Memories: Are you Making Them With Clients?

Did you ever wonder why the phone does not ring? Do you ever panic when prospective individuals ask you what you do and your struggle with your delivery? There are reasons why many struggle with what to say to prospective clients:

They are uncertain what to say
They have not practiced the proper approach
They try to say something different each time
There is no consistency with the brand

There is a solution to this issue and it is called the MEME (sounds like team). So what is this incredible tool?

A meme is an idea, behavior, style or message else that enters into your community and creates additional community and interest. Different from the way it is spelled a MEME does not create anything about you, however it does create output based messages that illustrate the value and benefits clients get from doing business with you.

If you follow a template I will share with you, you can use it to generate eye opening and memorable methods for clients to become attracted to you.

A meme can be used for:
Introduction to verbal conversations
Developed into a value proposition for your website
Developed into a tagline for marketing collateral
Used to introduce products and services
Incorporated into presentations and articles/tip sheets

Because your MEME illustrates the value you will need to use it to help communicate your brand and create the allure you desire for your business. Yet the best part of this is once it is developed you can use it throughout your integrated marketing communications.

So what does a MEME sound like?

Here is a MEME from one of my clients. “Hi nice to meet you. I am Dr. Ron and I work with men and women aged 37 to 55 who suffer from the ill effects of stress. I provide a unique process that reduces stress and provides increased mobility and flexibility!” Naturally the next statement you will hear is, “My Gosh how do you do that?”

Now how does that sound versus the rote, “Hi I’m Ron, I’m A Doctor.” Or , “Hi I’m Ron, I’m in Insurance.” Or , “Hi I’m Ron. I’m and Electrician.” Not to say there is anything wrong with these professions but there is something wrong in the delivery. One they’re boring. Two you sound like everyone else. Three it is stereotyped so that people instantly dismiss you and four, it is inward focused and says nothing of what you provide to the client.

Here are 7 things you can to do help develop a MEME:

Focus on the clients you want to provide and most importantly your perfect client. Who is the demographic and what do they value and benefit from? What are the solutions that you provide congruent with those desires.
Write down a list of benefits that you provide clients. Think about how you help them. Review your testimonials to help you here. When you come up with the list prioritize it so that you develop the best one.
Think of the three to four issues your clients have to say before you helped them. What do you typically hear before you develop solutions.
When you work with clients what are you processes, methods, steps etc that can be used to explain how you help. For example do you have a 7 step strategy or a 4 step proprietary choke hold, you get the picture.
Now look at your notes and write out your statement using the following, Target Demographic + Issue + Solution. Develop a few drafts so that eventually it rolls of your tongue. And to assist you make it two to three short sentences.
Practice this on friends and family as well as some other clients to see what they have to say.
Once you have this developed then I want you to think about two things 1) what you will say after they say tell me more and 2) develop a call to action.

I like to teach by example, so let me my MEME and others I have created. Contact me for a FREE NO OBLIGATION MEME session and in 30 minutes we will create a message that drops most jaws.

Creating a compelling a MEME is a vital part of the Business Acceleration System. How is yours coming along?

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Monday Momentum

Monday Focus – As you begin the day think about benefits and value you provide to consumers. Clients today know more about so there is less need for features than there is for value.

Monday Perspective – Stop the ridiculous game of cold calling. Use referrals and third party endorsements to assist you with better business development opportunities.

Monday Motivational Quote – “In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom” – James Graham Ballard

How Selling Professionals Avoid Failure

A common travesty that underpins sales success is fear. Selling professionals fear picking up the phone, they fear asking for referrals, they fear asking for the agreement. Sellers fear because they do not know what to do if something does not go their way. They have failed. Not true, failure is the best teacher in the world. Stop looking at failure as a negative. A terrific mentor, author and king of the consulting world Alan Weiss states, “If you are not failing you are not trying”.

First, selling professionals are constantly immersed in rejection. Yet it all begins with confidence. Sellers must believe in the products and services they represent. If you do not believe it you will not sell it! How do you expect buyers to believe you if you cannot believe it? Avoid failure with passion and conviction for the company you represent.

Second, regular readers of this column know my thoughts on cold calling- I abhor it. There are times when it is necessary. More importantly, there are times when friends, peers and colleagues might provide sellers with a referral. Research in this area illustrates that over 78% of individuals procrastinate making these calls because of rejection. Refrain from preconceptions and pick up the phone! What you are really saying is that you do not know what to say after hello! Rejections diminish with proper preparation, provocative questions and action steps.

It is important to remember that buyers do not reject you personally, they reject the offer simply because there is a lack of trust and value. Therefore, sellers must find methods that counteract these issues.

“Failure is not an option” originated from the issues of Apollo 13. Unfortunately many selling professionals use the cliché for all their efforts. With so many organizations lacking investment in their sales teams and with less individuals investing in themselves, failure is the best educational tool. Keep trying, continue failing, stop looking for short term results but long term strategies of self-mastery. Failure is the key to your economic selling future!

Additional Quote for the Day

“Why don’t you want to do what you know you should do? The reason you don’t is that you’re in conflict with yourself.” – Tom Hopkins (The Art of Selling)

Limited beliefs also withhold your success, Click Here for a Free Report on Overcoming Limited Beliefs

Drew Stevens PhD is one of the world’s leading authorities on business development and practice management success. Dr. Drew is the author of the successful sales process book Split Second Selling and the upcoming book Ultimate Business Bible – 10 Strategies for Achieving Ultimate Business Success. Click to receive a free chapter of Ultimate Business Bible. Dr. Drew is one of the founders of the Sales Leadership Program at St. Louis University and operates Sales Fitness and Business Expert Radio one of the Internet’s highly successful podcasts and radio programs. To discover how Drew Stevens can dramatically accelerate your revenue contact him through his website.

Monday Momentum with Dr. Drew

“Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it.”

Jules Renard quotes (French Writer, 1864-1910)

As an avid reader of the conquest of American History I am often reminded of the stories of the Gold Rush. Those that sought gold traveled far to stake their claim to fortune. They traveled far and through rough terrain to capture their dream. American history is rampant with stories of those taking action and subsequent risk to seek out new futures and fortunes.

The contrast today is the laziness of many. Rather than diet and maintain nutrition individuals use a remote in search of the 6-second workout. So many are in a rush they do not signal on highways while others text and drive. Rather than make their own luck they lament by victimization therefore seeking alternatives to work.

If you want a new future stop the folly of laziness and do something. I am amazed when selling professionals and their owners blame customers, the economy and political issues for lack of business. 92% of selling falters because of a lack of a process and more importantly the lack to establish a relationship. Stop whining; stop making excuses and start creating a new future. If you want to reap you must sow. Seek out an education and invest in resources to help you. Gold miners worked for their fortune why shouldn’t you.

There are 7 techniques you can use daily to assist you preparation efforts. Get the 7 Secrets to Sales Preparation by emailing me today. Ask about our Free 30 Minutes “Sales Acceleration Coaching Clinic” to help you gain immediate sales result!

Drew Stevens PhD is one of the worlds leading experts in sales and sales skills. Dr. Drew is the author of six books including Split Second Selling and the soon to be released Ultimate Business Bible. With over 25 years of sales experience and business leader, Dr. Drew has extensive experience in assisting both entrepreneurs and selling professionals to experience higher efficiency and effectiveness. He is also the creator of the Sales Leadership Certificate one of only 14 programs in the United States offering an accredited degree in the profession of selling and has a top ranked podcast called Sales Fitness offering tips and techniques that immediately improve selling performance.

Monday Momentum with Dr. Drew

Mediocrity will Kill You – Dr. Drew's Year End Sales Rant

Each day I obtain a wealth of requests from individuals to receive free tips and articles. Unfortunately social media is a Latin term denoting free. Gaining access to free information is analogous to attending a trade show. It is humorous to see attendees carrying overflowing bags of chotskies (crap) only to return home or to hotels rooms and never review the materials.

The failure to review materials and take action results in mediocrity. If you desire to alter your life and start the New Year right, get off your ass and take action. If you want to get into the field of play and alter mediocrity, stop being a spectator. Stop collecting and start doing. Become the aura of life’s trade show not the receptacle.

So many fail because they don’t get started – they don’t go. They don’t overcome inertia. They don’t begin. – W. Clement Stone

BTW. I am happy to provide free stuff, but you must get out of the stands and into the field of play.

Importance of Email Messages to Sellng Professionals

In the last several weeks my mailbox has become rift with emails from individuals and organizations that desire an alliance. Coincidentally each foppish message body request me to do something. Items requested include, visit this website, reply to this email, click this url or send me your address. How audacious! What is the value? What is in it for me?

What I find loathsome in each is the audacity of sending messages expecting me [the prospect] to do something. This is the unfortunate issue of selling; many people believe they can sell and that required processes can be avoided. No it cannot! Closing rates fail when there isn’t a process. As I have stated in numerous articles, posts, my books and seminars business closure is based on the acquisition of relationships. If one cannot build relationships they will not close business.

More importantly, relationships are built based on trust and intrinsic value. If the prospect needs to do something, where is the value? What is in it for the prospect when they need to do something? If sellers want something they need to create action, not the prospect. Sellers must illustrate the value THEY provide. Prospects invest in relationships not products. Prospects get annoyed when they have to do something. Stop using ho hum methods and the folly of others. If you want customers stop scrooging yourself!

Seven Myths of Selling

With over 27 years in the field of selling, Stevens Consulting Group has encountered numerous selling myths. Many are so focused on closing sales but fail to avoid many of the trappings of ridiculous behavior. As I have stated in many of my posts 92% of professionals lack a process in which to conduct relationships that affect business. So many fail to follow two things 1) good advice (and there is a LOT of poor advice nowadays) and 2) proper education. If there were good advice to help you close sales gaps would you be interested? Then here are seven of the top 25 selling errors.

1. Price

During our reach into the Millennium, advantages to selling decrease as consumers use the Internet to gain accessibility to competitors, inventory and other vital tools. The information endows the client to strengthen their negotiable position. Price negotiation now succumbs to value. Customers today desire value. Value is the benefit the client receives from a selling professionals business. Value is a competitive differentiator as clients discern the answer to the vital question, “What’s in it for me?” Clients only do business with those they trust. Forget the price equation and only sell on value.

2. Anyone can do it

Sales professionals are much like a general on the battlefield, an athletic coach at a game, or a chess player at a tournament: they are always thinking ahead, strategizing to determine their next move. Selling requires a desire to create relationships and a willingness to absorb useful research and articulate the results to a client. Not many have the patience and persistence that selling requires. The skills needed for selling (especially technical sales) are not found in many. Talent is innate and cannot be taught.

3. Sales people make good managers

There is a ridiculous notion that since selling professionals manage territories and relationships the transfer of skills rationalizes promotion to management. Not true. Research illustrates that selling professionals desire individual achievement. They enjoy the entrepreneurial ability to call upon clients, meander in their territory and create their own luck. Managing staff requires oversight, reports, and motivation and oftentimes reprimands, shunning results. Simply put, the best selling professionals don’t make the best managers.

4. High Motivation is Required

Many aspects of selling require technical conversations. Engineering sales professionals require a pragmatic approach meshed with analytical presentations. Every organization from non-profit to government requires selling to offset expenses. Each firm maintains a variety of cultural standards, some aggressive and loud while others peaceful and cautious. The talent of the professional emulates the organizational culture. High motivation is applicable dependent on the organization. And not all individuals are required to be gregarious.

5. CRM Rules

Technology for technology sake is ridiculous. Numerous software and Internet applications assist speed and workplace efficiency. However, many individuals tend to use technology to augment human interaction. Relationships control selling situations. CRM or Customer Relationship Management assists pipeline management. Sellers control relationships with dialogue, language, and discussion not electronic software. Applications must be used to help the relationship not become a substitute for it.

6. Internet increases selling effectiveness

The most important part of any business owner is to prepare for each and appointment. The successful professional will always know the client or even the prospect. The Internet is most accessible and enables spontaneous information. Selling professionals might discover useful competitive and industry information that aids the client. However the Internet, like CRM, is not meant to augment the business relationship. Electronic mail and the Internet will aid immediacy of required customer content but it will never substitute for positive relationship building. And forget those social networks, they do little to build business.

7. One must always be closing

Building business is about relationships. The discussion with prospects should always be about value, not about fees, or prescriptive programs. If the discussion is not about value, then you or your people have surrendered control of the discussion, and the result will never be on the terms you would prefer. When the discussion is on value and the prospect is convinced of the wisdom of a relationship with you, fees are academic. When business is closed it is based on the adulation of the relationship. Stop worrying about the number of widgets and start worrying about the number of relationships.

There are 25 Myths of Selling to aid in your sales success email me today and I will send an ebook with the others. Ask about our Free 30 Minutes “Sales Acceleration Coaching Clinic”.

Friends don’t let friends multitask

Let’s face it: We’re all guilty of multitasking. And the madness has to stop.

Come on, be honest. How many of us can refrain from incessantly checking our BlackBerry while attending an important webinar? When chatting with a client on the telephone about moving the sales cycle forward, are you simultaneously perusing the box scores on ESPN.com or watching a snippet of “The Simpsons” on YouTube? Never mind that with this kind of behavior the clock becomes your enemy. The real crime is the lack of retention that defines multitasking.

Read more at: http://tinyurl.com/yfna4aj

Online Program Offers 21st Century Tools for Sales Leadership Success

In past generations a winning smile, tenacious follow-up and a strong work ethic were often the benchmarks of a successful sales career. However projections of a loss of up to 40 percent of the sales workforce by 2010 as Baby Boomers retire and the demands of an expanding global market have changed the face of selling for 21st century businesses, non-profit organizations and even educational institutions.

According to a recent Business Week article, the job U.S. employers say is hardest to fill is sales representative, citing the difficulty finding people with the technical expertise and business saavy to explain complex products and services to consumers.