Carol Bentley

This is the last of the questions that were submitted for ‘public consumption’ and it is an interesting one because, in some respects, the answer may seem to contradict the advice I give many business owners. It was sent in by Ian Brodie from Lighthouse Business Consulting :

One area I’m really interested in is whether you think that in sales, “what works” changes over time.

I’m certainly finding that in my field (person to person selling for large, complex sales) what worked yesterday isn’t working so well today. People have got so used to approaches that used to be novel (e.g. talking about the financial benefits of a product rather than its features) that they tend to blank them out (rather like the “banner blindness” Jakob Nielsen talks about in the web world).

When everyone from photocopier salesmen to high end strategy consultants is using the “would you like to hear about an approach that could save you 10% of your costs” technique it becomes devalued.

Similarly, both Michael Fortin and James Brausch have written about the ‘death of the long sales letter’. My belief is that this definitely happens. Even the best techniques - once used by everyone - lose their power. Not that they become bad - just that they become the baseline that you must do even to play the game - but you need to do more to win the business. Your thoughts?

My first thought was “Yes” if you do the same thing constantly or do exactly the same as everybody else then your prospect does become immune and getting a response becomes that much harder. Having said that, I still believe, and experience hasn’t changed that belief, it is important to make sure your target market is fully aware of every nuance of what you can do for them; whether that is in the form of a service or supplying a product. And sometimes you have to ask them what they want to know.

For example if you are in constant contact with your prospects and customers, informing and advising, interacting with comments and discussions - perhaps via a newsletter or web-based blog like this - then you may find that you don’t need to use extremely long letters or jaded selling techniques every time you make a new offer.

This is because you have already educated your prospect who has come to know you and what you supply; he has a relationship with you and, possibly, already trusts your judgement and advice. So when you put a new offer into the market place all you have to do is clearly explain what it is and how it impacts on your prospect’s life or business. You don’t have to do quite so much ’selling’.

So I think the ‘death of the long letter’ is subjective; if it is an approach to a cold audience; to people who don’t already know you or have any knowledge of what you can do for them then the long, explanatory, informative-rich and value delivering (i.e. giving valuable free advice that is useful to the reader even if they don’t do any business with you) letter still has its place.

If your target prospect is much warmer and already has a relationship with you then just making the new product or service available with a brief explanation of what it does for him may be enough. It is - like any other marketing approach - one that should be tested as my good friend realised when I posed the question to him. He is a great believer in the effect of the long letter; purely because he has experienced the remarkable results this marketing has generated for him over the last 3 to 4 years. However, he has also found he needs to take a different direction occasionally as his reply indicates…

“I’ve found a mixed approach does best. Whatever anyone says, there are people out there that will never sit down and read a 16 page letter and there are people who want to know every last detail before they make a decision. [Carol: Often you can’t be sure which type of person your reader is, which is why the structure of your letter is so vital as I explained in my post The long and short of it ] Plus, of course, they get used to a big bulging letter coming to them every month and know it’s from us - think well I don’t need a… - so they probably don’t even open it.

The smallest full offer letter I’ve ever done was 4 pages, the longest 16 pages. I even rotate who the letters are from now to try and keep it fresh.

What I haven’t tried (which I will now because you’ve just given me the idea - so thanks!) is the same offer going out twice (maybe one week after another) one really shortened down in a short letter and one in a more explanatory long letter.”

As I’ve said previously there is no definitive answer to what works or doesn’t work in marketing. There are theories; there are proven activities generating results in certain industries or professions but when it comes to the crunch the only action that works for you is the one that gets the sales. And you’ll only discover that by listening to what your customers and prospects have to say and testing different approaches on your own target market.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. Incidentally, it is interesting that you mentioned James Brausch. He frequently uses his blog to explain how his programs work and the benefits both he and others have reaped from using them, before sending you to his ’short sales page’. I’d be intrigued to know how many of his sales are purely from people who have found his sales letter page without any of the preamble on his blog, I’d be surprised if the proportion was significant.

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technorati tags: long sales letters copywritingJames Brausch

Breaking into larger organisations can be extremely frustrating as the question sent in by Tony Clarke, Fuel Dynamics Ltd indicated:

“I want to do business with every Housing Association in the UK. I somehow or other have to ‘get to’ their chief purchasing officers.

My experience is that because I’m only a small business they will not work with me. They will, it appears, only deal with ‘big’ companies who they know and have a strong market presence.

Letters do not work even to the right man. Phone calls are never put through. Faxes, which I’ve found effective in some situations, don’t get a response.

Maybe you have some tips for me and some of your other readers on how to deal with these very powerful people. They rule the roost and even their MD’s give them a free hand in terms of control.

It’s an interesting dilemma for me.”

A: Changing the perception your target prospect has of you is key to getting that door open. And it takes more than letters, emails or faxes that introduce your company and the service or products you offer.

Sometimes you have to approach it from a completely different angle. So let me start by asking you some questions; see if they give you any ideas…

• Do you give the impression of being a small company? Check your image, both in terms of presentation - from your business card up - and what happens if anyone does attempt to contact you. Do you have an answer phone or are calls always answered personally?

For example; many years ago when I was the sole representative of my company I made absolutely sure that anyone contacting me got a very favourable impression. I engaged a telephone answering service that offered a good personalised service; they didn’t have a lot of other calls being answered in the background and knew that they must never, under any circumstances let on that they were a telephone answering service.

It worked, because one of my clients who I had worked with for some years, expressed surprise when he discovered that I didn’t have an army of people behind me.

Now, the important thing is I did not deceive my client; he never asked about the size of my company - he just assumed that my company was large because the phone was always answered by a variety of different people whenever he rang; there was no voice mail or answerphone. And of course, he received superb service so had no reason to doubt my company’s ability to look after him.

• Who, in the organisation, uses what you offer? Does the person (or people) who would benefit most from your product or service have any influence on the CPO? Could you recruit them as ambassadors for you and your company?

• What challenges are the CPO’s facing that your product or service could help with?

• Do you have expert knowledge that would help him in his job, without actually selling him anything? Advice freely given makes you more memorable than competitors who are only looking for the sale.

• Do you have a valuable, content-rich report, booklet (or book) you can send as a gift. It would have to deliver exceptional value; not just mundane ‘facts & figures’ he can get from anywhere.

• Have you thought about writing and publishing a book? Doing so positions you as the expert. It adds gravitas to your reputation and when you send it as a gift it raises the barrier for you; makes you stand out from the competition. And crafting a book is not as difficult as it may first seem.

• Do you have case-studies from other organisations that demonstrate innovative approaches to solving the problems the Housing Associations CPO’s face? Collate them into a report; make sure you get permission to use the stories and check exactly how much detail your customers are happy for you to reveal.

• Do any of your present or past satisfied customers know the people you are trying to reach. Would they be prepared to recommend you, or write a letter of endorsement?

• Are you well known within your industry? If your prospect recognises your name as an industry expert he is more likely to give you time to talk.  Apart from publishing a book you can achieve this by getting articles printed in the trade publications he is likely to read.  Send letters to the editor with interesting ‘industry specific’ points.  Do not make even the slightest attempt to advertise or sell your product or company.  The editor is highly unlikely to print your letter if you do, which defeats the whole purpose of writing.

Enhancing your reputation within your industry works in your favour, even if you don’t own the company you work for.

If any of the writing activities phases you then hire a ghost writer to create the material for you.

Like any large organisation, selling to a Housing Association needs a different approach. Don’t ’sell’ - offer powerful advice that the CPO appreciates and looks forward to receiving. Demonstrate your expertise; demonstrate the higher level of personal contact and customer service he (or she) gets from you compared to a larger organisation where he may not always be able to deal with the same person continuously.

But most of all, remember you are still selling to a person who has his own problems; his own challenges, his own stressful situations. Eliminate some of that stress for him, make life easier and you have a better chance of getting his attention.

I have recommended it before… and it is worth mentioning again because I think it would help you in this situation - Jill Konrath’s book Selling To Big Companies is worth getting. You can take a look at 2 chapters for free if you visit: http://www.sellingtobigcompanies.com

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: marketing business tips selling to big companies Jill Konrath

If you are persuasive in your copywriting it could work in your favour, because I have a confession to make - sometimes I can’t see something even when it’s staring me in the face!

This is what happened: I was writing about the Cialdini YouTube videos in the post Cialdini and the art of persuasion. And I decided, after watching the video presentation, I’d quite like to read the book again.

But could I find it?

After searching my numerous bookshelves - both in the office and home, I decided I must have given or lent it to someone and lost track of it. It happens; no big deal.

So I ordered another copy.

The next day I looked up at the shelf next to my desk and there it was, face-out, staring straight at me! There’s a word for word-blindness, is there one for object blindness?

This means I have a spare copy, which I’m going to gift to whoever can come up with the most persuasive reason why they should have it. Plus I’ll also gift a CD of the live audio recording of a 28-minute business presentation I gave entitled ‘How to Create Winning Adverts… 16 Insider Secrets to Turn Your Advert into a Powerful Sales Generator‘

This is an ideal opportunity for you to test your copywriting skills; start putting into practice some of the tips I’ve been sharing.

I’ll leave this open until 4th January so you’ve got until then to post your comment telling me why you should have the book & CD set. Or, if you’d rather keep your entry private, use the blog contact form to send it in.

Good luck.

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: persuasive selling Cialdini copywriting

It’s not my favourite activity - in fact, I’ve always avoided it like the plague. Give me a nice pad and pen any day to write my first communication with someone and I’m as happy as a lark.

Give me a phone to call someone I don’t know - and who doesn’t know me - and you wouldn’t see me for dust!

I know, it’s the way I think about it. I suppose it’s no different to people saying they are terrified of the thought of public speaking, which I have no problem with at all!

So why am I sharing this with you?

Because I discovered someone who is extremely comfortable with cold-calling and totally understands the fears many of us hold and is able to help allay those fears.

His name? Steve Brewer.

I saw his presentation at a business seminar and was totally impressed - he even motivated me to change my view about this marketing activity; well that’s what it is isn’t it? Because, as he said, you have to create a relationship before anyone is going to buy from you and that’s what cold-calling is - the start of a relationship.

In the presentation he explored how our mindset is the key to being successful at cold-calling. Tell me, if I asked if you enjoyed cold-calling would you say “I love it!” as Steve does, or would you say “I’d do absolutely everything I can to put it off!” as I did?

Understanding this, knowing the best approach that empowers you and building on the successes you experience makes this not only a more pleasurable task but one you get more and more success from.

So what else did he share?

1. Use Customer Centered Selling. Focus on the real benefits for your prospect; think of the damage you’d be doing if you didn’t make the effort to speak to him and explain how your company’s offer delivers a solution for him.
2. Decide the 3 biggest things that would make an impact for him, write it on a post-it and place it on the screen in front of you - it helps keep you focused.
3. Don’t regard the ‘gatekeeper’ as an obstacle. Make friends with her, ask for her help, use her name if she’s given it.
4. Remember decision makers often work outside normal hours. Calling between 8am and 9am or between 5pm and 6pm may give you a better chance of getting through.
5. If you get through to voicemail leave a compelling message. Steve said to copy the style of a radio advert - you want your prospect to call you back or at least be happy to take your call when you get back to him. Review your Elevator Speech - can you turn that into a radio ad style message?
6. When you call you have less than 30 seconds to intrigue your prospect enough for him to allow you to continue. You must be able to answer the 3 questions he is silently asking himself:
   1. Who are you?
   2. Where are you calling from?
   3. Why should I stop and talk to you? (What’s in it for me?)

I know Steve only scratched the surface of the fund of valuable experience and knowledge he has. How do I know? Because I’ve got his new book and audio programme, in which he explains in plain English how to turn this spine-chilling activity into a more pleasurable experience.

Steve’s not only good at what he does; selling, but he’s also a great communicator presenting this difficult subject in a humorous and enjoyable style.

You can find out more about his programmes at http://www.stevebrewer.co.uk or visit his blog at http://www.stevebrewer.co.uk/blog

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: cold-calling sales Steve Brewer

The lifeblood of many businesses is their satisfied customer base. These are the people who can act as ambassadors by recommending you to others.

Other people who can also refer you are the contacts in your business network circle. Which is why you attend business events; to meet new people.

So now, your network is growing. You know lots of different business people and you are getting to know what they can deliver. And, of course, they are getting to know you and what you offer.

But does everyone know everything about you and what your business provides? And do you know all there is to know about your contacts?

You need to know all this if you are going to seize every opportunity to build even stronger business relationships, which results in more sales…

Create Your Referral Matrix

The simplest way to keep an eye on what is developing is to create a Referral Matrix. The concept is very simple. The Referral Matrix gives you an ‘At-a-Glance’ picture of the progress of your business relationships.

Do this for your own contacts and services/products and another for your contact’s products.

Let’s start with your services and products:

1) Take a piece of paper.

2) Draw a grid shape. You need enough columns going across to list all your products and services in the top row; show one product/service at the top of each column, starting from the second column.

3) In the first column of the rows going down list your contacts or customers.

4) Choose 3 different, strong, colours. One represents ‘Told’, another for ‘Sold’ and the third for ‘Referred’

5) When you tell a contact about one of your products; you have supplied information so you know he is fully aware of it, mark the colour for ‘Told’ against that company in the column for the specific product/service you’ve explained. (I suggest filling in a third of the box).

6) When a contact has bought that product/service from you add the ‘Sold’ color – you now have two thirds of the box completed.

7) When a contact recommends your product / service to someone else; ‘refers you’, fill in the ‘Referred’ colour.

Some of the boxes may have the Told and Referred, but not the Sold colour.

Now you can see, at a glance, which of your contacts do not know about some of your products (in which case you can inform them) and, just as importantly, if they have been informed whether they have bought from you or referred you to someone else.

Create a similar chart for each of your ‘Hot’ business contacts – those you have a close working relationship with.

By doing this you take a pro-active stance to recommending their services to other people you know and you’ll know if they offer something you may need in the future.

Taking such a close interest in your business contacts helps you build strong relationships.

What’s more you gain a good reputation for being the ‘person who knows who to contact’ and your business networking circle grows.

A Free Gift For You…

This works really well on a spreadsheet, such as Excel, using the conditional formatting feature. I have created a spreadsheet with the chart set up ready to use.

In fact the file, which I call the Opportunity Matrices, contains 3 spreadsheets: 1 to use purely for referrals within your business contacts circle, another to use for checking what your current customers know about everything you offer and the third is a Price Research spreadsheet. Use the latter to compare your prices against your competitors - it is a useful tool when you are launching a new product or service or revising your pricing structure.

I’ve also written a PDF file that explains how I created the spreadsheets - so you can do the same if you wish - and describes how to use them.

Get your copy using the request below (free and with no obligation):

You will be asked to confirm your request - I have to do this to avoid spamming problems.

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: selling techniques marketing business resources

Understanding the art of persuasion when you write your sales letter gives you an edge.

Understanding the art of reciprocity when interacting with people in your network of business contacts can bring great rewards - for both sides. (Check the content of the example letter I gifted you in yesterday’s post).

But it’s not just about understanding these principles, it’s about being genuine when you use them in your dealings with people.

And that’s a clear point Dr Robert Cialdini makes both in his book Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion and in his presentation on Power of Persuasion.

If you haven’t read his book I strongly recommend you get yourself a copy.

The ISBN numbers are:

• ISBN-10: 006124189X
• ISBN-13: 978-0061241895

It will help you write more powerful, compelling and persuasive letters.

And whilst you’re waiting for your book to arrive, take look at these video clips on YouTube showing Dr Cialdini’s presentation , during which he describes the 6 principles you should know about when marketing your business.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/2qx6jg

And don’t forget to come back and leave your comments on what he reveals and if you have any experiences supporting his research.

~ Carol Bentley

P.S. I snuck this post in because I felt it was important for you to see the video - especially following on from yesterday’s post. Refer, refer and be referred will be published tomorrow.

technorati tags: business tips copywriting persuading people to buy

When I first started studying the techniques of the great copywriters I came across a poem written by Victor O. Schwab in 1942; ‘Tell Me Quick and Tell Me True‘. It completely encapsulates the prospect’s point of view about any marketing material we send out. Here’s a few lines from this famous verse (which is pinned to the wall in my office):

So tell me quick and tell me true
(Or else my love to hell with you!)
Less - “how this product came to be”;
More - “what the damn thing does for me!”

And then I found a modern take on this in Jill Konrath’s letter to a seller.

It certainly struck a chord with me.

One of the tricks of copywriting is to imagine the person you are writing to. Understand what interests them; what sort of person they are; what problems they have; what dreams they have.

In fact some expert copywriters give their prospect a name and write specifically to that person; it makes the letter more personal and conversational.

And Jill’s letter adds an extra dimension to this visualisation of your prospect. Because if you can tell what sort of day your prospect is probably experiencing, what pressures they’re under then your letter, email or telephone call is more likely to stay focused and on track.

And that’s good news for you, because you get a clear message across, and it’s good news for your prospect because they get to understand more quickly how you can make life a little easier for them.

And if you don’t know what the day-to-day pressures of your prospective customers are - why not ask some of your existing customers? If nothing else it will show you take an interest in their welfare and will help cement your business relationship with them even more. (If you’d like to tell me what your working day is like I’m a good ‘listener’ :). Use my blog contact form or leave a comment below).

By the way if your target market is big companies I highly recommend Jill’s book: Selling To Big Companies. I have a copy in my reference library and give copies away to my clients who target the corporates.

~ Carol Bentley

technorati tags: copywriting selling techniques business resources business tips

Your sales letter is extremely powerful when you use the proven science behind good copywriting . Simply adopt this 8-element structure to give you a head-start:

When selling (and remember you are selling in your letter or advert) most professional sales people tell you to follow AIDA; no I’m not talking about a person called AIDA; I’m talking about the acronym AIDA which stands for:

Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.  Add an extra sprinkling of A for Attention and your sales letter sparkles.

Let’s go through the copywriting techniques that match these elements:

1) Grab ATTENTION with your headline – spend the majority of your time on this. Use eye-catching words such as You/Your; Who Else; Which; Now; New; Bargain; Free; How/How to; Hurry or Breakthrough.

2) Whatever your headline promised your first paragraph must reinforce. Keep it short and to the point. Resist the temptation to ramble. Keeping it focused keeps your reader’s INTEREST.

3) Draw your reader on - describe exactly what you are offering, what it does for him, how he benefits. If there are a number of steps to a process describe exactly what they are so you start to create his DESIRE.

4) Remember human nature. Something’s good? We want it too! Give your reader feedback from your delighted customers. Make sure the testimonials are descriptive and identify the problem your customer had or the result he wanted and the solution or outcome you delivered. You keep your reader’s DESIRE high.

5) Lose – It is your job to make sure your prospect understands why he cannot possibly ignore your offer. Make absolutely sure he understands exactly how much less his life is if he does not respond to your valuable proposition. You are harming him by not doing everything possible to clearly show the loss he would experience.

So tell him what he loses if he doesn’t taken up your valuable offer. How he’s missed out on key benefits or results, how his life will never be the same again…

OK, so I’m exaggerating , but I’m sure you get the picture. As I’ve said before, people make buying decisions based on their emotions and then use logic to justify the decision. If we weren’t influenced by our emotion, people would never buy expensive cars, designer clothes or larger houses. After all a small, cheap car gets you from A to B, just as a more expensive car does.

Appeal to your prospect’s emotional wants and desires – the detail of features you provide helps him justify the logic of buying from you.

This is still part of his DESIRE – his desire not to lose what you have already created an interest in.

So, having ‘depressed‘ your reader with what he might lose if he doesn’t take your offer, now you must…

6) Repeat the benefits – raise the desire again to own or experience your service or product. Get your reader excited about what he can expect to enjoy.

And then…

7) Action – tell him EXACTLY what to do now. This is where many sales letters fall down. There is no specific ‘call to action’ describing, in simple to follow steps, how to get what you’ve been promising throughout your letter.

So go on, tell him to send the completed request form in the envelope provided. Tell him to call the Freephone number and place his request NOW. Tell him to send the email confirming his interest. Don’t let him ‘cool off’ by not leading him through the steps he needs to take immediately.

And finally add the P.S. – your second headline (and the final sprinkling ‘A’ of the AIDA-A acronym). Having spent so much time preparing your main headline you have already discovered your second strongest – and that is probably a natural P.S.

Make your P.S. as compelling as your headline. Its job is to get your prospect to read your letter and remind him of the most important reason why he should respond.

These - and other - insights are described in my book. If you haven’t already got a copy why not invest in yourself and go to http://www.carolbentley.com/offer or give it as a business gift to a colleague or friend.

You might not want to give it to a competitor though, after all you do want some advantage, don’t you?

~ Carol