The Great Expert Blog

I’ll never forget what my accountant said five years ago when he
saw the ad I wrote for my services: “How many scotches did you
drink before you wrote this?”

He was kidding about the scotch. But he just couldn’t believe
anyone in their right mind would write such a bold and
outrageous ad for their own writing, consulting and speaking
services, as I had.

Well, I spent $300 on that ad — $200 to run it in a local trade
association directory, and $100 to have it reprinted as a flyer.

The following year, that $300 ad turned into $12,341 in new
business for me. And $12,341 was just a tiny fraction of my
total business that year.

Why did I make so much money myself while there were so many
thousands of “starving writers” in the world? The answer may
surprise you. You see, it’s not because I’m a better writer.
It’s not my schooling. Not my resume. Not any talent I was born
with.

It’s all because I learned how to write “killer copy.”

How do you write killer copy?

You start your killer copy with an emotion-packed opening
statement that will get the attention of your reader. This
opening statement may be:

* a headline * an opening sentence * a subject line on an email
* the header on a Web page

… or for that matter, the opening words in a telemarketing
script, radio commercial, or TV spot. What’s important is that
you understand - your first words count for everything - because
you must captivate peoples’ imagination with those words in
order to keep their attention.

Here are examples of opening statements from actual successful
marketing pieces:

a) “Take the luxury vacation of your dreams at a reduced cost
because of this special offer” (from a travel agency’s letter to
business owners.)

b) “How to stop overwhelm before it stops you” (from a personal
coach’s ad aimed at stressed-out overachievers)

c) “Why almost every financial statement in family court may not
disclose the full net worth of the opposing spouse” (from an
investigator’s sales letter to divorce lawyers.)

Then, after your emotion-packed opening statement, you just a)
Make a promise b) Back it up with convincing proof and c) Ask
for action

Let’s look at how you do each of those three techniques.

1. Make a promise. The letter about luxury vacations starts with
these words:

“Imagine taking your winter vacation knowing you aren’t spending
a penny more than you have to - secure that you have a team of
travel experts making sure every little detail of your vacation
goes smoothly. “Here’s how you can have that vacation right now:
Take advantage of an unusual promotion our company is doing. Let
me explain.”

Pretty exciting, right? Even if you don’t think so, the people
who got the letter did - because the letter produced an amazing
$5 million in sales for the travel agency.

2. Back it up with convincing proof. The personal coach’s ad for
stressed-out overachievers, the one that begins “How to stop
overwhelm before it stops you,” contains this proof:

* 3 case studies, * 3 testimonials, * detailed credentials of
the coach * and a money-back guarantee.

Despite its stunningly bold claims, the ad comes across as very
believable and has generated a record-breaking parade of new
clients.

3. Ask for action. The investigator’s sales letter to divorce
lawyers, beginning “Why almost every financial statement in
family court may not disclose the full net worth of the opposing
spouse,” ends this way:

“I would like to meet with you at no charge to show you how I
can be of service to you and your clients in future family law
cases.

“Please call me at your convenience so we can set up a meeting
to discuss further how I can assist your clients recover their
fair share of assets. Call me directly at xxx - xxx-xxxx.”

Killer copy always asks for action in the most powerful way
possible. Notice how the above words spell out exactly what to
do, and even make a big promise - that the lawyer reading the
letter will recover more money in court for their clients (and,
therefore, get more money themselves).

As you can see, a few words of killer copy can lead to massive
amounts of money. In fact, many people say writing killer copy
is the single most valuable money-making skill in the world.

And recently, writing copy was named as one of the top 10
emerging professions for the new century.

It doesn’t surprise me. In the age of the Internet, the old
style of advertising copy — saying something clever, and hoping
people remember - just doesn’t cut it anymore.

Besides, these days, with business-to-business advertising
growing so fast, the traditional advertising industry is feeling
a lot of pressure for ads that really produce results. Why?
Because, old-style advertising that entertains, but does not
sell, is not cost-effective enough for many companies in today’s
hyper-competitive market.

Recently I heard from my former accountant. (A few years ago, he
left accounting to start a new business.)

He asked me if I wouldn’t mind sharing some ideas on how he
could write killer copy for his own business.

I said sure. And now he’s on his way to doing the same thing
that I do, for himself.

Funny thing about the conversation we had the other day. Unlike
the conversation we had back in 1995, he didn’t kid me about
drinking scotch, or anything else. Maybe he finally realized
that when it comes to increasing your income, killer copy is
serious business.

All of us sell all the time. From a child asking Mom for a
cookie to the CEO of a major corporation trying to ink a million
dollar order, each of us sells. We sell our ideas and beliefs to
co-workers, bosses, and family. We sell products, services, and
concepts.

Here are three simple ways to sell anything. You can use them in
person, on the telephone, or with email.

Way 1: Start a conversation. I never realized how effective this
super-simple method was until I met Ted. He is able to get an
order an amazing 98% of the time.

How does he do it? “Simple. I just talk to people,” he says.

It all started early in Ted’s career when he couldn’t seem to
sell anything. “I had recently gotten married and just when I
really wanted to succeed, no one seemed interested in my sales
pitches.”

Sometimes our best ideas come when we’re really discouraged. Ted
got so down on his sales technique he forgot about it and just
started talking with people. Amazingly, they bought. Sales
started to trickle, then turned into a flood as Ted became the
company’s top sales person for his region.

I watched closely to see how Ted does it. He starts up a
conversation. As soon as you mention something about yourself,
he show a big interest. He talks about whatever you are
interested in.

I immediately feel like Ted is a friend I’ve known all my life.
After twenty to forty minutes, Ted casually says “so can we get
you set up with an order?” After such a good conversation, 98%
of his prospects say yet.

Way 2: Ask questions. This is a very simple way to sell and it
works for both products and services.

Most customers don’t know half as much about your product as you
do. In fact, most probably don’t know much at all. Yet it is a
rare customer who starts off by saying I’m a complete idiot on
this.

Ask questions to help find customers find the areas where they
need more information. They may not even know what areas they
want to know more about.

Let’s say a customer comes into your computer store and starts
looking for a new desktop. Ask questions to find out if the
customer is mostly interested in processing speed, reliability,
or a popular feature. Ask what frustrates them about their
current computer or what they like that they fear losing with a
new computer.

Find the customer’s main concerns. Then give them as much
information about those concerns as they seem interested in
having.

This does three things: You eliminate doubts based on lack of
information. You show you are an expert ready to help. The
customer becomes convinced you are interested in the things that
are important to her.

Way 3: Explain how your product or service works. Again, most
customers don’t really know how the thing they want to buy does
what it does. There is so much more you can tell them to enhance
the value they get from your product or service.

Let me give you an example. People love to send their press
release to media, but most have no idea how to get one written,
how to send it to media, or if the media will even be interested.

Because I spent many years working in radio and TV, I can talk
about how to send press releases from now until the cows come
home. Customers love it.

I tell them how we put their contact info and headline at the
top because editors are busy and may not read the rest. I
explain how most editors read their email, but regular mail and
faxes arrive by the bag loads. The customer learns how to change
the slant of his story to interest media.

Once you take time to fully explain how your product or service
works, most people are far closer to making a purchase.

At the root of these three methods to sell anything is human
contact. These days it is had to get a knowledgeable person on
the phone. If you send an email inquiry, you’ll probably get a
form letter reply that has little to do with your question.

Customers respond when you give them good old-fashioned
attention. Start a conversation, answer questions, and explain
to get more customers. You will sell more products and services.

The Sales Team Assessment is almost an unheard of event for most companies. Primarily because most consulting firms don’t do it. They may provide some form of critique of the sales teams’ effectiveness while reviewing the companies overall operations, but a real Sales Team Assessment is rare.

A Sales Team Assessment can be of two varieties. The first is to get a broad overview of the workings of your sales team in light of the objectives and resources of the company. This also includes an analysis of the skill bases required and their level of achievement in the field.

The second type of assessment is for a specific reason or goal. For example, you may be introducing a new product line and want to assure that your sales team is ready to hit the ground running.

You may be entering a new market and want to get your field force “fine tuned” for the event. If you have a semi-mature product or sales force, it may have been years since some of your sales team have done any prospecting. You may have many senior level sales professionals whose prospecting skills have atrophied! No one’s fault, just a fact. With the need for opening new markets and gaining new customers, this could become a real problem.

Or maybe it is just about time someone other than you looked at your sales team’s operations.

By having this assessment conducted by an outside firm you can get an impartial and independent view of how your objectives are being understood and what, if anything, needs to be done in order to assure goal achievement. You also get the benefits of a different perspective.

Here is how we conduct the 5 steps of a Sales Team Assessment:

The first step is my meeting with the sales executive to establish goals for and the format of this assessment.

Second, I meet with the sales professionals and managers to let them know what I will be doing and why, the goals of the assessment, and how it will be conducted.

Third, I go into the field make calls, and work with the individual sales professionals and managers. One of my objectives is to compare the goals of the company with the day to day activities of the sales team.

Fourth, at pre-selected times I meet with the sales executive to review the findings prior to finishing the report.

Fifth, the final report is presented and discussed along with specific recommendations.

Now for those of you who are familiar with large consulting firms and how they conduct overall operations audits, the Sales Team Assessment may seem somewhat trivial. However, most sales executives would be surprised at how many of their sales professionals have dramatically different goals from those of the company resulting in a myriad of inefficiencies.

If the same situation existed in manufacturing, it would be corrected immediately. Sometimes sales takes a little longer to act. The Sales Team Assessment can let senior management know where adjustments need to be made.

Fine tuning of the sales team can have dramatically positive results especially when you have a need to accomplish some short term goals like opening new territories or markets or penetrating existing customers more effectively.

The small amount of money spent on a Sales Team Assessment even when followed by specific skill based training can provide the results you are seeking from an expensive marketing campaign or new product introduction.

It is hard to believe that so much money can be spent on bringing a new product to market without providing some specific effort assuring that the sales team is fully geared up for the event. But many companies do just that and then wonder why they don’t have the results they had expected.

So now you can see the value of the Sales Team Assessment to the Sales Executive.

Sell Well and OftenTM

Bill Truax
Bill@BlitzCall.com
800-253-1214

© Copyright 2006 WJ Truax

Bill Truax is a Sales Management and Field Operations Consultant living in Cleveland, Oh. He conducts Sales Team Assessments, trains Managers and Leaders, and Field Sales Professionals both in the field and in workshops. He has written 3 books on Prospecting and Making Cold Calls and conducts a variety of skill based seminars, workshops, and train the trainer programs. Visit his website at http://www.BlitzCall.com

If you are a loan officer or mortgage broker and you are
considering buying mortgage leads, try to stay away from the
leads that are being recycled.

Leads that are being recycled have often gone through the hands
of literally dozens of loan officers before landing on your desk.

The chances of closing the deal on leads like these are slim to
none.

A lot of lead companies buy their leads in bulk from third party
companies and than sell them to loan officers at a profit.

Try to steer clear of lead companies such as these.

Before you invest in a mortgage lead company, it is very
important to do your research.

So while you are doing your research, look for the lead
companies that obtain their leads through web sites they own and
operate on their own.

Also, look to see how they sell them. In real time, and, or
exclusively. This is usually a good indication that the company
is obtaining leads on their own, and that the quality of the
lead is good.

Definitely make it a point to call and speak with someone in
their customer service department. Ask specific questions about
how they obtain their leads.

If you are not happy with the answers they give you, than move
onto the next lead company.

If you are not happy with customer service, than most likely you
will not be happy with leads.

In the old way of making cold calls, we offer a sales pitch to a perfect stranger, cross our fingers, and hope for the best… isn’t that right?

This really doesn’t work very well in building a business relationship (or any other relationship, for that matter). This is done best by stepping into the world of the other person and finding a problem we can solve for him or her.

That’s how we begin a conversation with another person - talking about them rather than talking about ourselves. It’s just a very common dynamic that occurs in any human interaction. When you’re dating somebody, for instance, if you just talk about yourself, they’re not going to like you very much, right?

It’s the same in cold calling. Don’t talk about your solution for a while. Talk instead about their problems for a bit. It’s a movement of dialogue. This dialogue is around talking about their world and not about your product. That’s the shift. All you have to do is identify three or four major problems that your product solves, and use those problems as phrases to begin the dialogue of your cold call.

You see, this new cold calling approach has to be tied to a specific, real problem that the person experiences in their world. This is needed in order for them to feel comfortable having a conversation with you. When you’re relevant to them and their world, they trust you. They sense that you’re there to help them solve a problem - not sell a product.

So remove yourself for a moment from what you have to sell, and think about what problem your solution solves for somebody. For example, if you’re in the coaching industry, think about what problem you’re solving for your clients. You might say, “I’m just calling to see if your company’s open to the idea of using coaches to improve management performance.”

When you use the word “open,” people respond positively. Who would say “no” to being open? You’re not challenging them. You’re not forcing a solution. You’re not even saying what you’re offering to sell. You’re simply asking a question around whether they have a particular problem.

This also invites a question back to you. Potential clients will often ask at this point who you are and what you do. They might say that they already have a service, but they may need some more help. So it opens up even more conversation.

Here’s an example of how salespeople focus their cold calling around something that appears to be a need, but they haven’t tied it to a specific problem.

Let’s look at financial services. In this case, people who sell financial services start cold calls with a focus on the future of the person’s situation. They might say, “I’m just calling to see if you’d be open to some new ideas to help you increase your income.” The better approach here would be to problem solve. For example, “I’m just calling to see if you’d be open to identifying any gaps in your portfolio that might be holding you back in some way.” It’s about problem solving and closing gaps, as opposed to promoting a beautiful future. “Hire me and I’ll make you a lot of money!” Everyone does that. That’s the problem. It gets old and very stale

You see, there’s no push here. There’s no sales pitch. There’s no presentation. The conversation is focused on really seeing if the person has a problem, and if they want to solve it. After the first few phrases, you have a natural conversation back and forth. They may say, “What’s your service?” “How much does it cost?” And that’s the time to begin to really tell about your service — but not before that.

If you don’t talk about your solution for a while and instead talk about their problems, you’ll find yourself having better and deeper dialogue, with more trust.

So be careful not to immediately go into a presentation and spend the conversation talking about your service. In this new way of cold calling, you’re asking in a very conversational tone whether the other person has a problem that you can solve.

You won’t believe how this simple technique can make such a difference in the way potential clients receive your cold calls. Tension and resistance are vastly reduced, and results are greatly improved.

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock The Cold Calling Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. Learn his cold calling secrets even the sales gurus don’t know. To receive your 10 free audio mini-lessons visit http://www.Unlock-The-Cold-Calling-Game.com