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How To CLOSE THE DEAL After They Tell You They Need To Stay LOYAL To Your Competition

I get hundreds of emails a month from people asking questions on closing, objections, you name it, and one that I consistently get time and again is the frustration on trying to close deals with people who utilize the “old boy network” or cannot seem to get away from their current vendor.  A lot of salespeople just give in and come to the conclusion that you “can’t win them all.”  No, but you can win some of the bigger deals you think are lost to this dilemma if you just appeal to the buyer’s common sense, which I did one day by accident out of anger and frustration.

True Story:  After numerous presentations to this company’s committees, board, VPs, you name it, it all came down to the owner (which would have been nice to know ahead of time, but I was naïve at this point, and willing to present to anyone who would listen) and what he thought. The committee said they would present it and “get back to me.” Well, rest assured I had created value, created excitement, developed rapport with everyone in the process, everyone but the decision maker and now I was going to have these people make the presentation to the man who signed their check? Do you think they would be able to convey the type of excitement I would? Answer the objections in the detail required? Of course not.  So, not leaving it up to chance, I asked to make the presentation myself and fortunately was allowed to do so.

Well, after spending an hour or so displaying the many benefits and features of my sales training program, developing rapport with the decision maker, getting agreement from all involved, we turned to the owner for his answer or his thoughts. He paused for a second, then gave me his answer, an answer which he felt would end the presentation, placate me and send me on my way.

“Mark, everything you said makes perfect sense and would be a great addition to the training we receive currently, but I have been with Rick (current trainer) for almost five years and we have been happy thus far, and I am unsure if we can fit BOTH programs into the budget.”

Doing my homework prior, I knew that the sales team was unhappy with the results from Rick’s company, but he was a good friend of the owner and the results he was getting were satisfactory enough for him to keep his job. The sales managers had voiced their opinion as far as they could without jeopardizing THEIR careers and it was up to me to seal the deal. I knew that the budget was NOT the concern, it was his friendship and loyalty, and he needed a shove in the direction of common sense and responsibility, regardless of loyalty. So here is how I moved the deal to the closing table and combated the “friendship/loyalty” dilemma:

ME:  “Mr. Smith, let me ask you a question if I may?”

OWNER:  “Sure go ahead,” as he leaned back in his seat.

ME: “I respect the loyalty to your friend and his training company and what they have done up to this point. But we agreed that what I can offer in the form of training can help take your sales team to another level in performance, and we all know that means increased profits, and you agreed that our program makes sense to what you want to accomplish, is that also correct?”

I essentially recapped all the benefits he would receive by going with our company, and began building my case appealing to basic common sense, especially with an audience present. I wanted to make the case so compelling that the decision on HIS end was a low risk, "no brainer” decision. It had to be an OBVIOUS choice, not an ambiguous one.

OWNER:  “Certainly, I think we are in agreement on those issues.”

THE CLOSE

ME:  “Well, that being the case Mr. Smith, shouldn’t your first loyalty be to your company and its financial well being?”

BANG!!!! That’s it. That’s all you need to say regarding their loyalty to their current vendor. It is very powerful, VERY thought provoking and common sense always comes into play.

Needless to say after making that statement and looking at him with a sense of concern and genuine interest in his company, we signed the deal that night to SHARE the training with Rick.  Within 45 days it became obvious my competitor’s techniques and strategies were antiquated and subsequently they were let go and we received the contract for the full training. The results were astounding and we got a great reference and MORE business.

Remember, ask the prospect what is more important, loyalty to the vendor or to his own company. I think we all know the answer.

How Giving FREE MONEY To Your Customers Will DOUBLE SALES

The next marketing technique I want to talk about right now is what I call FREE money, a marketing technique so magnetic and effective it shocks me that I rarely see businesses and websites doing it. Essentially what you do here is tap your database, create some action and get them to visit you and open their wallet.

          At one of my bar establishments back in the late 90s, once a month I would do a mailer to my database (yes … even bars keep a database to market to, the good ones anyway). In that mailer I would enclose a photocopy of a $10.00 bill with my picture on it and this $10.00 was good at my establishment for anything on the menu, but it had a deadline, usually 2 weeks after they received it. I would send out about 1,000 of these mailers, with the whole direct mail campaign costing me roughly $400.00 in postage and photocopying (remember, stamps were only 32 cents back then). Of that 1,000, I would get about 300 that took me up on that offer, which was $3,000 in perceived value, but my profit margins were so high that the true, real cost to me was more along the lines of about $400 in total product I had to give away. So all told, I was financially into this marketing campaign a total of $800.00. That’s $400 for the postage and printing and $400 for the beverages and food I gave away with the $10 coupons. My sales? Each person on average spent $20 above the $10 coupon, which generated $6,000 in revenue for me, and taking out the $800, it made me $5,200 in profit. Why? Simple. When people have money in their pocket, they have got to spend it and with deadline attached it made it that much more enticing. (MORE GREAT TECHNIQUES HERE)

My wife, Paula, gets all excited when her favorite shoe store sends her a $10 gift certificate every now and then. She bugs the heck out of me to take her there so she can use it and the damn gas to get there costs more than $10, and then she ends up spending another $300-$500 when she is there. All for a simple $10 gift certificate!!

How you word it is crucial as well. People appreciate gift certificates more than they appreciate coupons and when you do send it out, let your customer know it is to thank them for their business, and not just anyone is getting this special gift. By personalizing it and wording it as a certificate, you immediately increase traffic by 28%. You can also use this technique for your website by emailing your best customers and including a certificate or special code, and by doing this once a month, you will add a MINIMUM of an additional 15% in revenue to your bottom line. Free money in your customers' pocket with a deadline attached is a very powerful magnet in drawing them in to do business with you.

For the complete marketing blueprint visit www.InsaneMarketing.net 

You Customer Does NOT CARE About Your Logo, Slogan or Picture!

The BIGGEST WASTE of money I see spent by entrepreneurs and business owners is promoting their logo, picture or slogan. Unless your Coke, Pepsi, Bud or some other multi-billion dollar company with hundreds of millions to spend on branding,  than marketing your logo, etc. will NOT generate a buying decision. How many real estate agents have you called from bill boards because of their picture? How many restaurants have you gone to because of their SLOGAN? We buy based on what excites US and if your marketing does NOT have a solid call to action that focuses on your prospects favorite radio station, WIFM (Whats In It For Me) they will change the channel ASAP to your competitors. Go here to learn more about WIFM

The absolute WORST CASE of advertising and of the example above I just mentioned is in the magazine Ocean Drive. A luxury magazine here in Miami with ads that focus almost entirely on pictures, slogans and cleverness....and ZERO on getting me to take action. EVERY SINGLE AGENCY IN THAT MAGAZINE SHOULD BE FIRED.  I saw one ad for the Shore Club Hotel that took up TWO FULL PAGES.  One page said Shore Club in little words.  The other page said Relax.  I turned the page and immediately forgot about them.

OK, enough venting. Time for an exercise;

What I want you to do right now is get a piece of paper and a pen and for the next 60 seconds write down words or phrases that you think best describe why people would want to business with you. Write down one word at a time preferably, but if you can think of phrases that best describe why customers would want to do business with you, go with that also.

What I want to do now is go over a series of words and phrases and look down at your sheet and see if any of these were written down to describe why anyone would want to do business with you. Here we go …

Great customer service

The biggest

The Best

#1

Go the extra mile

Lowest price

Friendly service

Reliable service

Best price

Dependable

Professional

Smartest

Experienced

Outstanding

Amazing

Established

I think you get the idea. Take a look at your paper. Do you have these words written down or words and phrases like these? If so, put a big X through them, as this is what I call "Marketing Poison", and you want to strike these words from your marketing vocabulary. (more on "Marketing Poison")

These words and phrases and those like them, have no impact on your customers' buying decisions whatsoever.

They never have and they never will. Why? Simple. Your customers see these words every single day from almost every piece of marketing they encounter and they have become desensitized to them. Think for a second how many ads you see in the newspaper, hear on the radio and see on websites where the business talks about how great their customers service is, how dependable they are, how they are the biggest, or #1 in this or #1 in that. So what? How is that benefiting me as your potential customer? It doesn’t.

But that is just one of the mistakes most businesses make when they are marketing their product or service, they compound the problem by trying to be all things to all people and attempting to appease everyone. They do this by promoting their own vanity and hot buttons, and generalizing their marketing rather than trying to zero in on what is important: the hot buttons of the customer, enticing them to buy.

For a COMPLETE BLUE PRINT ON MARKETING SUCCESS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
go to www.InsaneMarketing.net

By MARK MCCLURE

Massively OVER PRICE A Product or Service For MAXIMUM Exposure and PR!

One great marketing idea I took from the pages of Niemann Marcus, the high end retailer who on occasion will sell an item that is off the charts expensive or over the top flamboyant. One such item I saw for sale a few years back was when Southfork Ranch, the home of the fictitious Ewing Family of the hit show Dallas, put up for sale square foot sections of the property for $25 or $250 a piece I can’t remember, most likely $250.  And you got a cool certificate authenticating ownership. This was back in the late 70s when the show was at its peak and they sold these like hot cakes. I am sure they came with a million restrictions.... but how cool was it to show your friends a certificate that you owned a piece of Southfork? And the funny thing is, is that any business online or offline can copy this outrageous marketing technique.

When I had a restaurant a few years back I put a $2,500 martini on the menu that came with a diamond at the bottom. Did I sell any? Heck no, not during the recession we were in but the publicity I got was worth 50 X that. Prior to opening our doors for the very first time,  I ran a few ads creating the excitement for our Grand Opening and being in a small, ski resort town in New Hampshire any “outside the box” news usually got folks attention and got them talking. Well, you can imagine the fuss my $2,500 martini caused and all the people dying to see who would be the first to purchase it and from this fuss came publicity and more publicity and thus traffic to the restaurant just to see it on the menu. That’s right, people came in JUST TO SEE IT ON THE MENU and of course while they were there they gave me their business.

While my $2,500 martini was a great marketing ploy it paled in comparison to Neiman Marcus and their marketing creativity and the things that they sold;

*How about a LIVE  Black Angus Bull with a sterling silver grill for a pre-inflation price of $1,925 (1952)?

*A suit of armor for $20,000.

*A $10 million zeppelin with a cabin for 20.

*A $1.7 million outer space trip 63 miles in the air in one of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Spaceships.

*A $1 million Jack Nicholas designed golf course in your back yard
(TONS more ideas right here www.InsaneMarketing.net )

How about the $100 burger or $10,000 dessert that can be had in Manhattan? You are not going to sell many, if any (if you do, that’s a NICE profit margin), but the publicity and bragging rights you can ascertain from this is immense! For example if you own a tanning salon, have a tanning lotion private labeled exquisitely for your company only, and then sell it for $250 and see what people say. How many people will ask about it? Everyone! And don’t be surprised if you sell a few. I am serious.

What can you sell that will generate shock appeal, publicity and get people talking? Create a product or service, add some outrageous price to it and promote the hell out of it. What can be your $2,500 martini or $100 hamburger?

For more OUTRAGEOUS and INSANE MARKETING STRATEGIES go to www.InsaneMarketing.net 

Get Rid of The Links Within Your Sales Page!

I was on a site for women’s handbags a while back researching ad copy ideas for a client and was drawn into the sales pitch and description of a particularly high priced bag. They did a great job describing it, creating emotion within the reader, me, and more importantly creating value before they led me into the price. While doing this, however, they mentioned the lady who created the design for the bag and her name was set up as a hyperlink, so guess what I did?? I clicked on it and it took me away from the sales pitch and to her profile and guess what happened? I started to read it and as I did I forgot all about the handbag and any emotion or excitement they had created had dissipated.  They had set the stage for me to make a buying decision and snagged it right away from me and more importantly snagged the sale out from underneath themselves. And the sad thing is, it is happening everyday for this particular site and they have no way of no knowing because they cannot see the feedback or hear or see the client walk away. They simply disappear with the click of the mouse and they are none the wiser about the lost sale. 

You need to treat your website and its sales components like you would treat a direct mail campaign; draw them in with an exciting statement or offer, establish credibility of who you are then hone in on the WIFM, what’s in it for me mentality for each product you sell, and then design the marketing verbiage around each and every one of your products to answer that question.  I am not saying that you don’t want a nice looking site, but looking nice will not pay the bills and fatten your wallet, generating sales is all about appealing to your customers hot buttons then creating ad copy and offers that push them to a buying decision and that is with every piece of marketing you disseminate to the public.  Remember, when making a sales pitch onwebsite, do NOT give them any reason to click elsewhere and for crying out loud, leave out hyperlinks in all your sales pitches unless it pushes them to a call to action.

Mark McClure's Insane Marketing Strategies: How To Get Customers

Mark McClure on How To Get Customers