Marketing is connected at the hip to a company’s brand value. This realization became ever more crystal clear after I read this posting on CBS Money Watch of 10 Companies with Insanely Bad Marketing. Note:  CBS News recently acquired the former website of BNet.  The  actual posting on bad marketing was Okay, but one comment specifically revealed how connected marketing is to a company’s brand and brand value.

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One of the commentators raised the point that initially the CBS takeover (merger and acquisition) of BNet was no big deal. But now, there has been a change in perspective regarding the brand and the writer talked about the “demise of journalism” and “we’re moving closer to the day that journalism and entertainment are indistinguishable.”

I had to agree with him or her because I too very rarely read much from this former BNet site.

Seth Godin, author of many great books, probably has the best definition of brand that I have found.  He defined brand as a noun meaning:

“set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If the consumer whether it’s a business, a buyer, a voter or a donor doesn’t pay a premium, make a selection or spread the word, then no brand value exists for that consumer.”

After reading Godin’s definition of the word brand, I crafted my own regarding the word “branding:”

“Verb: Are the authentic actions to connect to those expectations”

Marketing then demonstrates those “authentic actions. In my book, Be the Red Jacket, as well as many other articles I have written about the two-fold purpose of marketing.

1. Attract attention
2. Build a relationship

However after reading this very critically thought out response to the CBS posting on “10 Companies with Insanely Bad Marketing,” I realized there exists two additional and very subtle purposes or shadows behind the initial purposes of marketing those being:

1. Introduce the brand
2. Maintain brand value awareness

When CBS acquired BNet, the brand already existed that being articles and information about various aspects of business written by some noted business experts without the entertainment factor.  All CBS had to do was to maintain the brand value.  However, it made an executive decision to change the brand (the expectations) and probably accepted a lost of a few readers. Yet, the loss to brand value I believe has been far greater when looking at the absence of comments.

In a  merger and acquisition this abandonment of the brand is all too common and why most M&A fail. Companies are purchased because they are profitable. Then decisions are made to “bring the newly acquired company into the fold.” However, the brand value of this acquired company is probably subtly different than the brand value of the acquiring business.  Customers recognizing their expectations that were previously met, are no longer being met leave the now “merged business” taking their dollars with them. Many research reports estimate the M&A failure rate to range from 70-90%.

The lesson learned here might be “be careful,” “step lightly” when  looking to change your marketing because it may affect your brand.  If your brand has already created expectations by your customers or clients, your new marketing should reinforce those expectations if you truly wish to increase sales (the end result of effective marketing).

Some days business marketing seems exciting and ripe with opportunity. Other days it’s like swimming through mud. Take the thrilling wonderland of social media marketing, for example. You can be out there connecting, sharing information and tweeting to your heart’s content, and never see one red penny of ROI. Whether you have a boss, or you are the boss, your job and your livelihood depend on a return on investment for your marketing efforts, and trading valuable marketing resources for unrealized potential just isn’t going to cut it.

In this post we’ll share some of the secrets of good content marketers. What are they doing that leads to new clients and closed sales?

1. Start with Goals and a Plan for Your Content Marketing ROI

All good content marketers know that sitting down with your team to lay out your company goals and content strategy is the first step. You want to identify:

• Which channels you will use to distribute your content?
• Who will champion and complete the content and on what schedule?
• What analytics tools and success metrics will you use to track the impact of your content marketing strategy? (For example you might track social shares, web traffic, clicks, amount of time visitors spend on the site, which sites refer visitors to your site and quarterly sales growth.)
• What listening tools will you implement to track brand awareness?

2. Publish High Quality Content on Multiple Channels

The on-page content of your site is important. But off-page content is much more critical to helping your business to be found. If you are not publishing content that links back to your company website, you are like a little silo sitting way out in a hay field. All alone.

By contrast, publishing content and distributing it through press release distribution sites, YouTube and social media marketing initiatives is kind of like being a flower full of pollen in a field of bees.

Not only is it great for link building to have your content spread everywhere, but it also helps the world to know what you’re about. Publishing quality, relevant content that is meaningful to customers in your niche is key. Instead of trying to snare new customers with annoying ads, you’re delivering information they want and need. This builds trust, engagement, admiration and loyalty to your brand.

3. Optimize Your Content for Specific Keywords

Identifying targeted keyword phrases for your business is critical. Optimized content helps the search engines to act as match makers between information seekers and the content they are seeking.

But it’s more complicated than saying “My company is about Business Leadership, so I’m going to make sure the phrase ‘Business Leadership’ appears in all of my content.” It’s important to perform some in-depth keyword research to identify the “long tail” keyword phrases your audience is using to find services like yours. Otherwise it can be extremely difficult for you to get any significant search engine ranking in your niche.

The keywords you think of without actually researching them may not be the same ones your target clients are using.

4. Create a Boomerang Effect By Giving Other Businesses Some Buzz

Push marketing is over. Content marketing and referral marketing are in. One great way to get visibility for your business is to give kudos and referrals to others. This may be counter intuitive in traditional marketing terms. But it works.

Think of it like this. If another business gives you a referral or the business owner compliments you in front of a stranger, how does it make you feel? You want to do something for that business in return. And of course, in doing so, you will encourage more good will and more referrals. Referral marketing is not new, but today you have some very effective tools at your fingertips for how to grow your business through referral marketing business via social media.

Here’s one strategy:

• Log into your business Facebook page as your business fan page.
• Visit the Facebook pages of other businesses in your niche that offer non-competing services. Say hello on their page and leave a compliment about their Facebook page, their services, or an appreciative note about the connection you have with them.
• When businesses visit your Facebook page, thank them for visiting and give them an online “high five.” If you have done business with them, share a compliment about their products or services on your own page. Make sure you link back to them via the @ symbol, if you’re connected, or just post a complete link to their Facebook page. This post will show up on your own page and theirs. So it’s a nice and very visible gesture that over time can help to build visibility for your company as well.

5. Consolidate and Curate

Good content marketers know that trying to be everywhere at once is expensive. Why? Because you must either spend a lot of time trying to establish and maintain a presence on every popular social media channel or hire someone to do so. So there is a significant expense in time, money or both.

Instead of attempting to be omnipresent, think of how you can get more bang for your buck by consolidating your content marketing efforts and curating other content in your niche. Here are a few strategies:

• Use a social media management hub application, such as HootSuite, to schedule and manage your social media content.
• Change your settings in Twitter so that it automatically posts to your LinkedIn status and/or  your Facebook fan page.
• Use social media profile consolidation tools like Xeeme.com that allow you to place all of your social media, video, website and blog links on one page and monitor your online influence.
• Use content curation link to tools like Scoop.it to post content from around the web that is related to your industry, including your own. For example, if you are in the pharmaceutical industry, you could create a Scoop.it page devoted to news and trends in the medical and pharma industries. Doing so gives you an attractive magazine-like landing page for industry-related content that includes your own articles and company buzz alongside others.

In summary, to ensure you achieve the content marketing ROI you are looking for, align your social media efforts with your business goals and harness the power of the digital marketing tools available today.

Connect with Jayna via:

Your Wish Marketing at 952-913-6813 Mobile CT, USA

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

Having a giving attitude or mindset before having a receiving attitude will increase sales. This is well illustrated in the book The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann. A colleague of mine, Dan Waldschmidt, in his EDGY conversations (book soon to be released) links the letter G  to having a giving mindset. Ivan Misner, the founder of BNI, embraces a giver’s gain belief.

Credit www.sxc.hu

Yes having a giving attitude is necessary in today’s business world especially if you wish to Be the Red Jacket, to stand out and away from all those other gray suits (think competitors).

However, some believe giving away anything suggests you are engaged in “free” value exchange and free does not pay the bills.  Agreed, free does not pay the bills. Yet to be stingy also may not be the best marketing, selling or sales strategy.

People buy from people they know and trust. 

Through the demonstration of giving value, one can begin to build that trust.  This strategy accomplishes one of the two purposes of marketing to build relationships.

With technology, a giving attitude is probably one of the better competitive advantages for small business owners and especially solo-entrepreneurs. Since these individuals have limited resources of time, money, energy and emotions, understanding how to infuse a giving mindset into their marketing objectives may provide an advantage not as easily undertaken by the “big boys” or much larger competitors who have more resources.Sales Coaching Tip:  If you continually give to one small business owner or professional person and that person appears to be all about me, then remove that individual from your network.  Having a giving mindset does not mean to be continually used or abused by others.

Here are 7  tips of how to demonstrate a giving attitude.  One word of caution is recommended.  If you are not authentic, if you lack a written statement of core values, then these tips may be recognized by your potential customers (prospects) as self serving and consequently may backfire.

Tip #1 – Content marketing  is a great way to demonstrate a giving mindset.  By sharing your expertise or knowledge about specific topics, you can build credibility while providing value to those within your business orbit of influence.

Tip #2 – Hand written notes also showcase you are about being human.  Establishing a habit of sending out just one thank you note, glad to have met you note or just to say hello note is very much appreciated by others.

Tip #3 – Send a book to a complete stranger is another giving mindset action.  Maybe you read about an executive who shares a similar philosophy.  What is keeping you from sending out one of your favorite books to him or her?  Sometimes, I send a copy of Fail-Safe Leadership to C suite executives or even small business owners who I believe may enjoy this fairly quick read.

Tip #4 – Call an acquaintance, a contact from your local LinkedIn or other social media sites to meet for coffee, breakfast, lunch or even a glass of wine. Give of your time, listen to this person and determine how you may support him or her.

Tip #5 – Speak to a local civic organization or institution of higher learning or volunteer.  Share your knowledge freely without expecting any sales leads.

Tip #6 – Look to how you can support others by sharing connections or ideas.  For example, you could send a PDF file you just received regarding a trending business issue. By showcasing your authenticity through a giving mindset, you will become the “go to” person and that recognized authority.

Tip #7 – Say thank you.  Remember to acknowledge those who have supported you.  A little gratitude goes a long way.  If people are not being giving to you, possibly that could be because you have not been giving to them.

One of the statements I share with my clients is:

We receive what we believe.

If we are to receive abundance including the goals to generate sales leads, to increase sales, to develop a culture of high performance, to become a better leader, a better person, then to achieve these goals start with our beliefs.

A giving attitude is a belief and not one with a quid pro quo clause attached. To give without expectation of something in return is an incredible business skill not to mention people or interpersonal skill. This belief truly separates the few from the many and the forward thinking leaders from the rest of the crowd.

Credit www.sxc.hu

Sunday is a time to reflect regrading the work life balance of the past week and the forthcoming week. Yesterday after reading a discussion about integrity within a LinkedIn group, I wrote this comment on my Facebook wall.

“People who say they are ethical in many cases are ‘situationally’ ethical.

They are ethical in appearance and name only.

Look to their behaviors to determine how ethical they really are.

This is where authenticity and situational ethics truly collide.”

Authenticity is visually for me the shadow behind integrity. Years ago, I remember the cartoons where the character would walk in one direction and his or her shadow would stay still or walk in the other direction. When people are authentic, the shadow stays with the person. Note:  People can be authentically good or authentically not so good.

Recently I underwent an experiment regarding business ethics and experienced this collision between authenticity and situational ethics. The results were quite surprising in that over 70% of the people in the experiment actually displayed situational ethics even though all professed the demonstration of high business ethics (behaviors) was part of who they were.

In another example, a group of individuals who also said they demonstrated  high business ethics made a commitment to each other.  Again, approximately 50% of those involved have not honored that commitment.  Once again a collision between authenticity and situational ethics has happened.

One of my colleagues, Dan Waldshmidt, shared a post about “47 EDGY Perspectives for Unstoppable Business Success.” Many of these perspectives apply to life success and more so to work life balance. These perspectives also support how to stay authentic even during troubling times when it is much easier to engage in situational ethics.

Maintaining a work life balance is not easy. 

No one promised life to be easy.

Even our founding fathers recognized in forming this country, the opportunity for “the pursuit of happiness” does not guarantee happiness.

As leaders of our own businesses, as community members, as parents, as partners, as friends, as citizens, maintaining personal authenticity and therefore integrity (the shadow behind business ethics and personal values) is critical to grow ourselves and our businesses.  Through reflection we can change the course of our behaviors and ensure our authenticity shadows (think business ethics and personal values) stay with us instead of abandoning us.

Yesterday over on my Facebook wall, I posted a comment about business ethics and self promotion specific to LinkedIn and how LinkedIn members post events, jobs or their solutions (products or services) under the discussion tab.  I shared how frustrating this unethical behavior is because it is disrespectful to other members who are actually seeking a for real discussion.

The first several comments in response to my frustration were on target and then the discussion wandered off topic.  A couple of individuals raised the point about self promotion and how self promotion is evident in many interactions.

If marketing is about attracting attention and building relationships, then I agree wholeheartedly that self promotion is evident in every single interaction especially within social media. As business people we are continually seeking new potential customers (prospects), sales leads, strategic partners, centers of influence and maybe even a few new friends. To accomplish these goals requires us to self promote through personal one on one interactions to posting through social media to paying for advertisements. The ultimate desired end result is to make a friend and to be asked back for that coveted first time meeting.

However, when there are rules or policies in place as in the case of LinkedIn requesting that self promotion specific to events, jobs or solutions be placed under the promotions or jobs tabs, then the rules should be followed. By following the rules, demonstrates you are an individual with high business ethics.  Additionally, from my perspective, this includes speaking and even writing articles. Sales Coaching Tip:  The question is not one of “Do they know it?” but rather “Do they want to do it?”

No one wants to be “sold from the stage” as the expression goes. If you provide value through relevant sharing of information based upon your own expertise and experiences, people will come up to you and ask to learn more.

When engaged in content marketing under the education based marketing approach, again providing additional value through past articles you have written via hyper links to other external links from other resources is very common and expected. In this posting I have linked to sites connected to me as well as to sites not connected with me.  The goal is to build a loyal following by what you have to write and how you write.

Maybe upon ongoing reflection my biggest problem with self promotion is that for some it has turned into shameless self promotion and more importantly seems to be a one way street all leading to the interaction of “My Ego and More Dollars.”  These individuals are not interested in establishing any “mutually beneficial relationships” as Lillian Bjorseth of Breakthrough Networking defines networking.

One thing I do believe, social media does require vigilance and imposes some business ethics on us as subscribers, readers and participants.  To ignore blatant violation of the policies is one way for apathy to evolve. Then we potentially become a society where the emperor is naked and it takes a child to say “He doesn’t have any clothes on.”

Sales calls introductions, cold calls or first time sales calls are the first or last opportunity for sales success.  Beyond the cold calls or  “robo calls” where some fast talking prerecorded salesperson promising you to increase sales just by writing down a web address at least four times, there are those follow-up sales calls  introductions or cold calls from webinars to business to business networking events.

Interruption marketing is alive.

In spite of all the sales training and sales coaching is still very poorly executed.

www.funnysalescartoons.com

Yesterday, I had a follow-up sales call from a free webinar I had attended the previous week. This sales call was not pretty.

And what was sad was this company does sales training and sales coaching.  Guess they should have started with their call center.

Me: “Good afternoon, this is Leanne, how may I help you?”

Caller: Pause, some stuttering, “I’m looking to speak with Leanne. Is that you?”

Me: “Yes, this is she speaking.”

Within the first five seconds, the salesperson has made three critical mistakes and sent the rest of the phone call down the path of follow-up failure instead of sales success.

Mistake #1 – Did not listen. Not listening goes against sales buying rule #1, people buy from people they know and trust.

Mistake #2 – Did not immediately identify himself and his company. The caller ID showed a phone number, a city but not a business. He did identify himself, first name only and his company in the next 5 seconds. However, by not listening to my initial response, the distrust was already in place.

Mistake #3 – Did not ask if this was a good time to talk.

The call continued.

Caller:  “You attended a webinar last week put on (company’s name) and I was curious was to what you thought.” He made a few more insignificant or small talk remarks around this webinar.

Mistake #4 – Failed to make the call personal. The company could have sent me an evaluation form if that is all they wanted to know. His sales script is causing my eyebrows to raise; the distrust continues to build; and sales objections now start to mount. However I continue to role play to expand this learning experience.

Me: “I’m sorry, I don’t wish to appear rude, but I am confused as to why you are calling me. Possibly in the future, you may wish to consider doing some research before calling as I am already a client from purchasing a past paid webinar?”

Caller:  “We had over 350 people on that webinar and cannot research everyone.”

Mistake #5 – Making an excuse for poor performance.  I truly do not care how many people you had on the webinar.  Your call at this point in time is interrupting and potentially insulting as you did not know I already was a client.  I felt he was looking at his sales script and there were no options for this type of exchange.

Caller: “Let me start over.” He actually said this two times as I have edited this conversation for sake of brevity.

Mistake #6 – Not having a clear message.  Fumbling sales calls introductions is not how to build relationships and increase sales. Again, my sense is his sales script had not planned for this type of encounter. The distrust and sales objections continue to grow as well as some negative emotions.

What I realized there are probably many people who go along with these types of sales calls introductions and ignore all these follow-up sales call mistakes. I used to be one of them. Now I am still respectful, but curious as to what happens when the follow-up sales call does not go according to the planned sales script. Beyond being a learning experience, I admit I find some fun and humor in these exchanges.

The next significant remark was:

Caller:  “Do you consider yourself to be an expert?”

Me: “No, as I am always looking to improve.”

Caller:  We at this firm are experts on (insert service).

Mistake #7:  Never challenge the potential customer on the follow-up sales call. Even though I have written a nationally published book on sales success (Be the Red Jacket), have over 3,000 articles on the web including EzineArticles, Evan Carmichael and Sales Gravy, have been considered by several people to be one of the best small business writers in the country, I still do not consider myself as an expert.  I do believe I have some expertise in several subjects. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Leave your ego at the door.

As to this firm’s expertise, yes the CEO who I personally know has expertise and may consider himself an expert. However, I believe for the service being marketed, my efforts to date are far more successful than most small business owners or sales professionals. Additionally as I shared with the caller, the webinar I attended was basic information and I truly did not learn anything new.  The purpose I attended this free seminar was to ensure that I was not missing something in my marketing and selling efforts.

The call politely and quickly ended. My sense was the caller was relieved and probably thought of me as the cold call, follow-up sales call from you know where. He also may have had the thought that I was a witch with a “B.”  I truly do not believe he thought the problem was him, his sales script as much of the conversation was quite defensive or maybe structured under the premise of ABC – always be closing.  Of course I could be wrong and it would not be the first time.

After the call ended, I reflected and even posted to my Facebook page. Also, I did wonder for a few moments if he would share his experience with his manager or even the CEO. Well, time will tell.

People wonder where I find the material for this blog and the numerous other articles.  All one has to do is to listen and observe. Life has an incredible way of providing far more information than any of us could ever possibly share. My challenge from all these observations is to determine what is most relevant for the readers of this blog be them professional sales people, small business owners or even C-Suite executives.

Please feel free to comment if you have had a similar experience. What actions did you take? I look forward to reading your thoughts.

The Business, Create Needed Trust

There is a new revolution in business today. It’s the relationship between business entity, the end user, the client, the partner, or whomever you utilize to help assist you in your business.

Relationships need to constantly be growing stronger and deeper every minute of every day. In this economy, this fact remains stressed every day in your profession. With layoff, unemployment at record lows, you need to build solid relationships with trust more now, than ever before. It’s a fact in sales and small business in general, that people want to work with people they know and most of all, those whom they know they can trust.

The capacity to build a trusting relationship is what every business needs and should make it a set requirement if the business goals are set to win and survive the long haul. Without trust – in something – or – someone – how is any ones business going to survive, or more-so, be expected to sustain in a downturn without trust?

Trust creates Thrust; In Business, In Relationship

As a small business owner, I can relate to the ups and downs and the struggles that we as owners face from day to day. No matter the struggles, I still have the personal requirement that every day must be a day that my business moves forward! Be it exceeding an expectation while servicing a client, or servicing my own small business requirements allowing me to attaining my business goals.

When I’m attending to a business matter, I have to trust myself that I will complete the objective and continue to move forward. When I’m attending to a client matter, I have to trust that my business will continue to operate smoothly without me holding its hand. In this world of business entrepreneurship there’s a constant power struggle between my business owner viewpoint of needs and wants and the reality of my business clients businesses needs and wants. In the “real world” they rarely ever align. I rely on the trust in myself and my instincts to ultimately give me the peace of mind and personal satisfaction that I would expect, and trust my business to provide itself. The result is that the small business will propel forward, and also thrust the clients’ business forward too!

Call to Action; Thrust yourself forward and bring your passion and initiative to your small business and relationships abroad

If you own a small business or not, the one thing you should be able to count on from all of those around you is a network of trust and aptitude that align with your life’s goals and desires.  When you need something, you probably know who you can go to in order to complete your needs and bring the outcome to you in a full circle.

The Internet and all these great new tools around us are an example of a desirable way to engage, stay informed, and become part of the perfect arena for creating new connections and building trust.

New connections become friends and most often, friends become prospective buyers, or someone that we can rely on to help us in ways that maybe unknown now, even perhaps far into the future. When each connection you make, there is some expectation of providing or desiring a reciprocating moment in return.

Remember this —  Sharing yourself or your abilities to someone often means more to them then it will to you. Interacting with the information you offer and then the people you send the information you share to, will help build up the trust in the relationship — whatever kind it is.

The bigger piece of information you share, the more important trust becomes to the recipient. Relationships that are built on a foundation of interaction, reciprocation, honesty, and your full fledged passions will prevail. This will allow your relationship to become even more valuable then ever before.

The Final Word

Grab the telephone and call an old friend, or prospect, or current client just to say hello. Reach out during major events of life and business and share more of yourself with the opposite connection, make friends, win influence with personality, and open doors along the way for others to walk into.

If you think you are too old, or too young, too inexperienced, or more experienced then the next in line, remember that this is not always the reality in which you live. The best value and profit in a business, comes from the people that surround it’s mission and think together with a collective and creative mindset.

Friends, neighbors, Men, and Women — The fine line in being better at what you do is all about many friends you make along the way to support your mission and efforts of tomorrow.

Matt Geier is President and Founder of The Sales Corner LLC. With  background in technology and sales, Matt firmly believes in the human connection especially for sales success.  Building long term customer loyalty is critical to the success of any organization be it brick or mortar to those existing in cyberspace. Matt leverages his experience to provide solutions that meet both the wants and the needs of today’s busy small business owners seeking to expand their Internet presence while still keeping that human touch. Connect with Matt through:

Call – 612.424.0671
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattggeier
The Sales Corner Blog: http://www.thesalescorner.us/blog
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thesalescorner

Credit www.sxc.hu

The business myth of time management still prevails because it is much easier to provide some “time management tips,” some surface solutions than to really address the real problem of self management.

No one can manage a constant. 

Time management is an oxymoron.

Time is a constant as there will always be 60 seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour; 24 hours in the day; 7 days in the week; and 365 days in a year.

Yet workshop after workshop in order to secure the quick fix, maintain this business myth and not too mention make oodles of money, the short term thinking solution focuses on the symptom of the problem and not the problem.  For if the focus was truly on the problem of better self management, these business training, self improvement training to sales training workshops would not be able to fly in and fly out in just one day.

With my practice, I provide a diagnostic tool (performance evaluation) to determine 78 key attributes that have been sorted into specific roles or categories including time management.  There are 5 key attributes or talents within this category of time management and include:

• Attention to Detail – ability to see and to pay attention to details

• Concrete Organization – understanding the immediate, concrete needs of a situation, establish an effective plan of action

• Consistency and Reliability – being conscientious in personal and professional efforts as well as consistent and reliable in life roles

• Project Scheduling – understanding the proper allocation of resources for the purpose of getting tasks (goals) completed within a defined time frame

• Realistic Personal Goal Setting- setting goals that can be achieved using available resources and operating within a projected time frame.

Effective time management is a direct result of goal setting and achievement. For without goals, who cares if you are here or there?

Notice there is nothing about a “better time management” skill because one does not exist. Time management has and will always be a self management skill based upon specific attributes, talents or capacities.

If you want to get a handle on how to better operate within a given and constant time frame, then look to solutions that address self management or self leadership.  Invest a little more dollars and time to secure sustainable results otherwise next year at this time if not sooner, you will once again be seeking another time management solution and continuing this very expensive  business myth.

Content marketing begins with relevant value which emanates from strategic planning as demonstrated through market research.  Potential customers, prospects, centers of influence or strategic partners are seeking new information.  Your goal is to become one of the top resources in this quest for this endless flow of information. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  To engage in content marketing without having a strategic plan has you in the role of Captain Wing It where you spray your efforts all over the place and then pray something will stick.

Of course there is a problem with all you can eat information, there is just too much of it. This is why relevant value is so critical.

Value as Marc Miller writes in his book A Seat at the Table truly comes from the client or prospect’s viewpoint.  In other words, people buy on value unique to them. This is my sales buying rule #3.

Yes, there may be some generic value in specific industries or specific roles, however each organization has a culture of decision making based upon certain usually unknown values. The challenge for those in sales is not to have their perception of value supersede the potential customer’s reality of value.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Miller’s book is probably one of the best books on how to increase sales in today’s market place as well as to how to understand value.

Relevancy specific to value is what is most critical at this point in time and works with the two sales buying criteria of commitment and urgency. For example, if the organization  is looking at compliance costs even though they also believe in building customer loyalty, what is more important to them right now?  For whatever is more relevant will also be where there is greater urgency and a greater commitment to take action.

Writing numerous postings on this sales blog as well as a weekly column for the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, regular contributor for NBiz Magazine based out of Houston, Texas, not to mention thousands of other articles, I am continually reviewing what the readers are seeking based upon metrics such as reads, retweets, etc. Even though I sincerely believe in strategic planning, leadership, business ethics and consistent goal setting, those articles do not receive as much attention as ones on:

7 Top Tips to Car Salesmen’s or Car Saleswomen’s Success – 52,583 reads published April 25, 2007

7 Tips to Real Estate Agent’s Success – 41,978 reads published May 16, 2006

What is Passion? – 17,630 reads published May 29, 2005

Content Marketing a Competitive B2B Advantage – 307 tweets since January 8, 2012

Uniting See Level with Sea Level to Reinforce an Engaged Workforce of Thinkers and Doers – 31% click through rate since August 1, 2011

Can Your Business Ethics Stand the Newest Wave of Bombardment, Social Media? – 7 reposts through EzineArticles since August 17, 2010

The challenge even though relevant value may work in tandem with two of the 5 sales buying criteria, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee a sale.  Returning to the example of the first two articles about car sales people and real estate, many of these  sales people do not have the allocated dollars to hire a sales coach. However the article still gives provides the opportunity to attract more attention and build more relationships.  Yes I have earned dollars through these articles. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Determine your niche in content marketing.

To determine relevant value begins by listening to what your customers are saying; by listening to what others are saying; by listening to what is happening within your market place, your community and even the world. Also engaging in keyword research supports relevant value in content marketing.  Keyword research can be your secret weapon to Be the Red Jacket, to stand out in the crowd with your blog postings to articles to even keynote speeches.

In today’s very crowded market place, does demand that you do stand out if you wish to increase sales. Content marketing based upon relevant value just may help you stand out a little quicker, may increase sales and may expand your market influence.

Even in today’s knowledge rich society, the ongoing goal of how to increase sales still results in “sharky sales behavior.” We all know about this type of sales behavior.  The salesperson circles around you, comes up, attempt to take a bite under the disguise “May I help you?” and then resumes circling. Just waiting for that moment. Can you hear the music of Jaws in the background?

Credit www.sxc.hu

Sharky sales behavior appears to be ingrained in the sales training at least for one national wireless company.  Every time I enter one local wireless retail store, I am immediately approached by a salesperson who utters the four word baited question “May I help you?” I politely tell him or her no and all I am doing is paying my bill.

Then the person circles checking in every couple of moments “Are you having any problems?” or “Did you know you can pay your bill quicker over here?”

When I am paying a bill, I like my privacy.  I do not want to pay a bill in the center of the salesroom with a plethora of people coming and going. Of course the center of the room is nearer all those new products so that maybe you as the customer may be interested in the latest new mobile smart device. And this is more important to the store than your financial privacy.

Years ago when retail clothing stores had sales people as compared to checkout clerks, there was a lot of sharky sales behavior especially for those salespersons on commission.  Today that behavior can still be found at many retail outlets from electronics to new car sales.  Even those engaged in business to business (B2B) sales sometimes also demonstrate this type of sales behavior.

Unless you want your customers to be reminded of Jaws or heavens forbid pushy sales people as in Glenngarry GlenRoss movie where the ABC of always be closing  of sales training is immortalized, then maybe it is time to reconsider how to increase sales.

Sales Cartoon

Credit www.funnysalescartoons.com

Sales Quotation

“You need to point out what additional value you offer. It’s not just price point. If that was the case, we’d all be driving Yugos and eating at McDonald’s.” Leanne Hoagland-Smith as quoted in the New York Times, Shortcuts column.