Jim's Marketing Blog

Marketing tips and ideas to help you grow your business

Marketing 101: Styles make sales

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style makes sales, marketing

I think you’re really going to love this.

In today’s post, I’d like to share how a simple idea can help you develop a massively more effective way to sell your products or services.

Styles make sales

When I started out in sales and marketing, one of the first things I learned is that styles make sales. It works something like this.

Certain salespeople have a style of selling that is very effective with certain prospective customers. Conversely, if a salesperson’s style is at odds with a prospective customer’s buying style, the salesperson is less likely to get the sale.

In the companies I worked for back then, there were large and diverse sales-forces. A sales manager would look at the data they had on a prospect, then try and match our styles to the prospect’s profile.

I know you’ve spotted the challenge here.

As a small business owner, you don’t have that same abundance of salespeople to mix and match to the prospect’s buying style.

Usually, the salesperson is you.

This begs the question: How do you sell effectively to prospective clients or customers, who have a buying style that’s different to your sales style?

The answer is to align as closely as you can with what motivates them.

How?

Develop your own styles make sales model!

Here’s a quick look at how to get yourself started.

Before you begin your pitch or presentation, spend a little while asking the prospective customer a few informal, preprepared questions that require useful answers.

For example, you could ask questions, where the replies will indicate whether they are more (or less) influenced by facts, figures and graphs… than by stories, feelings and pictures. Then match your presentation style to theirs as closely as possible.

As your presentation continues, look and listen for other signals from the prospect, which indicate that you’re on (or off) the right track.

Spend the time required to get this right. And it does take time. Make no mistake, this isn’t busy work. It’s really important, valuable and challenging work. You’ll need to create several easy to answer questions, which uncover your prospect’s buying style. You’ll also need to park the idea of a one-size-fits-all approach to sales, if that’s what you currently use. And comfortable, old habits are hard to break.

What’s the pay-off?

It’s huge.

If you get it right you’ll enjoy the rewards of having a fluid presentation model, which matches the motivation your prospects need, in order to buy from you.

Just think what that would do to your sales figures, my friend.

Your major breakthrough: Are you ready?

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Today, I’m going to share some ideas to help you achieve that major breakthrough you need.

breakthrough results, readiness
  • Maybe it’s an invitation to appear on the biggest TV show, program or podcast in your industry.
  • It could be the endorsement of the person best-known and most respected by your prospective clients or customers.
  • Perhaps it’s a new marketing strategy that increases your client base or customer base, by a thousand percent.
  • It might be an introduction to an investor, who has the courage and finances to back you.

In fact, it could be any type of breakthrough that would lead to a life-changing improvement.

If you want to achieve that level of success, there are 2 questions you need to answer.

  1. Are you ready?
  2. And are you ready?

No, that’s not a typo!

Let me explain why those questions need your urgent attention, if you want something amazingly transformative to happen.

Let’s look at the readiness in question one

Breakthroughs don’t magically happen.

In order to achieve a massive breakthrough, you need to build yourself a door. A door, which your breakthrough opportunity can knock on.

Let’s take a look at what this means, based on those examples above.

  • Are you ready to do what’s required to attract the attention, and earn the interest, of the producers of those TV shows, programs or podcasts?
  • Are you ready to do what’s required to get yourself in front of the best known, most respected person in your industry. And when you have, are you ready to do what’s required, to earn their trust?
  • Are you ready to do what’s required, to have a marketing strategy that’s powerful enough to drive a thousand percent increase in clients or customers?
  • Are you ready to do what’s required to create a product or service that’s so uniquely valuable, one of the world’s wealthiest investors will want to invest? And then, are you ready to do the work required to capture their attention?

So, that’s what I call door building readiness.

Now it’s time for success readiness.

Now, let’s look at the readiness in question two

This second question relates to the readiness, which turns the breakthrough opportunity into massive breakthrough results.

  • So, you get the invitation to appear on that prime time TV show, program or podcast. But are you ready to get the media training required in advance, so you give a great account of yourself?
  • You got the endorsement of the best known and most respected person in your industry. But are you ready to put plans in place, in advance, so you can maximize the potential of this superpower endorsement?
  • You just witnessed a one thousand percent increase in clients. But are you ready to build a scalable process, in advance, to handle or onboard that thousand percent increase?
  • You now have access to all the capital your business needs, thanks to that investor. But are you ready to study, in advance, how to grow a business with that spectacular level of funding?

What’s the lesson here?

I think it boils down to this.

Breakthrough opportunities come to those who carefully plan for their opportunity in advance. Breakthrough success comes to those who are fully prepared, when their opportunity arrives.

It’s important to know that the breakthrough you’re wishing for, need not be a wish. It’s something you can make happen, with planning and preparation.

And you can repeat this process again and again and again.

Here’s why you need vigorous, written marketing

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vigorous writing, vigorous written marketing

Most of the written marketing I see is at least 75% too long. Overlong marketing lacks impact. It also lacks clarity and totally fails to motivate prospective customers or clients.

I want to help you avoid this expensive mistake.

And it starts with maybe the best-known quote on the subject.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that he make every word tell.

Professor William Strunk Jr. – The Elements of Style.

The vigorous writing referred to here, is writing that is strong and full of energy. That’s the kind of writing that moves people to take action; to contact you, buy from you or hire you. It’s the kind of writing that gets the results you need.

How can you and your business benefit from the power of vigorous written marketing?

The answer comes from understanding why the problem exists.

Google usually gets the blame

That’s because Google’s search algorithm needs overlong, written content. It prefers 2500 words to 250. So, for over 20 years, online marketing writers have been rewarded for high word counts.

But Google isn’t responsible for the wider problem.

Email marketing and off-line media is just as ruined by overlong content. Neither of those formats have ever required the writer to dance the Google dance.

The problem exists because most written marketing is composed by people who lack sufficient training. It’s either written by business owners who ‘dabble’ or by below-par marketing writers.

The solution?

The business owner wishing to switch to the vigorous written marketing they need, has two options.

  1. Learn how to do it effectively.
  2. Pay someone who already knows.

How to decide?

  • The cost (in time) of learning is considerable. It’s one of those subjects where you never stop learning. However, you’ll start seeing improvements relatively quickly.
  • The cost of hiring an expert is lower. And it’s a lot faster.

Of course, the price you pay for starving your business of vigorous written marketing, is massively higher than either of those options. So pick one of them and run with it.

Let your expertise delight your clients

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marketing experts, expertize

Joel is a good friend. A good friend with a really ugly website. Man, it’s horrible. He knows it too. But thankfully, he’s finally figured out why his site, (and his previous 2 sites) have all looked like crap.

There are 2 widely applicable, valuable lessons here. Lessons that I’m going to share with you, at Joel’s request.

Let’s get started.

Joel hired talented experts

Previously, he’s hired high-end website developers and graphic designers… only to stop them from designing the site he needs. He’d insist on changes and additions to their designs. He’d even take advice from friends with zero design experience and insist on the designer implementing those changes. The end result was always terrible.

But not this time.

This time he took the advice I gave him, before his new site was created.

This time he let the designer do the designing. He let the expert apply her expertise.

Over coffee yesterday, he showed me the final draft of his new website. And it’s stunning. Something to behold. A work of art. It’s a work of art because Joel got out the way and gave the designer the freedom required, to delight him.

Blocking experts happens more than you think

Joel’s former approach to hiring experts and then blocking their expertise, is pretty common. And it’s always been there. I first wrote about this exact problem, almost exactly 10 years ago!

Ask any service provider; from wedding planners, to nutritionists and accountants, from architects to photographers and investment consultants, and they’ll have examples they can share.

I think there are two lessons here.

One for you as a service provider. This is by far the most important.

One for when you’re hiring an expert.

Service providers

When someone hires you, they do so because they need your expertise. They’re relying on you.

If you allow your expertise to be derailed, resulting in a low quality end product, or a lower quality end product than it should have been, you’ve let your client down.

Your client deserves (and pays you for) your very best work. Period. On every possible level, you can’t afford to deliver low quality work. No one needs that kind of reputation.

Whilst Joel admits he was wrong to ask for those design changes to the work of his previous 3 web designers, the designers were even more responsible.

As professionals, they should have educated their client and explained why his input was taking the design in the wrong direction. That’s exactly what I did, when Joel showed me his previous website. He then got out of the designer’s way with the development of his amazing new site.

Had the very first designer given Joel the same advice that I gave him, all the nonsense that followed could have been avoided.

When we’re hiring an expert

When we hire an expert, we need to remember that we do so because they have an expertise we need. And give them the freedom to provide us with their very best work.

Joel’s new site goes live on Friday and launches on Monday 22nd. And for the first time, he’s really excited about it. Also for the first time, the designer has asked him if she can include his new site in her portfolio. She loves it too.

That’s what happens when an expert is proud of their work, and their client is delighted with the end result.

7 Content topics to grab the attention of your marketplace

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content marketing tip

I write a lot about the importance of being useful with your marketing. A number of you have asked me if I can give you some specific examples, which you can apply to your content marketing.

And that’s exactly what I’ve done in this post.

Their needs and your products or services

Start off by thinking about the services you provide or your product range. Then, consider the following 7 topics (or theme ideas) and how you can incorporate them into your content marketing messages.

  1. People have an inbuilt need to feel connected: Share ideas to help your prospects connect with useful contacts. The Wall Street Journal wrote about how I achieved this for one of my clients – 4 Marketing Strategies That Paid Off For Small Companies
  2. Everyone is trying to succeed at something: Share ideas to help your prospects achieve their targets, goals or dreams. Obviously, as with pretty-much every topic here, if you offer a specific product or service that can help them in this area, incorporate that into the content.
  3. We all need to feel safe and secure: Share ideas to help your prospects reduce risk or feel safer.
  4. We also share a common need for a sense of belonging: Share ideas to help your prospects feel like an integral part of your business.
  5. Everyone wants to avoid wasting time: Share ideas to help your prospects maximize their time, or help them complete certain tasks faster, etc. I’m not a time management expert, but I’ve shared tons of ideas in this area, based on decades of running a successful business, without working crazy hours. The response is always excellent. So don’t be put off sharing from your experience.
  6. People want to improve and expand their knowledge: Share your industry knowledge, sure. But ALSO share your experience with them. For example, if you’re an accountant, don’t just focus on tax, profit and loss or the latest business news. They can get that anywhere. Tell them the common factors you’ve identified in successful businesses. And the ones you’ve identified in those that flounder or fail. Your experience is extremely valuable.
  7. Everyone wants to avoid unnecessary stress, especially now: Share ideas to help your prospects feel more relaxed and assured. If there’s a specific product or service you offer, which can assist them with this, incorporate that into the message or idea.

Are any of those topics missing from your content marketing? If they are, look for ways to incorporate them. Because this kind of useful, relevant information is the cornerstone of successful content marketing.

You’ll know you have the balance right, when your content marketing is SO USEFUL that people would really miss it if you stopped.

Radically increase your value. Then market it brilliantly

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2 step strategy, jims marketing blog

If you’re a service provider, your income is based on just 2 things.

  1. The value you bring. This is what determines what your clients pay you. Between the best paid and the lowest paid, can be a factor of 10x and often much more. Much more? Absolutely. My friend hired a photographer for a product shoot in London recently. The person he hired charged £17,000 for the shoot. The lowest quote for the same shoot, was just over £900.
  2. How effectively you market the value you bring. This is what communicates your value in a way that motivates people to hire you.

Each of those areas can be improved. And by focusing on both areas, they leverage one another.

Leveraged for spectacular results

That’s right. You get the financial reward of charging 5x, 10x, 20x… or whatever. Plus you’re also attracting more clients. These combine and compound. The results are transformational.

The best part?

All of this is possible, by focusing your attention and activity on improving just 2 things.

Business owners with the guts to work on those 2 things correctly, don’t just improve their results. They radically improve their lives. It’s a big deal. It’s a really big deal.