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Originally Posted by DamianJ
If you saw the emails he sends to try and sell his content you'd understand he has less of a clue about email marketing than he does making join pages.
Seriously, the most pathetic email I've ever seen. No understanding of the medium, no permission, no personalisation, nothing. Just a long list of pictures and no call to action.
For someone that claims he was a successful furniture salesman, he doesn't seem to know the basics of the sales process.
But, that was probably a lie too.
Left school at 15, no qualifications because he was so very stupid, bummed around taking drugs, got involved in crime to make some money, spunked that, and fled the UK to rent a shack in a cabbage field that his 'wife' has to work as a secretary to pay the rent on!
lolsome.
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I know enough about selling to not walk into a strangers office or contact him in any way and tell him he's doing something wrong or start asking him about what he's buying, who from ad how much he pays.
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Definition ? define your prospect?s need or problem Nobody wants to know they have a problem or their business has a problem, especially from a stranger. Find another approach such as something they could more out of that is on the sidelines, something others are doing and they're not.
Identification ? identify a solution to that need or problem Identify how you can assist them to exploit that under exploited or ignored resource.
Proof ? prove your solution solves their problem/meets their need. See above.
Agreement ? get them to agree it solves their problem And get to look like a know all dick head, whie they get someone else to fix the problem or throw you out.
Desire ? instil a desire for them to have your solution Install a desire in them to increase their business by exploiting a new level, or an under exploited tier.
For instance, don't tell people their emails are wrong. Especially on a public forum.
The main thing is to actually ask lots and lots of questions of your prospect. So you can get information that you can then ?use against them? when selling. So Paul Markham could call people up and say: The main thing is not to cross examine a prospect as a stranger. Get into a conversation with him about improving his business by exploiting another tier.
Where do you buy content from? = Why did you buy that.
What kind of content do you buy? = Because I can't tell and I'm better than him anyway.
What makes you decide which company to buy from? = Because it's none of my business, you should be buying from me. And again I'm questioning your decision.
How often do you buy? Take a look and decide for yourself.
What prompts your purchasing decision?  Stupid question if you think of it.
Do you have an annual budget for content? [B]-= Can I see how much I can take from you?/B]
Action ? close the deal Assuming he hasn't thrown you out or just stopped listening to you. You're also assuming he hasn't fed you a lot of BS answers. People do lie.
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This is how you sell to a brand new customer who doesn't know you from Adam.
Research the company and what it does as much as possible.
Find a part of their business they're not getting the maximum return on, or a part of the business similar companies like them are expanding into. Investigate why.
Identify your solution, in products or your skills.
Make contact by opening with ways to maximise that part of their business, to get an appointment to discuss. Can be on the phone of by online chat, nothing beats face to face. If he doesn't want to meet, move on to the next one.
Discuss only that part of the business. Do not question, think, hint, indicate they are presently doing anything wrong. The time to do this is after you have proved yourself and got their trust and business. A great way of expanding your revenue and involvement with the client.
While discussing explore their business needs, thoughts and directions. They do the talking you do the listening. all the time getting them to agree to your statement "So that would be good for you". In different terminology so you don't sound like a broken record. you need to build their trust in you so put in some helpful tips along the way without revealing the slam dunk close.
All the time building them into a "Affirmative frame of mind". In a clothes shop when the customer likes a dress say "That looks great on you, doesn't it?" Can use colour, fit, cloth, length, etc.
When selling office furniture, establish points like, customers seeing the office, who are using the furniture and for what, life expectancy as in terms of refurbishing. So you can come back with. "It's important to you what clients think as they enter your offices." OR "So with commodity dealers you need something to take a lot of wear and tear." Or "As you refurbish once every ten years, having furniture that will last is important."
What you don't do is ask where they bought that dress/furniture or how much she paid for it. you're questioning their decisions.