A Revolutionary กNEWก Dimension in Sales

A Revolutionary กNEWก Dimension in Sales

by: Linda Blew Carlson

A Revolutionary กNEWก Dimension In Sales: Make many more closings in the same amount of time!

By Art Nelson and Linda Carlson

Phase I

Phase I: Learning the Product is the first thing Paul does as he begins his career in sales. This กnewbieก envisions three major factors that will determine his success or failure in sales. They are:

Knowledge of his product.

Knowledge of the benefits that it offers to his prospects.

How well he communicates that knowledge and benefits to his prospects.

Most salespeople don’t have a problem with product knowledge. The company usually spends plenty of time and money to assure the competence level of its sales force. So, Paul is fine at 1, 2, and since his mother said, กYou can sell an icebox to an Eskimo,ก he figures he will do well at 3.

The problem shows up when Paul (now on his own) tries to share this knowledge with his prospects. He finds that some prospects get really ‘turned onก by the product and its benefits; but there are other prospects that never seem to get interested or กunderstand.ก Talking to them is like ‘talking to brick walls.ก

He doesn’t understand why every prospect doesn’t insist on purchasing. He is warm and charming every time! It must be the way he closes. There has to be a secret he needs to discover.

Phase II

Upon realizing this, Paul enters Phase II of his career: The Search For Enlightenment. The great question of a salesmanกs life haunts him on his prospecting calls. In the face of obvious need, why doesn’t my prospect buy?

กHe needs this product. I qualified him carefully. Why can’t I close him?ก

So, Paul begins reading, listening to tapes, attending seminars, etc. for every gimmick that comes along promising the กSecret of Closing.ก

Phase III

After a season of this, he enters Phase III of his career: The Stasis Of Superstition.

Paul (like most sales people) is making 2 or 3 sales for ten presentations. But since he really doesn’t understand why he sells sometimes and sometimes doesn’t, he กfreezesก or กcansก his presentation. He is afraid to change it because he might mess up his success so, he plays the กnumbers game.ก

Paul falls into a pattern of expecting to close กjust so manyก sales. No amount of reading, listening to tapes, or taking sales seminars changes his pattern for long. He is hoping to keep enough prospects on the line that the ones he doesn’t sell won’t really matter. Heกll still be a กsuccessfulก salesman.

Phase IV

Before ICTech® (Individualized Communication Technology) most of us (salespeople) ended our career growth in Phase III. Now with the Natural Styles strategy used in ICTech® we can move into Phase IV: Natural Persuasion.

Knowing how the 5 styles are born to process information, allows the salesperson to tailor his presentation for the format most easily understood and agreed upon by the prospect.

It doesn’t matter how well you know your product or how smooth your presentation is. Until your prospect UNDERSTANDS your product and its applications for him you won’t close a sale.

Understanding the strategy lets you dispense with gimmicks and integrate all of your sales knowledge into a cohesive whole that you will automatically adjust in each new situation. This means more sales! And more satisfied customers!

How ICTech® works:

You’re a salesperson whose Natural Style is กSingle.ก What do you do with a กMultipleก style prospect?

Don’t bore her with too many details; give her the overview of the product and its effects on her. Be sure to ask her what this product could do for her or in some way let her think this whole thing is her idea.

The fastest way to lose this prospect is oversell too many details. You are ‘tellingก not กselling.ก

Now reverse the example. You’re a กMultipleก salesperson and your prospect is a กSingle.ก What do you do?

Don’t overpower him with too many examples or applications of the product. Let them apply to him. Again, กsellก don’t ‘tell.ก Concentrate on the strongest feature of your product and give as many details as possible.

Give him plenty of time to think; don’t rush him. The fastest way to lose this prospect is to appear too vague because you’re trying to give him an overview and he wants an explicit example.

Just a couple of simple examples, but Paul practices the simple strategies of ICTech® and it has made him one of his industryกs กhottestก sales people.

Many sales people who use ICTech® close 5 to 7 of ten presentations. What would happen for any salesperson who could cut through the mental baggage of a prospect and give a presentation with a 50% to 70% chance of closing?

Simple. Revolutionary!

Art Nelson is an entrepreneur and consultant in various areas of media organization. He found ICTech in a public workshop, and since has been learning more about it and applying it in his businesses Linda Blew Carlson, is President of FOCUS I, Inc. a company dedicated to supporting American businesses by helping them find innovative ways to individualize their service. Reach her at http://www.styleworks4u.com/pages/homepage.html or [email protected]

About The Author

Linda Blew Carlson, is GM of FOCUS II, LLC, a company dedicated to supporting businesses, families, and individuals by helping them find innovative ways to individualize their communications and strengthen each other. To become a part of this effort go to http://www.styleworks4u.com.

This article was posted on June 19, 2003

by Linda Blew Carlson

Make Your Website Sell

Make Your Website Sell

by: Chris Mole

Hundreds of new business websites are springing up every week. The owners of these sites are full of optimism that their venture into ecommerce will transform their business by bringing in new customers and boosting their sales.

But the reality is that most websites fail abysmally as sales tools. Why? Because the owners of these sites have spent a lot of money creating fancy graphics but paid little attention to the words on the site. And itกs the words on websites that sell. Your fancy graphics might entertain your potential customers but they won’t make the sale.

Take a look at many of the websites out there in cyberspace. They are full of spelling mistakes, poor grammar and cumbersome text that makes you want to do only one thing…click your mouse button and move to something else.

Small and medium businesses are particularly guilty of this. The words appear to be an afterthought, hurriedly cobbled together to fill the space between the images.

Ninety percent of websites are badly written

One of Americaกs ecommerce gurus, Ken Evoy, believes 90 percent of websites are failing to กget the orderก from potential customers browsing the web, because they are badly written, or written in the wrong style.

‘remember, people use the Net to find information. And information is contained in words, not graphics,ก Evoy says.

กLetกs face it, thereกs some pretty cool stuff on the web, and itกs fun to play with. But don’t be tempted. Your sales site can’t be selfindulgent. You have to think customer every step of the way. Customers want information.

กCompelling text is 1000 percent more important than fancy design. After all, if a fancy page has no substance, it delivers no value.ก

Web selling also has two important features to consider. First, the customer sought you out. This is a big positive. Second, there are thousands of other companies on the web competing for your customerกs business. And since you are a กvirtual vendorก, the customer can click you away in a second … without even feeling bad about it. This is a huge negative.

When you think about selling on the web, keep these two points clearly in mind. You have a potential customer browsing your site, finger poised over their mouse. One click and they’re gone.

Keep your website clean and simple

So what should an effective website look like? First, keep it simple. It may be nice to have moving images to greet the customer when they enter the site, but make sure it doesn’t take too long to load. Otherwise the customer will get impatient and…click…they’re gone.

All your site really needs is to be clean, simple and wellstructured. It doesn’t have to be fancy. It doesn’t have to be complicated. And it doesn’t have to be expensive.

Thatกs not to say your site shouldn’t look professional. Itกs your store front a reflection of your business and the quality of your product so it has to convey the image you want to present to the world. But a clean, simple site can do that. Some of worldกs biggest กetailersก like Amazon.com, and Barnes and Noble, have very simple logos.

So letกs get back to the key to a successful website the words. If you want to write the copy yourself, think carefully about the purpose of the text. You are writing sales copy. And the secret of all successful sales copy is to think like your customer.

Your customer asks: กwhatกs in it for me?ก

To quote Ken Evoy again: กWeb selling is about selling one customer at a time … onetoone selling…you and the customer talking together about their needs and wants.ก

Most people make the mistake of writing their websites for themselves. They tell how wonderful their company is, how long itกs been in business and technical details about the products they offer. But the customer doesn’t want to know about you and your company. The customer is interested in one thing…กwhatกs in it for me?ก

So focus on the benefits of your product or service. After every sentence you write, see yourself as your customer and ask the question: กso what?ก.

You are selling benefits, not features

For example, letกs imagine you are selling a new email filter that keeps spam out of peopleกs mailboxes. Don’t bore your potential customer with the technical details. Focus on the benefits of having such a filter. For example, you might say something like: กDo you waste valuable time dealing with junk email every day? BanIt Mail Filter is the answer to your problem. Banit is the most effective filter available to keep spam out of your mailbox and put back more time into your day.ก

You are selling benefits not features. Even experienced copywriters sometimes get the two mixed up.

You need to have a clear picture in your mind of the customer you are writing for. Write as if you were sitting in a chair opposite them and talking face to face. And tell them what your product or service can do for them.

That in a nutshell is the secret of writing copy for the Web.

If you can do this, the potential of web selling is enormous. It outranks Gutenburgกs printing press, Marconiกs wireless and Bellกs telephone all rolled together.

So don’t waste the fantastic opportunity presented by cybermarketing. Make sure your website copy is doing the job you want it to. If you don’t feel competent to write it yourself, hire a professional copywriter. The investment will repay itself many times over.

About The Author

Chris Mole is a freelance writer and copywriter based in New Zealand. His company, WebWords, specialises in helping small businesses write effective sales copy for their websites. Chris has more than 20 yearsก experience writing for print, radio and Web media in New Zealand and the UK.

Website: www.webwords.co.nz

Email: [email protected]

This article was posted on April 14

by Chris Mole

How To Stop Spyware From Robbing You

How To Stop Spyware From Robbing You

by: Tom Jenson

Booting up the computer in the morning seems to be taking longer and longer. The pauses between asking for a web page and it loading increase. Suddenly, even keystrokes aren’t registering on the screen as quickly as normal. Is your PC on the verge of a breakdown or has some version of spyware made a nest for itself on your machine?

The average user doesn’t contemplate that the numerous websites, free offers, giveaways or games they surf in a day will damage their computer. And, nor does this average surfer believe they could be downloading potentially hazardous software that is going to cause their computer to go on the blink, eternally.

The Internet is teeming with fantastic websites, information, tools and interactive activities. Some of these cost real money and some don’t. Itกs easy to take a freebie and feel like you got the better deal, but when a lot of freebies come packaged with spyware to infect your machine, the free price tag isn’t really worth it in the long run.

Spyware is an umbrella term covering malware, adware, viruses and worms. Virtually any type of software (benign or malicious) will track, record and send your activities (online and off) back to its source. Similarly, in the beginning, adware was designed with the idea of preventing end users from being besieged by unwanted advertisements. However, those more interested in harvesting your personal data, whether it is credit card numbers or other personal information, have unfortunately warped the idea.

Prevention is the best remedy for all of these ills. Good antivirus software, effective firewalls and reputable antispyware tools can save you time, money and a lot of headaches later. Most users don’t think it can happen to them, yet the best viruses and worms are so insidious, you don’t even realize it is happening at first.

Benign programs that just want to know the type of items for which you like to shop, can interfere with your Internet connection, overwork your CPU and even tie up valuable RAM. While it may not กmeanก harm, it will become a nuisance when left unchecked.

With the numerous antispyware tools available on the Internet and in your software stores, it doesn’t make sense to stick your head in the sand. Ignoring problems on your computer doesn’t make them go away. Because spyware can come in so many forms and be potentially fatal, it doesn’t make good sense to allow it the opportunity to inflict damage before doing something about it.

Comparisonshop the various available antispyware tools. There are many sites that cover current information on the antispyware upgrades and latest problems. Educate yourself to your options so that you can invest in the type of software that will work for you.

Discover all you ever wanted to know about spyware. Latest discovery methods, latest incoculation treatments, latest removal techniques. Click for useful info and daily updated blog of spyware news and articles. Click http://www.spywarerevealed.com/

About The Author

Tom Jenson has worked in software development for 20 years. Heกs seen spyware develop from an occasional problem, to a daily, hourly threat to all pcกs. He made it a mission to research these threats, and work out how best to combat them. Now this series of article helps others protect their computers too.

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 11

by Tom Jenson

Keeping Up With…

Keeping Up With…

by: Cathy Bryant

…the Jonesกs? The Smiths? The latest internet กsurefire, 100% guaranteed, knockdown last, best opportunity?ก

Makes you want to pull your hair out, doesn’t it?

Iกm here to tell you…don’t get caught in that trap.

I have yet to learn about anyone who has made any significant longterm income from any of these programs. Perhaps there have been a few along the way, but to be successful on the internet requires more, much more than simply joining every new highlytouted program that comes along.

Itกs sad, but the reality is that there are a large number of people who are burned by the hype and get scared away, believing that it is truly impossible to succeed online.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Many people just give up and fail to pursue their dreams, but others simply stand up, brush themselves off, and proceed to do what needs to be done in order to be successful.

Look around there are many examples of ordinary people doing an extraordinary business online. Some of them have advanced degrees; others no more than a highschool education.

It is said that the internet is the great equalizer, and I know that it is true at least when it comes to running a profitable online business. Iกm a perfect example; who would dream that a technophobic middleaged female could even compete? Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it.

It doesn’t take a brilliant mind or a truckload of cash. What it does require, however, is a willingness to educate yourself on what works and what doesn’t and thereกs a whole lot of both.

There is no one correct way to succeed online, but many. Many of the socalled กgurusก tell you that thereกs only one way THEIR way but don’t buy into it.

We are not all alike so why should our businesses be?

Choosing a business only because you think it can make you lots of money is a recipe for disaster. Find your passion, and build your business around it. You must do this in order to maintain the enthusiasm needed to guide you over the rough patches.

It is then that others will be racing to keep up with you!

About The Author

Cathy Bryant has been marketing online since the last century! Let her show you that an old dog CAN learn new tricks subscribe to her longrunning newsletter, the HomeBizJuncton Herald, and learn how you too can become successful from home. http://www.homebizjunction.com

This article was posted on March 22, 2003

by Cathy Bryant