at the top:

Susie,
Just resending the below in case it got lost in the shuffle last week. Please confirm receipt because I want to make sure this lands safely in your hands. Thanks! 

5. Follow-up phone message (either at the same time as the email or a day or two before or after):

Susie,
Just wanted to make sure our agreement landed safely in your email inbox. Please do give me a call back at xxx-xxx-xxxx just to confirm you received it. I'm looking forward to our work together.

6. If no response, Wave 2 comes 3-4 days after that and sounds like: 

Susie,
We're both flying at 100mph. Please do get back to me with a quick reply and let me know if we're still a go as you indicated on the phone. If yes, we'll start preparations as soon as you return the paperwork. Looking forward to our collaboration. 

7. Again, it's your preference whether you leave a 2nd voice mail message a few days before or after or simultaneous with the email above. Whichever you choose, the second voice mail sounds like: 

Susie,
If you've had a change of heart about your decision, please let me know. If you'd like to discuss these arrangements, please let me know that too. Thank you in advance for your reply so I can plan around your event accordingly. Give me a ring when you get a moment at xxx-xxx-xxxx. Thank you, Susie and talk to you soon. 

8. Next email is 2-3 days later and is simply a written version of the above "change of heart" voice mail message. 

9. The final note is something like this: 

Susie,
Circling back with you about next steps. Please let me know which of these multiple choice answers is most reflective of current reality (which I lose track of regularly!!)

a. I am swamped but still want to move ahead with what we agreed to  
b. Our needs have changed and I want to discuss a different approach 
c. The deal is off in spite of the verbal commitment I made
d. Hey Newman - drop dead and never darken my doorstep again. Buzz off!!

Thank you in advance for hitting reply with your quick answer.

10. In my particular case, my prospect at great long last sent me this note:

Hi David,

Thank you for following up. I apologize for the delay in responding. I didn't want to re-connect with you until we had resolved several critical, conference-related details.

We have decided to go with a local, Southern California keynote speaker for the XXXXX 2014 Conference in San Diego. Upon reflection, it makes better business sense for us to employ local resources whenever possible.

I truly appreciate your time spent discussing XXXX 2014 with me. Thank you, too, for your diligence in following up.

We will be back to the East Coast within the next few years, and we will touch base with you again.

Take care ~ 

Susie Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire Prospect [Not her real name]

11. I hate liars and lying. (I admit it - it's one of my hot buttons.) So this is the reply I sent. I've added the decoding in green for your benefit: 

=====

Susie,

Totally understand. [Every email where I'm stunned and have no idea what planet the person is from starts with these 2 words. It's much nicer than "Are you freaking nuts?"]

Just one final question for you. [The old Columbo TV detective strategy]

Is your local speaker a better fit content-wise or just budget-wise? [Did you lie to me for money or for a better reason?]

If it's strictly a budget issue, I wish you had come back to me first because we could have worked out a travel-inclusive fee arrangement that would still be within your budget. [I'm a nice guy and was - and still am - willing to work with you despite the fact that you reneged on the deal after I verbally confirmed it with you THREE different times on the phone]

Is this worth revisiting since you and I had a confirmed verbal agreement to book the conference? [You should be ashamed for going back on your word without so much as a courtesy email or phone call to let me know the deal was falling apart and/or to ask for my help in saving it]

=====

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on these ideas and join the conversation... 

I asked one of my favorite marketing coaching clients, "How's your DIP?"

She responded, "Dip? We're talking party recipes now?"

"No, no - remember the acronym I shared with you last time? DIP stands for Dollars In Play." She remembered.

Then she asked me to hang on as she shuffled through some notes and papers.

"Where are you looking for these numbers?" And she said that she keeps a scratch pad by her keyboard and has a more detailed tracking document that she updates every couple of weeks on her computer. 

"Oh my goodness, there's your problem right there. You have to keep this info right in front of your face all day long." 

REALLY in front of your face. My suggestion - make a poster using something as simple as a piece of flipchart paper and two different size Post-It notes: the Jumbo size and the smaller 3x3 square size.  

Here's what a DIP (Dollars in Play) wall chart looks like: 

Here's how it works:

1. Two categories: one called "In Play" and the other one for less serious prospects ("Jokers") You can see in the photo above, I've had a little fun and made a silly cartoon joker card. These are folks who are in my pipeline but (in my estimation) less serious, less committed, and less capable of making the financial commitment to hire me.

2. Post your prospects' full names, the service/product/program you discussed with them, the dollar value, and the source. For example, Jane Doe came from a referral from Frank. We have not talked yet, so there's no dollar value. Nat Cole came from Linkedin and we talked about a $1500 1-on-1 marketing consulting package.  Sam Smith is hiring me for a $6500 speech in October. (All prospect names have been changed for the purposes of this blog post and photo - could you tell?)

3. Real time updates. Sometimes I'll even grab my pad of 3x3 Post-Its and write someone's name down WHILE I'm on the phone with them, walk over to the wall chart and stick their name on it. Can't tell you how satisfying this physical act can be. 

4. Fluid movement. Don't be afraid to upgrade a joker to the serious column and don't be afraid to take a (formerly) serious prospect and move them into the Joker column. The factors to consider are their commitment level based on email and phone communication, their level of responsiveness, and how rapidly you are moving them from point to point in your sales process.   

5. Reminders rule. If you see someone on your chart whom you have not spoken with or heard from in a few weeks, you probably need to get back in touch. Ideally, you never have a prospect who is just "floating" out there without a firm decision call on their calendar. But it happens. The chart reminds you to close those loops and corral your prospecting mustangs back onto your sales ranch.  

6. Relentless removal. Remember the old sales adage, "Some will. Some won't. Who cares? Next!" That's the point of the chart. Up or out. If you're not going to buy, I'm going to cut you loose and throw you back in the ocean. The SECOND most fun you'll have with this chart (after slapping a brand new prospect's name onto the chart) is grabbing a prospect who said no - or who has disappeared on you despite your best efforts to hold them to their commitments - and RIP their name off the chart and tear it into tiny little pieces and chuck it in the trash.  

7. Do the math. Feel the power. The point of tracking your sales pipeline in this manner is so that you have a real-time sense of "Dollars in Play." Every so often, you should glance over at your chart and add up the numbers that you see in the "In Play" column ONLY. (Don't add the jokers because that's why they're in the joker column - instead, do everything you can to move your jokers into the "In play" column or remove them altogether!)

In the photo above, you would have a "Dollars in Play" number of $21,000. For prospects who are considering mutliple options (for example, Mindy Kaling is holding a proposal with a $7500 option and a $2500 option), you should count the higher number.

Two reasons: 1.) It sets your internal expectation in that direction which will enhance your confidence in your subsequent conversations with Mindy. A confident seller creates confident buyers. So it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. 2.) It builds your capacity for marketing optimism, which every entrepreneur needs. Plus if you're going to be relentless in removing people (See Rule #6 above), you might as well be relentlessly optimistic about the folks who earn and keep a place in your active sales pipeline.  

Now, are YOU ready for some DIP?

What do YOU think? Please use the COMMENTS area below to share your advice, insights and recommendations on this topic and join the conversation... 

The new marketing is all about Ask and Give. 

What does that mean? 

• Ask for attention
• Give value
   
• Ask for engagement
• Give relevance
   
• Ask for help
• Give relationship
   
• Ask for support
• Give community
   
• Ask for insights
• Give advice

Two great examples you can adapt in your own business:

1. My friend Karyn Greenstreet is Asking for your input. And she is Giving 26 business building bonuses for answering her 6-question survey about how small business owners and entrepreneurs like to learn. It will take you two minutes or less to share your opinions. The GIVE is far greater than the ASK. 

2. Here is an amazing story from the world of music - notice how everything Amanda did (and does) is based on Asking and Giving:

What do YOU think of the approach above? Please share your advice, insights and recommendations about the value of ASKING and GIVING in the COMMENTS area below...

Guest post by Scott Plum

Last week I made a visit to my neighborhood mobile phone carrier’s retail store and noticed a ‘No Solicitors’ sign in the window.  This gave me pause before entering.  I thought – “I’m a Solicitor, what’s wrong with me.  Why don’t they want me to come in?”

I peered through the glass like a school boy at a peep show, wondering what is going on inside that I was forbidden to see.  Others inside the store began to look at me and I finally mustered up the guts to pull the door open and walk in...

Read the rest of the story here...

We had over 200 people register for yesterday's "Master the Cold Call Once and for All" teleseminar with Wendy Weiss. 

The program was excellent. And you have to remember, I'm a guy who HATES cold calling. 

The free recording of this 60-minute training call is available for you to download here:

http://www.doitmarketing.com/free-resources-cold-call

NOTE: The special offer on "The Sales Winner's Handbook" (which includes a soup-to-nuts telephone marketing strategy plus 53 context-specific scripts, templates and tools + over $200 in bonuses) expires at midnight tonight 4/18. All the details on that are online for you here. 

Invest in this cold calling mastery package and your spouse, significant other, dog, bookkeeper and accountant will all thank you.  

Keep an eye out for more sales-focused marketing programs in my "Do It! Marketing Summer Sales Seminars" series of FREE virtual events.

More details on that coming soon!