05 April 2014

Astute Planner

(Excerpted from Chapter Four from Take Your Sales Performance Up-a-Notch)

By Dave Kahle

        Here's one of the foundational principles for sales success: You'll always be more effective if you think about what you do before you do it.

        Can you imagine a football team not creating a game plan or not practicing before the big game?  Can you imagine a musician not preparing a piece of music before the recital?  Can you imagine a politician not practicing the big speech?  Or a doctor not reviewing the x-rays and the procedure prior to a major surgery?  Or a lawyer barging into a case without having planned it?  The answer to all these questions is, "Of course not.”  In every event of any importance at all, professional, effective human beings plan and prepare beforehand.  It's an essential step toward success.

          The same is true for sales people.  If we think about what we do before we do it, providing we think about it in the right way, we'll significantly improve our performance.  Unfortunately, many sales people are often guilty of the same mindset that provided this speaker an excuse for his lack of concern and preparation.  Our intuition and incredible spur-of-the-moment, ad-lib skills will get us by.  WRONG!

          You have a great treasury of wisdom and insight that you've acquired through a rich set of life experiences.  Much of that wisdom and insight can be directly applied to your sales job, if you will only tap into it and use it.  Of course you'll be able to tap into some of that accumulated expertise on the spur of the moment, but you'll be far more effective if you take the time to tap into it before you get into the situation.

          If you're going to be effective with this hat, you'll think about what you do before you do it – you'll think about every telephone call, every sales call, every customer, every presentation, every interaction with your customers and prospects.  Yet it's not enough to think about what you do before you do it, you must also think about things in the right way. 

        Good planning is a matter of asking yourself the right questions, and then answering them with detail and precision.

        An amazing thing happens when you ask yourself questions – you think of the answers!  What sounds so elementary is really a powerful key to unlocking your success.  When you ask yourself a good question you stimulate your thinking.   For example, you could ask yourself, "What are the three most effective things I could do to improve my sales performance?”  That question would prompt you to analyze your performance, develop some possible changes in your behavior, and then select three that appear to be the highest priority.  That's a very worthwhile set of thoughts.  And they were prompted by the question you asked yourself.

          While this is just one example, the principle is incredibly powerful.  Learn to ask yourself good questions, and you'll think more effectively.

          It follows, then, that if you want to think well, you need to ask yourself the best questions.  For example, you could ask yourself the question, "What are all the things that the customer will not like about me in this upcoming sales call?”  Ask that question, and your mind will dredge up all the flaws and faults you've filed away in your memory.  That's probably not the most effective way to prepare for a sales call.  After thinking about that question, you're liable to be depressed and discouraged.  Rather, you could ask yourself the question, "What are two or three things I could find out about the customer that would uncover things we have in common?”  Think about the answer to that question, and your mind will dwell on your customer, not yourself, and focus on finding common ground in order to build a relationship.  Which of those two questions will be the better one for you to ask yourself prior to a sales call?

          The answer is obvious.  But the point is this – if you're going to adequately prepare and plan for your sales interchanges, you need to ask yourself the right questions.  When you ask yourself the right questions, you think in the most effective way.

          In order to implement this principle, you'll need to master two basic processes.  Each of these processes is really a series of questions, asked in a certain sequence.  Master these two processes, and you'll master the first hat, Astute Planner.  You'll gain a competency that will serve you well the rest of your working life.

        The Processes

          To implement this principle and acquire the power of the first hat, you'll need to master two processes: The prioritization process, and the planning process.

          The prioritization process is used to help you make good decisions about where to spend your time, about what to plan.  There is just not enough time in the day for you to plan everything.  So, you must first prioritize those things that are important enough to plan.  You then follow that up with the planning processes.  You'll find that you use the two together.          

          Read the expanded version of this article here for an explanation of the prioritization process. 

Dave Kahle is one of the world's leading sales authorities. He's written ten books, presented in 47 states and ten countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine.  Check out our Sales Resource Center for 455 sales training programs for every sales person at every level.

You may contact Dave at The DaCo Corporation, PO Box 523, Comstock Park, MI  49321, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Page Title:  How to become an astute planner for sales people, an article by Dave Kahle.

22 March 2014

We are on the path to 1,000 sales leads by Jeffrey Gitomer

Last week I wrote about the big picture of what it would take to attract 1,000 leads, both the philosophy and structure of what would create the attraction. I also talked about all the research I did to find “the best time” to tweet, re-tweet, post, and take other social actions in order to get the full measure of exposure. Turns out no one really knows the best time. Pretty interesting.

CLARIFICATION of purpose and process:

THE WHY: These messages, promotions, and solicitations will be used to attract people interested in becoming Gitomer Certified Advisors. Certified Advisors will be able to use, teach, and resell my classroom and online offerings.

THE SYMPHONY: We are going to use all our social media sites and outlets, in harmony, to achieve this objective and strategic plan. In order to do so, I must message all of my LinkedIn connections, Twitter and Facebook followers, blog subscribers, e-zine subscribers, and YouTube subscribers. From there, I am going to send out a master email every week with the subject line “Build your own or expand your existing sales training business.” This same message contained in the email will be broadcast worldwide through all of my other social media and Internet sources. 

Based on that information, and the fact that I am all about value-based (non advertising) messages, tweets, and posts, the campaign will take place “at random” until we discover the best times and places to elicit response.

Luckily we’re in the age of data analytics, so it should be a relatively easy task to see what comes from where, and when. It will not be a 100% accurate evaluation, but over a short period of time we’ll be able to take smarter (analyzed) guesses.

WHAT’S IN THIS FOR YOU? As you read (hopefully study) our plan of action, see which elements you might be able to use to build your own lead-generating program. For me, this will be the measure of how valuable my social media time investment has been. What could it be for you?

Achieving 1,000 leads will be an amazing return. 

Here’s the detailed outreach game plan:

• Strategic E-Blast. An initial mailing to my entire list on a Wednesday morning. Thereafter on the following Monday. And 11 days later on a Friday. This gives me maximum penetration of my own list. The email will link to my promo video and information site (gitomercertifiedadvisors.com). The copy in the email will be short and sweet. It will make NO promises other than “start or build your own sales training business using my material and my brand.”

• Facebook posts on both my personal and business page. We will link the post to our informational video promo, and offer a value message rather than an ad. It will be a message based on better presentations or better selling. It will ask questions and create a desire to find out more. When they click the link, there will be no registration barriers whatsoever.

• Facebook testimonial posts from existing advisors. Both video and text. This will authenticate my requests, and make interested people less reluctant to respond.

• Daily tweets with varying messages. All with a shortened link to take the interested people right to my info site. No barriers to the information.

• Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter ads that will target similar sites and messages. That’s right, you can put target ads on the competition’s social media pages. Love it.

• A small but targeted LinkedIn ad campaign. Similar to the ads on my competition’s pages, but intended to reach people based on background and title.

• Daily LinkedIn messaging to my entire group of 19,000+ connections. Sending them a link, requesting they take a look AND make their contacts aware of the opportunity.

• Targeted LinkedIn messaging. Searching for people with training, sales management, and coaching backgrounds and inviting them to “take a look.”

• Several short YouTube information videos in addition to my existing ones. They will be loaded with keywords and hash tags.

• Blog posts twice a week with information on how to be a better sales trainer or coach. Value-based information with an ability to click for more information.

• Weekly e-zine ads and informational tips. Similar to the blog, my weekly e-zine, Sales Caffeine, will feature training tips and a “for info on how to become a Gitomer Certified Advisor and build your business using my name, my brand and my material,” click here button.

THE EXPECTED RESULTS: A steady flow of semi-qualified incoming leads who will discover our team of knowledgeable, friendly people who can convert them to happy, enthusiastic buyers.

THE PLATFORM IS THE MEDIUM: The reason I’m able to attract anyone to my message is because I have (slowly) built a solid platform of customers and followers. So can you. I started with ONE. Pretty low number. So can you.

Study my sites and follow my results. Those lessons will teach you the real law of attraction: VALUE ATTRACTION.

If you’d like to see the exact email and subject line I’m using, and links to all my social sites, go to www.gitomer.com and enter the word ADVISOR in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelve best-selling books including The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling. His best-selling 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling is now available as a book and an online course at www.gitomerVT.com. For public event dates and information about training and seminars visit www.gitomer.com or email Jeffrey personally at  .

©2014 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this document

without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112

22 March 2014

One of the Emerging New Rules for Sales:

The Value-Added Sales Call

By Dave Kahle

 "My customers seem to have less time available for me than before.  They are harder to see, and when I do get in front of them, they often seem rushed or preoccupied.  What can I do about this?”

It may be that the problem is you.  You may be irritating and abrasive, and over time your customers may have decided that they don't want you around.

But it's probably not you.  It's your customer.  No matter what you sell, it is likely that your customer has more to do and less time in which to do it than ever before.  Your customer's lack of time is a relatively recent phenomenon.  It wasn't much of an issue a few years ago, but it has become universal and growing in intensity day by day.  Your customer is overworked and pressed for time.  As a result, there is just not enough time in the day to get everything done.  Some things have to go.  A long, leisurely conversation with a sales person is often one of those things that is going.

I believe we are at the beginning of a new trend – a trend with awesome implications for sales people.  It used to be that being viewed as a "value-added” vendor was a desirable position to occupy in the customer's mind.  That meant that the product or service you represented brought your customer more value for the money than the offerings of your competitors.  It was why they did business with you.

Notice the focus was on the product or service you represented.  The process involved - the sales calls you made on the customer, and the discussions you had with him or her – were viewed as a means to an end.  It was what both of you did in order to come to the exchange of money for your value-added offerings.

Those were the rules, and customers and sales people understood them.  But the rules are changing.  We are at the beginning of a new paradigm for the field sales person.  The new paradigm is this: Today, not only must the product or service bring value to the customer, but the time you spend with the customer must also be of value to him or her. 

In other words, the sales process itself must bring value to your customer.  Your customer must gain something from every sales call.  He/she must see a reason for spending time with you – a payback for his investment of time.

In today's time-compressed and overwhelming world, your sales call must bring the customer some value.  Here's a way to visualize this emerging new rule.  Suppose you were to make a routine sales call on a regular customer.  At the end of the call you filled out an invoice, handed it to him and said, "OK, John, that will be $150.00 for my time.”  In other words, you charge him for the value he received by talking with you.  Would he pay your bill?  Would he have derived enough value from the time he spent with you so that he would gladly pay you for it?

OK, the illustration may seem a bit over the edge.  Most industries are not at the point, yet, where they will charge for sales calls.  But in the information rich, too-many-things-to-do world in which you and your customers live, time is more precious than money.

When you ask for your customer's time, you are asking for something very limited and very precious.  If you take 30 minutes of his day, he has invested 6.25% of his workday in you.  He has a thousand other things he could have done in that time.  What did he get for that investment with you?

The point is this: If you are going to be successful in the Information Age economy, you must focus on bringing something of value to your customers every time you ask them to invest their time in you.  You must view every sales call through the perspective of the value you can bring to your customers.  A sales call is no longer just about the objectives that you want to achieve, it is also about the objectives your customer wants to achieve.  It's as if you present that $150.00 bill at the end of every sales call and expect to be paid.

So, how can you adjust to new situation?  Here are some proven practices that will help you make the transition:

Your customer expects you to know something about his business, his customers, his processes and his problems before you visit.  That means that you must spend more time before a sales call gathering information about that customer.  Check to see if the customer has a website, and gather useful information from it.  Call and ask the receptionist to send you a company brochure.  Ask around your company to see what other colleagues might know about the account. If you don't know that the customer is qualified and worth your time, you will be wasting his. 

Put yourself in the shoes of that customer.  What else does he/she have to do other than talk to you?  What problems is he facing, what opportunities?  How can you bring him or her something that will simplify his job, help him overcome his problems, or reduce the amount of time he spends on your project?

To read the expanded version of this article, visit:    

                                
This is a simple little technique that can make a huge difference in your performance.  Before every sales call, stop and think about this question: What will the customer gain from the time he/she spends with me?  If you can't articulate some gain for the customer, consider not making the sales call. 

I realize that this is a change in thinking for a lot of sales reps.  But it's a change that is coming, whether you want to make it or not.  Your choice is to be a leader and thus gain a significant edge over your competition, or to wait until the market forces you to change.  The choice is yours. ###

********************************************************************************************

Dave Kahle is one of the world's leading sales authorities. He's written ten books, presented in 47 states and ten countries, and has helped enrich tens of thousands of sales people and transform hundreds of sales organizations.  Sign up for his free weekly Ezine.  Check out our Sales Resource Center for 455 sales training programs for every sales person at every level.

You may contact Dave at Kahle Way® Sales Systems, 800-331-1287, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

22 March 2014

A game plan to generate a thousand social media leads.

By Jeffrey Gitomer

I have a goal and a plan to attract 1,000 leads in the next 30 days.

Six months ago I launched my Gitomer Certified Advisor program. It allows others in the coaching and training field to use my brand and sell my classroom training and my online platform along with their offerings – or by itself.

After a very successful (but limited) launch, I want to take the program to the next level and need to find interested and qualified people to do so.

THINK ABOUT YOU AS I TELL YOU ABOUT ME. Before I get into the strategy and actions I’m going to take, I want you to understand why I’m writing about the process. I want you to compare it to how you attract, how you prospect, and how you connect with willing buyers.

• How do you get leads?

• How do you prospects?

• What is your strategy to socially involve and attract?

• Is your personal platform strong enough to attract?

• What is your social media lead-conversion rate?

The answers to these questions will significantly impact results.

BIG PICTURE: The strategy for this “attraction campaign” is to use every form of social media and electronic outreach to find interested people, and offer them multiple ways to connect with me. The goal is to give information immediately without a barrier of registering or giving me their information. I want to get my messages BOTH responded to and passed along.

THE TARGETS: In order to get 1,000 leads, I am going to mass mail my contacts and connections AND specifically target existing coaches, existing sales trainers (corporate and independent), and anyone looking to start their own sales training business that wants to use the Jeffrey Gitomer brand to increase authenticity. As a Gitomer Certified Advisor, I provide them with the content, the brand, and the training to make it happen.

TIMED SOCIAL MESSAGES: Posting time and frequency are directly proportionate to the audience reached and their likelihood of response. From my personal experience, my social media consulting expert, Joe Soto, and the article, “The Scientific Guide to Posting Tweets, Facebook Posts, Emails and Blogs at the Best Time” in The Huffington Post, the best times to post on social media are as follows  :

Facebook. Best post times are between 1pm and 3pm Monday through Friday; engagement rates are 18% higher on Thursdays and Fridays.

Twitter. Tweet later in the day. Re-tweets on Twitter are higher at 5pm compared to any other time during the day; the best times to post are between noon and 6pm. This same study found that people are on Twitter 181% more during their commute.   Think about it. Aren’t you more likely to be all about your life and how to improve it before or after work?

1. LinkedIn The Media Bistro suggests LinkedIn is most often used right before and after work hours (specifically on Tuesday and Thursday, but no one knows exactly (except maybe LinkedIn).
2. Blog readers read in the morning, with the “sweet spot” being Thursdays around 11am. But that’s a subjective opinion as well.
3. has no “best time.” By comparison to others, its visitors are more search oriented, so I intend to be both searchable and findable. And my new video posts will go out to all my existing subscribers.

CRAP SHOOT REFINED: No one really knows. All messages are different, and all experts are flawed. (I’ve been proving that for years.) I believe that content is a bigger key than what time you post it. And key words will get you found. So that’s where I’m concentrating. I’m going out to my audience, and asking them to go out to their audience (re-tweet, repost, forward, like, comment, and anything else that spreads the word organically).

My overall goal is to generate at least 1,000 leads by May. You may think that is an aggressive goal, but highly achievable through social media and email. Generating 1,000 leads will create a pipeline that will lead me to one sale per day by June 2014.

And I am going to give you the complete detailed outreach plan for you to use as a guide to creating your own game plan for new leads – next week.

If you’d like to see the exact email and subject line I’m going to use, go to www.gitomer.com and enter the word ADVISOR in the GitBit box.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelve best-selling books including The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling. His best-selling 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling is now available as a book and an online course at www.gitomerVT.com. For public event dates and information about training and seminars visit www.gitomer.com or email Jeffrey personally at  .

© 2014 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this document

without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112

12 March 2014

I know you love your business. Do your customers?

What’s the “RAP” on you and your business?

What do you mean you don’t know? YOU CREATED IT!

Just ask Mother Google. She is standing by with millions of info-bits and info-bites about you and your business that you (or anyone) can have in a nanosecond. For free.

What is posted about you (not what you have posted about yourself) on Google, or on any social media, is a reflection of how others perceive you. It’s also what others, who are looking for you or what you sell, may think of you once they find you. In short, it’s your “RAP.”

The old word is “rap sheet.” It was a police term for a summary of what was factual about your past – your record of events – mostly bad. It was a forerunner to Google.

I am creating and redefining a new “rap sheet” that encompasses both good and bad. It’s not just about “what was” – your 21st century RAP sheet is about both “what was” and “what is.” And just like the old rap sheet – you create it.

Unlike the old rap sheet, the new RAP sheet can help you attract and grow IF you’re aware of your online presence and how that affects and impacts your sales and your business.

The new RAP sheet – or should I say the “RAP of sales” – is broken down into segments that define the process by letter (R.A.P.) and once you read them, you will at once have an understanding and a game plan to improve in each area. You’ll also have insight as to why the new RAP on you can make or break your business.

Here are the RAP elements:

• Reputation. Built slowly over time, your reputation defines your present situation and your next sale. It documents how you react, respond, and recover from service calls and issues, and it cements your image both online and in the customer’s thoughts. Your reputation is a reflection of your status in the business world, and a reality check from your customer’s perspective.

DO THIS: Take responsibility for your reputation, and take all necessary actions to build and preserve it.  

• Attraction. Not the “law of attraction” – rather VALUE attraction. What value-based messages are you sending? What messages are your customers responding to? How are these messages creating a bigger, more responsive, more positive, more loyal customer base? Everything from daily tweets and blog posts to one-on-one customer interactions create your word-of-mouth and word-of-mouse attraction.

ASK YOURSELF: What’s attractive about me and my business? Why would a customer follow me? What do I have to do to create more positive followers?

• Profit. Not your profit, THEIR profit. Make certain that every customer knows and understands how they win AFTER purchase, how they use and produce, and how they benefit and enjoy. Concentrating on customer value also has a positive internal effect. When customers are happy and feel valued, it creates a loyalty-base of customers AND employees. Profit is way more than money.

Here are a few companies you can look at as examples of good, mixed, and bad:

BAD RAP: Borders, Blackberry, Yellow Pages, AOL

MIXED RAP: American Airlines, Goldman Sachs, JC Penney, DISH Network

GOOD RAP: Amazon, Zappos, Southwest, Bloomberg

It’s easy to see the RAP of others. It’s often way more difficult (and painful) to see your own.

Here’s a bit more on how you create your own rap:

• Your corporate and personal philosophy guides your words, actions, and deeds. Your philosophy is comprised of the principles you live by. Beyond your mission, it’s how you help others and how you live your core values.

• Create a culture of comradery and support, communication and truthful information, service and response, and availability and helpfulness. Culture is your long-term essence. Your spirit. Look at all the companies I listed under “good rap.” They all have amazing internal cultures. Not a coincidence.

• Treat your people right and they will treat your customers beyond your expectations.

Reputation, Attraction and Profit are THE three words that define your business in the minds, responses, posts, and actions (including purchases) of your customers and prospects. Now that you know the words, their definitions, and their impact, it may be time to do a review – both internal and on Google. Identify your RAP, define it, and make whatever positive changes are necessary to build it.

Your RAP is out there – the question is: what are you doing about it?

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelve best-selling books including The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling. His best-selling 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling is now available as a book and an online course at www.gitomerVT.com. For public event dates and information about training and seminars visit www.gitomer.com or email Jeffrey personally at  .

© 2014 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this document

without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112

22 February 2014

Courage By Monika D'Agostino

“Never allow a person to tell you no who doesn't have the power to say yes.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Some words of wisdom from the Wizard of Oz. Since lions are supposed to be "The Kings of Beasts," the Cowardly Lion believes that his fear makes him inadequate. He does not understand that courage means acting in the face of fear, which he does frequently. Only during the aftereffects of the Wizard's gift, when he is under the influence of an unknown liquid substance that the Wizard orders him to drink (perhaps gin) is he not filled with fear. He argues that the courage from the Wizard is only temporary, although he continues to do brave deeds while openly and embarrassedly fearful.

Recently, I had a delightful conversation with one of my female clients who is also one of the smart women I am privileged to have in my professional circle. We were talking about sales (what else?) and prospects being hesitant to buy when she pointed out that the lack of courage is often the reason why people don't buy. She said that if she had a wish, she would send a bottle of courage along with her business proposals. We then   continued to chat about courage in general, The Wizard of Oz and my client then suggested that I write a blog about it, so here it is.

Let's look at the Wikipedia definition of Courage

Courage is the ability and willingness to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.

Pretty straightforward and clear, but what lies underneath?

People who are not courageous are usually afraid. Afraid of the consequences of their actions (not understanding that not taking action also has consequences), afraid of trying something new, afraid of their own courage.

How much courage does it take to choose a new product/service?

My client who is the CMO of a newly established brand with a very compelling concept is trying to break into the marketplace and their offering is clearly new, innovative and of enormous value to consumer brands who in turn want to introduce their products. The approach is affordable, fun and with a clear benefit to CPG companies and the end consumer. So, why doesn't the approach fly off the shelve? Because most people don't have the courage to introduce a new concept and being a first adopter. It takes a lot of guts to take the first step. It's a lot easier to follow but also more predictable and boring.

There is a really good saying that I quote a lot and that is "Nobody ever gets fired for hiring IBM". IBM is a well established company with huge brand recognition. Let's just say (for the sake of the argument) that there are companies out there who offer the same solution as IBM but even better and cheaper, it would still be hard to sell. I know that, because some of my clients have tried.

Why is it easier to buy from a known brand?

There is no risk involved. Even if the solution turns out to have some areas of improvement, it's still a safe bet and whoever made the decision to buy will hardly be questioned. But imagine, you are buying from a newly established company and there is problems. That choice might get a decision maker in trouble if things turn out the way they were presented.

The Courage potion

On the other hand, choosing a new company not only helps diversity but also innovation. When my client said that she would like to bottle up a bit of courage in a bottle and send it to her prospects, just so they take the leap of faith and explore her new offering she really meant it. Sometimes it's wise to stay with the "devil you know" but it's also important to choose carefully and give new kids on the block a fair chance. If we live our life or do business, always trying to be on the safe side we will not be able to grow or innovate. The most courageous people are the ones who changed our thinking and the way we live. Nobody would have thought 30 years ago that a handheld device will help us to navigate through most situations, from getting driving directions to finding a good restaurant. I remember the times when people were afraid of computers and now grandmothers are on Facebook (for better or worse).  

Courage also helps sales people

In sales we often lack courage as well because of the fear of being rejected and not wanting to lose the sale. Many times sales people accommodate rather than push back. They oversell because they don't want to lose the sale, forgetting that overpromising will have long-term effects.

Courage is essential when doing business in a successful way. Most successful people had to overcome ridicule and criticism and they had to muster up an enormous amount of courage to prevail. There is no success without failure and without courage we just stay mediocre.

20 February 2014

20 February 2014

Online subscriptions offer amazing perks and value.

By Jeffrey Gittomer

Online publications are the rage and the future. They offer amazing value for the publisher, for the advertiser, and for the reader. They also offer more than significant cost reduction for all three players.

BACKGROUND: I moved to Charlotte in 1988. I brought as much of the Northeast with me as I possibly could. That included my subscription to The New Yorker magazine. The magazine doesn’t just have the best articles in the world; it also has the best cartoons in the universe.

The magazine comes out 47 times a year. As you can imagine, oftentimes, for one reason or another (as with your subscriptions), the magazine did not get read. Sometimes there would be an unread pile of five or six. Guilt would set in.

Finally after about eight or nine years, I stopped my subscription. Occasionally I would pick up one in the airport gift shop and read it on the plane and I continued to subscribe to the cartoon newsletter. It came to my email inbox with all the cartoons once a week. Then they changed it, and made you click onto their website in order to see the cartoons, so I quit reading it.

TODAY: This morning I got a random email listing the contents of this week's New Yorker magazine. I guess they had my address and decided to quasi-spam me. I bit.

I clicked on the link and found out that for $59.95 a year, I could get a digital subscription that included the current issue, a one-year subscription, and access to EVERY back issue since 1925. Plus they throw in The New Yorker cartoon calendar. I couldn't resist.

I bought the online version, and from now on I will only buy the online version of anything I want to subscribe to or read. Here's why: I go on the airplane, I click The New Yorker magazine icon on my iPad. Then I read this week's issue, I look at this week's cartoons, and I can go back and look at nearly 5,000 other back issues that are searchable by content. Holy magazine, Batman!

REALITY QUESTIONS: Are they trying to discourage me from buying their printed issues? If you have an e-reader, why would you buy any printed magazine?

REALITY FACTS; Newsweek, which had more than 100 years of printed issues, STOPPED PRINTING their magazine. Now you can only get the magazine online.

TODAY: I used to subscribe to Selling Power magazine. It's the voice of salespeople, sales tips, sales techniques, sales lists, and sales products.

THE FUTURE IS TODAY: They stopped printing the magazine a few months ago, and only offer an online version. Brilliant. Gerhard Gschwandtner, the founder, publisher, and visionary saw that print versions were declining in revenue, and it was time to decide on the future rather than lament the present.

REALITY: Online cuts costs. DRASTICALLY. Online makes advertising more affordable. Online offers more options for the reader to connect with the advertiser. With print ads, the reader has to make a call or go online and search. With online ads, the reader is already online and only has to click the ad to find out more, subscribe to a blog, get a video, go to the advertisers website, or buy something.

I’M ALL IN: Am I missing something here? Value, versatility, and instant access. Look for my ad in Selling Power magazine in April. It’s an ad I would have NEVER placed in the print version; an ad that is 50% less expensive than it was in their printed version; an ad that gives their reader (my prospective customer) instant access to my offer to buy.

FOOLS GOLD: Five years ago I had a talk with some Yellow Pages executives. I asked them how much longer the Yellow Pages would be printed, and when they would be switching to an online version. They smiled and proclaimed, “We’re not going to stop printing. The book is our cash cow.” And they changed the subject. In the last five years, the book has gone from a cash cow, to a cash calf, to a cash rump roast. And YP.com is more than ten years late to the dance.

Please don’t read this the wrong way. Print is not dead. In fact, it will always be alive. Many people still don’t have the ability to get online publications. But the market is making a HUGE shift. There are “only” a few hundred million e-readers and tablets, and a few hundred million more smart phones. The print impact felt by online availability is undeniable.

THINK ABOUT YOU: How much of an impact has your e-reader or tablet made on your reading habits? What are you subscribing to? Has online reading brought you greater convenience and availability? Easier access and more incentive to stay current?

And finally, what are your plans to make your products and services “online available”?

THINK ABOUT THIS: Every time you see someone reading on a tablet, they could be reading about you!

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of twelve best-selling books including The Sales Bible and The Little Red Book of Selling. His best-selling 21.5 Unbreakable Laws of Selling is now available as a book and an online course at www.gitomerVT.com. For public event dates and information about training and seminars visit www.gitomer.com or email Jeffrey personally at  

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© 2014 All Rights Reserved. Don’t even think about reproducing this document

without written permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer. 704/333-1112

20 February 2014

Leveraging satisfaction

By Dave Kahle

So, you have created a customer, you've actually sold something, and you have some money in the bank.

Before you become too enraptured with yourself, let me remind that you are not finished.  There is a greater goal, and a larger and more encompassing strategy into which this transaction fits.  If you focus all of your time and energy on creating sales, you will, unfortunately, miss the mark.

          In a very fundamental sense, in face-to-face, one-on-one selling, the ultimate goal is something larger and more significant than the sale itself.  It is the creation of a positive business relationship, because the relationship supersedes the transaction and makes all future transactions much easier and more profitable. 

          For example, if you have a great experience with the place from which you bought your TV, you are much more likely to go back there again.  The next time, you are inclined to buy from them, less likely to price shop, and more likely to be less critical and demanding.  You may even tell your friends about that place.

          From the seller's point of view, he has succeeded in creating a relationship with you such that you are favorably inclined to come back, buy again, and refer your friends.  The second sale is so much easier than the first, because now you are less risk to the buyer. That's the net result of a positive business relationship.

          And the ultimate positive business relationship is something I call a "Partner.”  A partner is someone who trusts you, believes you consistently bring value to him, sees you and your company as an integral part of his business, and buys almost everything he can from you.

          The illustration below depicts a different way of looking at your fundamental strategy as a one-on-one, face-to-face sales person.                   

          Your fundamental, long term strategy is to develop and nurture a passel of partners.  Your partners then become an asset to your organization, providing years of revenue, in the same way that a brand or product line is an asset to the company.  You can't note them on your balance sheet, but they are, nevertheless, one of the sources of future wealth for both you and your company.

          One necessary step in this process of moving them to become a partner is what I call the ROF call.  That stands for "Relationship building, Opportunity identifying, Follow up” call.  It's the sales call you make after the customer has purchased and implemented your offer.  For the realtor, it's the call you make on your buyers after they have moved into their new home.  For the car sales person, it's the phone call after the customer has driven off the lot with the new car.  For the B2B sales person, it's the visit you make after they have begun to use your new service or product.  And for our free-lance grant writer, it is the visit you arrange after the grant application has been submitted. 

          Why would you do it?  Because you understand the bigger picture.  It's not just about this sale; it's about the relationship.

     
           It's powerful because it's unusual.  When was the last time you had a sales person contact you after the purchase?  Since you will be one of the very few sales people who actually care enough to follow up after the sale, you will stand out, head and shoulders, above your competitors.

          Here's an example.  Fifteen years ago, I needed to hold a small meeting with about eight of my customers.  I rented a small conference room for a couple hours in a local hotel.  No meals or rooms involved.  Just a small conference room.  I think it cost $25.00.  It was probably the smallest sale that the meetings department of that hotel could make.  Two days after the meeting, I received a phone call from the sales person who rented the room to me.

          "Was everything satisfactory?” she wanted to know.  "Was the room clean, the temperature OK?”

          I was so impressed by the fact that she cared enough to call that I recommended that hotel consistently, and used it for every local meeting I held for the next 15 years.

          The ROF call is powerful for one more, very specific and tangible reason.  It often produces additional opportunities.  At the end of this very specific sales call, you ask for other opportunities. 

          Here's how you do it.  After you have delivered what they purchased from you, then call them for an appointment.  When you are one-on-one with them, first ask about their satisfaction with what they bought.  At this point, either of one or two things will happen.  They will indicate they are satisfied or they weren't.  If they weren't, you need to apologize and do whatever you can to fix it.  It's good that you found out right now, before it has a chance to fester and spread to other potential customers.

          If they are satisfied, great.  Confirm it.  Then ask them what other opportunities they have for you and your service or product in the near future.  If they indicate something, good for you, you have an additional opportunity to work on. (You have 'found out what they want' again)  If they don't, it's OK. 

          But you are not done yet.  Now, you want to probe for external opportunities.  These are potential relationships and opportunities for you outside of the confines of this customer's reach.  Does he know other people to whom he can refer you?  In a large organization, it could be other departments or plants.  In a smaller one, it could be business colleagues.  For an individual, it could be friends and neighbors.

          If they provide you with a name or two, you now have a short cut into an engagement with a "right person”.  And you are back at the start of the sales process with someone else.  Since you have a recommendation from a trusted reference, you are entering that engagement with an advantage. 

About the author:

Dave Kahle is one of the world's leading sales authorities. He has written ten books, and presented in 47 states and ten countries. He's personally worked with more than 300 companies, and helped thousands of sales people, sales managers and sales executives be more effective. Sign up for his free weekly Ezine, "Thinking about Sales," and contact him to help your team sell better!