Archive for the ‘Refine Your Marketing’ Category

I got called out.  By my buddy, and colleague Jean-Guy Francoeur.  He did a great post about how a big bank in Canada, ING Direct, just did an online campaign using classic Internet Marketing Techniques (eg, launch sequencing, squeeze page, social media, etc). And he asked me to do a little commentary on it, so here goes…

Firstly, let me preface this with exclaiming that I love that a big bank just used this method. This type of campaign is almost entirely reserved for nimble, responsive, online businesses that are heavily niched. But don’t be fooled, internet marketers have been on the cutting edge of great marketing techniques since the internet started. In fact, you can thank internet marketers for making information on just about everything under the sun free; to get an edge on their competitors they must give away all sorts of great goodies before they even think about charging a dime.

If you haven’t seen the page you can go to http://www.your185.ca/v/ right now or just watch this video, which was about the only thing on the page:

Ok, with that out of the way, let me do this Benjamin Franklin style: a list of pros and cons.

Pros for their campaign:

• -Their president is really great on camera. He comes across very genuine and like a pretty normal dude

• -Further to that the video appeared off the cuff (although I’m sure it was not), one-take, unstaged, and in a regular cab not a limo

• -He mentioned a location that many of us know (especially Torontonians).  This is actually hugely important because it gives us context. Every great story has places, people, a premise and dialogue. And the more familiar you are with each, the more you connect with the story. In his case we didn’t know him (but because he was genuine we felt like we could know him), we probably knew the place, we could have connected to the premise (of banks screwing us over), but he lacked dialogue.

• -I like how his tie matched the page (small, but important. Conveys a serious level of professionalism, and thus I trust him. To learn more about what’s going on inside your brain that leads one to draw that conclusion talk to content consumption guru Ryan Garey)

• -They included social media (buttons for facebook/twitter/youtube, but as a side note they only had facebook on their French version)

• -The page is clean and neat and undistracting

• -Like every great launch, there was a date attached to it!

Ok, now let me lambaste this hot-shot big-wig bank executive with some stinging cons!

• -Way, way, way too many ‘ummms’. I like the idea it looking off the cuff, but it became very distracting.

• -I wasn’t really sure what he was selling me. I think the CTA (call to action) was to go to the Eaton Centre if it’s Aug 18th and you’re watching the video. Not a good CTA.
  

  I got this from RyanGarey.com, and thought it was perfect!

• -There was no info capture form. At the time of writing this post youtube says 7,529 people watched this video. If they had a piddly poor 15% optin ratio (we aim for 30% as our baseline, and have some pages that get upwards of 52%) then they’d have over 1,000 people to contact who had already raised their hands and stepped forwards to say “I am at least moderately interested in what’s going on here”. Maybe they don’t like making money? Now that’s new in banking.

• -Squeeze pages (information capturing pages) are most effective when you give value for FREE. He could have offered an ‘inside look’, ’sneak peak’, ‘be a beta tester’, ‘an ING t-shirt’ or a million other things to ethically bribe people. His offer instead was to check out our new product. That is very ME focused, and not at all customer focused.

• -I’ve watched the video three times now, and I still don’t really know how the THRiVE Chequing account is different from any other account out there.

Ok ok, that’s enough. I’ll take it easy on the guy. I do have to applaud him and his company for being the first big corporation (that I know of anyway) to take a serious stab at online marketing. And if this is where big business is going, we should all be happy! And here’s why:

1. Online marketing means them giving us all sorts of FREE stuff to get our attention.
2. The internet is controlled by those who use it (more or less). So if corporations doing launches want to use social media they have to be ready to hear what their customers are really saying. And further to that, then do something about it (yaayyyy! We have a voice!)
3. For internet users to become captive you gotta put together something pretty darn interesting (read: fun, funny, insightful, or touching). For some great examples of that look up the recent Old Spice campaign, or the “Who is the hero of the world?” video.

Final thoughts.

If you want to learn anything from this campaign they did, here’s what I recommend you take from it:

1. Just do it. Gerry Robert said it best, “Get it down, then get it right.” Kudos to ING Direct for at least trying, I’m sure they learnt a tonne!
2. When making a squeeze video follow this basic formula:
   

   These are some cool stacking moustache mugs

   1. -Tell them who you are
   2. -What you’ve got
   3. -Why they need it
   4. -What to do next
   5. Then CAPTURE their info and send them some cool goodies (this is called “Stacking the Cool”).

Final, final thought.

Did I miss anything? If you can spot three pros and three cons that I missed, I’ll send you my guide on how to write good copy for online marketing.  Comment below!

You can follow Jeff McLeod on his personal blog at JeffMcLeod.ca

Technorati Tags: ING Direct, Jeff McLeod, launches, marketing, online, squeeze pages

by Gerry Robert

L.I.S.T.E.N. Or else!

A positive chap this Mr. Chan!  I’m good friends with his former boss the legendary Colonel Izaidin.  He said that he wanted to teach his salespeople to listen.  “I here you teach salespeople about listening?”  “I sure do!”  I responded, “I wrote a book on that one subject.  How important do you think it is for the success of salespeople?”  He said without even a second’s hesitation, “It’s everything!”  He was right about that fact.  I was delighted  when he told me his company, Berjaya Prudential started a  company-wide campaign based on this one crucial topic.

What made me so happy was that here was an already successful company looking to develop more effectively its salespeople in this important skill.  So many companies want to teach  their salespeople to manipulate customers with the latest “Motivational psycho-babble” out of California.  Too bad!

Sure some of those tricks work but you can forget about long-term relationships, trust, referrals and re-orders if you  start using those silly so-called “persuasion” gimmicks.  Don’t you hate it when others try to use them on you?

I often ask people “How would you describe a salesperson.”  You might not like what they tell me.  “Salespeople are so pushy.”  Or, “They are slick talkers.”  They tell me that what they dislike the most about salespeople is that they never shut up.  This brings me back to Mr. Chan.

He realizes that one of the top skills to develop is the ability to sell by LISTENING.  Haven’t you found that the most effective salespeople have an ability to put their “pitch” aside and actually, honestly and attentively listen to your situation?

How To Read The L.I.S.T.E.N. Matrix II TM

I developed the L.I.S.T.E.N. Matrix to help us to focus on a sales situation from two perspectives:  one from the prospect’s and the other from the professional salesperson’s.  Each viewpoint is labelled accordingly across the top of the Matrix.

The entire model is based on one idea;  the prospect is the most important party in any selling situation.  Recognition of this fact is the basis on effective and consistent selling.  It is far more important to the outcome of the sales effort to know what the prospect is thinking and what the prospect wants to do than it is to know what you want to say next.

Six Distinct Stages for the Horizontal Rows Across the Matrix II

The Matrix II indicates there are six distinct and recognizable stages through which a prospect passes whenever a decision is made.  Correspondingly, the best professional salespeople know they must structure their presentations to meet the needs and patterns of their prospects.  The L.I.S.T.E.N. Sales Matrix IITM suggests salespeople have at least six stages in their presentations and strategies;  each related to a stage through which every customer will proceed on the way to a purchase.

Notably, each stage progresses to a higher level of interest or commitment.  Each builds upon what has been developed at previous stages.

How can a salesperson know the stage at which a prospect has arrived?

Simple.  Salespeople can learn to recognize the prospect behaviors that reveal a prospect’s thinking.

Specifically, prospects ask themselves questions when making a decision;  six major questions in all, which help them to decide about whether to proceed with a purchase.  Observing, listening and assessing tells us how far the prospect has proceeded and what question they are asking themselves.  Listen to what the prospect is really asking you as a salesperson.

Observe… Listen… Assess…

These are the three steps which can reveal just how far a prospect has progressed in making a “buying decision.”  Knowing how to use these steps can be the key to staying in tune with your prospects.  Staying in tune is essential to greater effectiveness in any sales situation.  The L.I.S.T.E.N. Sales Matrix IITM provides a framework for observation, listening and most importantly, assessment of both.

Six Vital Questions

What are the major questions a prospect must have answered before a buying decision occurs?  There are really just six major questions which all prospects ask themselves, anytime they make a purchasing decision.

Prospects may not be conscious of these questions.  They may not have them written down somewhere.  They probably don’t ask these questions in exactly these words.  But, they must always get affirmative answers to these six definitive questions or a sale will not result.

Note, these questions are both progressive and cumulative in nature.

No prospect will ever ask themselves the third question until they give a “Yes” answer to the first two questions.  The fifth question is irrelevant until the previous four are settled satisfactorily.  Needless to say, these are important questions.  You need to ensure that your prospects conclude a “Yes” to the question.  It is not always important for you to hear an audible “Yes.”  However, it is vital that your prospect feels very definitely that “Yes” is the conclusive answer to each of these questions.  When this happens you gain legitimate and dependable approval to proceed in the sales process.  Most important that approval comes from your prospect, not just from some premeditated strategy or a hunch.  That is a major benefit from learning and using the L.I.S.T.E.N. Sales Matrix IITM.

Sometimes you may wonder at which of the six stages the prospect is operating.  If you are ever unsure about which of the six questions is rolling through a prospects’s head simply, listen and observe.

Consider the two major sections of the Matrix II;  The Customer’s View and the Salesperson’s View.  Then, review the six major stages of both stages of both sections as revealed by the horizontal rows of the Matrix II.

Customer’s View

The client’s perspective is the best, truly the only place to start when developing a sales strategy or a planned sales presentation.

Look at the Matrix II.

The two columns on the left of the Matrix II describe the Client’s Perspective in a sales situation.

The first column describes the Decision-Making Phases that a prospect must progress through before agreeing to a purchase.

The second column represents the six major questions each prospect asks themselves, consciously or otherwise.

Being able to recall these questions allows a salesperson to see things from the prospect’s perspective.  Is that important?

These questions are so important that one can be sure whenever a prospect is affirmative to all of these questions, a sale will be completed successfully.  On the other hand, whenever any question is answered negatively, a sale will be stalled and possibly lost.

How can you know which question is rolling through a prospect’s mind?  Listen and evaluate what they are really talking about.  What are they really asking you?

Salesperson’s View

The L.I.S.T.E.N. Sales Matrix IITM provides salespeople with a general strategy to follow in their presentations.  The salesperson’s first challenge is to develop and to adhere to a strategy.  The following recommended sales presentation strategy follows and easy to remember acronym;  L.I.S.T.E.N.

Column three indicates the strategic considerations followed in the L.I.S.T.E.N. Acronym.  Notably this strategy is developed in response to a process that the prospect will go through.  It is not a strategy based on a subjective idea about how to treat people or how to make a sale.  Learn this six step strategy well.

Column four outlines the  Selling Skill that will be most crucial during each stage of the sale.  While you will develop many skills in this system, not all of them will be required at any given point.  This fourth column can help you to relate the significance of each of these sets of skills to each other.  Perspective is often valuable to successful implementation.

Salespeople  perform better when they have a “game-plan.”  The L.I.S.T.E.N. Sales Matrix IITM is that plan.  It will work for you!

WHY?

Mr. Chan and his company know the answer, “Because the best salespeople are the best listeners!”

Technorati Tags: 10 mistakes, advertising, how to better convert leads, how to build a database, how to capture leads, how to generate leads, how to marketing, how to nurture leads, how to qualify leads, lead generation, lead nurturing, lead qualification, marketing 101, marketing consultant, marketing ideas, marketing solutions, marketing tips, online marketing expert, sales training, small business marketing, Toronto Marketing Consultant

How to Style WordPress

Using Plug-ins and Widgets

Jeff McLeod

Jeff@JeffMcLeod.ca

Powerpoint accompanying this article

Get a .doc copy of this post

Copy of WordPress with all my favorite plugins already included

In this article I’m talking about:

1. Setting up the Look and Feel
2. Setting up Social Media/Social Networking

This is my little list of things I think you should download and how I think you should configure them. To understand my thinking watch the video at http://jeffmcleod.ca showing you how and why I choose all of this. Also you can download all of these plug-ins in one file from the website.

1. Set-up the Look and Feel
   1. Delete the example comment and post

1. Go to Appearance->Themes->Add New: Upload (or you can see what WP has to offer). Activate the theme

1. i.     Go into the FTP and change the logo to the client’s logo (wp-content/themes/themename/images/client-logo.png)

1. Note: this is only if you are using the templates that I provide at http://jeffmcleod.ca
2. ii.     Go to Appearance->Editor: Header and ctrl-f for ‘client-logo.png’.
3. iii.     Make the file path the same as the path of the logo you just uploaded
4. iv.     Save changes
5. Go to Plug-ins->Add New, search for “Excerpts Deluxe”. Install and activate.
   1. i.     Set “Cutoff after:” to 200 words
   2. Set-up Social Media/Bookmarking
      1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Share This”, install and activate

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Sociable for Wordpress 3.0”, install and activate
   1. i.     Settings->Sociable WP3
      1. choose which buttons you want (I add Google Buzz, LinkedIn, Technorati, PDF, Email, and RSS)
      2. Check Position: “Front Page…”, “Individual posts”, and “Individual pages”
      3. Check “New Window – Use “target=_blank”

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Subscribe to Comments”.  Install and activate.

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Quick Subscribe”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Go to Appearance->widgets and add this

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Twitter Badge”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Settings->twitter badge: enter your twitter account, and I like to change the text and colour here, but that’s a personal preference

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “Facebook Fan Box”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Go to Appearance->widgets and add this
   2. ii.     Get your FB id (long number in URL of you Page) and add it here
   3. iii.     You should view your page at this point to see if the Facebook Fan Box fits into your sidebar properly.  You may have to play around with the width

1. Go to Plug-ins->Add New and search for “WP Post Notifier For All”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     If people want to be taken off the list you do it in this plug-in’s settings

1. Take over the world!
   1. Start pushing your great content now that everyone will share it and subscribe for more!
   2. To find out how to create great content go to www.jeffmcleod.ca
   3. If you missed the videos on how to install WordPress, or how to set up your SEO watch those videos too.
   4. Share this video with other!

You can get all of these plug-ins in one file (so you don’t have to download each individually) at http://jeffmcleod.ca

Technorati Tags: blogging, how to style wordpress, social media, social media marketing, social media marketing tips, wordpress

How to Optimize WordPress

Using Plug-ins

Jeff McLeod

Jeff@JeffMcLeod.ca

In this article I’m talking about:

1. Setting up Anti-spamming
2. Setting up Search Engine Optimization
3. Setting up Mobile Functionality

Powerpoint accompanying this article

Get a .doc copy of this post

Copy of WordPress with all my favorite plugins already included

This is my little list of things I think you should download and how I think you should configure them. To understand my thinking watch the video at http://jeffmcleod.ca showing you how and why I choose all of this. Also you can download all of these plug-ins in one file from the website.

1. Set-up Anti-spamming
   1. Go to settings->general->membership: uncheck “anyone can register”
   2. Go to settings->discussions->other comment settings: uncheck “Users must be logged in and registered to comment”
   3. Go to settings->discussions->before a comment appears: uncheck “Admin must always approve comment” and uncheck “Comment author must have a previously approved comment”
      1. i.     Save changes
2. Go to Plug-ins and activate Akismet (if the plug-in isn’t installed search for it under Plug-ins->add new).
   1. i.     Once installed, activate the plug-in. It will tell you that a key needed.  Follow the link to get a Key.
   2. ii.     Choose personal use if you want to use it for free.  Otherwise pay for it.  Retrieve the key from your email and input it into wordpress.
   3. Set-up SEO
      1. Go to Settings->permalinks and select custom.  Set it to “/%postname%
      2. Go to Settings->plug-ins->add new and search for “All in one SEO pack”.  Install and activate.
      3. Go to Settings->plug-ins->All in one SEO pack->Options configuration panel
         1. i.     Plug-in status: enabled
         2. ii.     Fill in the Home Title, Home Description and Home Keywords
         3. iii.     Post Title Format: %post_title%
         4. iv.     Page Title Format: %page_title%

1. Go to Settings->plug-ins->add new and search for “Google XML sitemap generator”.  Install and activate.
2. Go to Settings->XML-sitemap->”build it for the first time”
3. Go to Settings->plug-ins->add new and search for “SEO Smart Links”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Check “Comments”, “Target->Tags”
   2. ii.     Set “Max links” to 10, “Max Single” to 1, “Max Single URLs” to 0
4. Go to Settings->plug-ins->add new and search for “SEO Slugs”.  Install and activate.
5. Go to Settings->plug-ins->add new and search for “Global Translator”.  Install and activate.
6. Go to Settings->plug-ins->add new and search for “cbnet Ping Optimizer”.  Install and activate.
   1. i.     Go to Settings->cbnet Ping Optimizer and check “Limit excessive pinging in short time” and set it to Ping at most 1 time within 15 minutes

1. Set-up Mobile Functionality
   1. Go to Settings->plug-ins->add new and search for “WPTouch iPhone”.  Install and activate.
      1. i.     Under WPTouch iPhone->settings->General Settins->Post Listing Options uncheck “Hide Excerpts”
      2. ii.     Under WPTouch iPhone->settings->General Settins->Sytle & Color Options->background choose either “Skated Concrete”, “Argyle Tie” or “Thatches”

You can get all of these plug-ins in one file (so you don’t have to download each individually) at http://jeffmcleod.ca

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, how to optimize wordpress, optimize wordpress, plugins, SEO, wordpres plugins

In this article I’m talking about:

1. Downloading WordPress
2. Uploading it to your site
3. Setting up the database
4. Configuring your wordpress installation
5. Logging into wordpress

Powerpoint accompanying this article

Get a .doc copy of this post

Copy of WordPress with all my favorite plugins already included

This is my little list of things I think you should download and how I think you should configure them. To understand my thinking watch the video at http://jeffmcleod.ca showing you how and why I choose all of this. Also you can download all of these plug-ins in one file from the website.

1. Download Wordpress
   1. Google “download wordpress”
   2. It’s free
   3. I am sticking to 2.9.2 for now (you can download this from me at http://jeffmcleod.ca )
   4. Upload WordPress to your site
      1. Log in to FTP site
      2. I like to use FileZilla, but do as you please
      3. Copy entire folder contents onto FTP
      4. I recommend the root folder
      5. If you use a deeper folder it will be in all of your URLs (ie www.yourdomain.com/downloads/stuff/wordpress/…, not cool)
         1. i.     Also, you won’t be able to post any pages to the homepage)
2. Rename folder to whatever you want (ie blog, membership)
3. Set-up Database
   1. Log in to cPanel
   2. Go to mySQL Databases
   3. Create new database
   4. I use the folder name, you can use whatever you want
   5. Create new user
   6. At this stage I always use admin
   7. Add user to database
   8. Configure WordPress installation
      1. Go to the URL you uploaded your Wordpress file
      2. Start config process, log in (remember your database name and user name will have your ftp log-in name in front “ftplogin_databasename” and “ftplogin_username”
      3. Make sure to copy your new password
      4. Logging in to WordPress
         1. Paste your new password
         2. IMMEDIATELY change it
         3. Set-up all your plug-ins (go to http://jeffmcleod.ca to see a video on all the best plug-ins for business, and how to optimize their config for effectiveness)

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, how to install wordpress

I’ve used this little trick and its worked really well for me in the past.

Instead of just going to your blog directly, do this. Go to Google.com and search your “first name last name” so for me in the search box I would put JG Francoeur.

Now your blog may rank on the first page. If its not yet don’t worry about it it’s coming! After you’ve found your blog on the Google search results, click the URL. So instead of clicking directly on your blog url, go through Google and this will help because it’s extra clicks for you.

It’s not a “revolutionary tip” but it’s a quick tip and it will help your Google ranking.

Technorati Tags: 10 mistakes, advertising, how to better convert leads, how to build a database, how to capture leads, how to generate leads, how to marketing, how to nurture leads, how to qualify leads, lead generation, lead nurturing, lead qualification, marketing 101, marketing consultant, marketing ideas, marketing solutions, marketing tips, online marketing expert, sales training, small business marketing, Toronto Marketing Consultant

Joint-Ventures (JVs) are an awesome way to build your business and gain additional exposure. What I like best about JVs is it gets people leaning forward and because JVs typically have a “referral component” it shortens up the sales cycle.

For example, in working our prospects we typically have a four to five day sales cycle but when it comes from a JV source and its accompanied by a referral the sales cycle can be as short as one to two days. That makes a huge difference when you’re pumping out a lot of deals.

The downside of JVs is they take a bit longer to setup because you have setup the JV, figure out exactly the best way to work together and to add value to each other’s business and then penetrate their client list with your offer which takes a bit longer.

However, that being said, once the JV is setup you can have a PHENOMENAL source of prospects for a very long time to come.

Examples:

I have a friend who’s in the mortgage business and he setup five different JV sources and that made him the #2 mortgage specialist in his district. All he did was approach real estate agents and told them they should establish a mutually-beneficial relationship where they can refer business to each other. He referred them business and they referred him business. From scratch he created a six figure income for himself which took a few months.

I built a chain of five clinics specializing in alternative health care and it was very common for us to work with doctors and other health professionals to share clients. I took this concept one step further and established a variety of JVs with corporations so they could send their employees to our clinics. With this corporate JVs I was able to promote our service via their newsletter, I did in-house promotions and gave them a lot of complimentary health services which they were thrilled about. Over the course of a few years I built up over 60 JVs which results in over 3000 clients visiting our clinics.

Another example would be the time I built and sold a residential cleaning service company. I had set a vision to build a company that produced a six figure income and sell it in one to two years. I setup JVs with several other “contractor” type companies like carpet cleaners who referred their clients to us. It was mutually-beneficial and as a result I built and sold this company in exactly twelve months.

With Gerry Robert and his FREE Millionaire Mindset Course, I established a JV with someone in England which included Gerry and his offer to 400,000 person mailing list.

With my chain of health care clinics I establish a JV with a local newspaper to create my own column which ran for a whole year and did not cost me a penny!

I broadly categorize JV partners as either “Referral Sources” or “Publishing JVs”. Publishing JVs are great to provide exposure and an opportunity to position yourself in the marketplace. If you can compliment a publishing JV with a good call-to-action and drive people to a capture page you can expand your leads and then turn those leads into prospects.

Building JVs takes a personal touch. You have to build a solid relationship and then work with that person to find out the best ways to work together and make it a mutually-beneficial relationship. That’s the catch! Mutually-beneficial is the word!! That means it works for both of you. This does not always mean money.

I’m working with Management Consultants right now to form JVs and we’re providing the opportunity to do an exchange of service which will lead to more business for them but also it will differentiate them from other management consultant which again will lead to more business for them so it’s a win-win for both of us.

If you have a good network of personal and business contacts, start there. If you don’t then start networking! Go to Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade, Meetups, Charitable events, 40 under 40, business journal events, mayors breakfast or any other networking event. Just Google “Networking Event, <insert your city>”.

Another good source of leads for JVs (or prospects) is your local newspaper. In my case I focus on the business section because that’s my target market. Do this:

1. Pull out your local newspaper
2. Find the business section and find articles relevant and written about businesses in your community
3. Print out those articles and write a sticky note (yes the yellow paper type) and send a copy of the article to the person who’s being featured. In the note congratulate them and tell them you want to meet, include your phone number.
4. Call them to follow up (but don’t chase them!)
5. Rinse and repeat!

You will get bites on this approach. I know because I’ve done it! Do the same with the editor or columnist. That’s how I got my own column which ran for a whole year!

See here… I went into this little community and found in this single article 5 leads that I could contact. I PDF the article, print it out and put a sticky note on it. I did this in PDF just to give you an example but you would print, sticky note and send! Then don’t forget to follow up and don’t be afraid to give them some “value-first”. Attach an article or whitepaper or something that will be of value to them!

Download example here – How to get JV leads from your local newspaper

Jean-Guy (JG) Francoeur
Author, Answers You’re Aching To Know
Vice-President, Business Development
Black Card Marketing Group

P.S. If you have a question or want to JV – fill out this form.

Technorati Tags: 10 mistakes, advertising, how to better convert leads, how to build a database, how to capture leads, how to generate leads, how to marketing, how to nurture leads, how to qualify leads, lead generation, lead nurturing, lead qualification, marketing 101, marketing consultant, marketing ideas, marketing solutions, marketing tips, online marketing expert, sales training, small business marketing, Toronto Marketing Consultant

This blog post was written by Andy Horner on Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 6:03PM

As a salesperson, your blog is at the heart of the value you offer your customers. It’s the “open 24 hours” expertise hub, where your customers can gain wisdom, advice, and solutions that will help them make more money. The value of your blog posts influences their appreciation for you and their loyalty to your personal brand. Your blog helps separate you from your competitors – you know, the order-takers. It’s the platform where you slowly but surely establish yourself as a guiding force and go-to leader in your market.

But first, you must build a readership from your customer base and your social media network. If you promote it, they will come!
Start promoting your blog…

1. In your ezine and emails. After you add a new post to your blog, it’s time to promote it. Feature it in your next ezine or email it in a Branded Email from Ace of Sales. Ask your recipients to post a comment and make sure you include a subscription link to your blog’s RSS feed, so they can get your blog posts as soon as you post them.

2. In partner ezines. Chances are, several of your partners are forward-thinking enough to publish their own ezine too. Offer to promote them in your ezine, for the opportunity to publish your article (one of your blog posts) in theirs. A little back-scratching will help you fill up your ezine and give you exposure to a new contact base.

3. With your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube accounts. To drive traffic to your blog, tweet your blog post titles with links to your blog! Do the same thing on Facebook and LinkedIn. Video yourself introducing a featured blog post and add it to your YouTube channel. Add a link to the post in the video title or notes area. Here’s another idea – tweet insightful comments posted to your blog by your readers along with a link to your blog.

4. By networking on other blogs. Participate on other blogs in your industry or region by becoming a regular commenter. By contributing to their community and conversations, you’ll earn the opportunity to invite them to visit yours. Many blogs will allow you to enter your website when you post your comments. Enter your blog’s web address or the link to one of your specific blog posts. The key here is to attract others to your blog because of the value you offer. Do not post comments like this: “Nice post, visit my blog here…” That’s not networking. That’s spamming.

5. On your business card. Most salespeople only include their company website on their business cards. But does your company website demonstrate to your customers that you’re an articulate professional, a thinker, or an expert who can help them make money? Get your blog address printed on your business cards! When you hand your card to a new contact with great customer potential, tell them to visit the blog tomorrow for a special message. That afternoon, post a shout out to them on your blog (first name only) and email them a link to it.

6. On EzineArticles.com. It’s a popular, widely-used Internet service that allows anyone to submit articles to their site. If they approve your article, it’s added to their repository and categorized by your industry. EzineArticles.com allows anyone to publish your article in their ezine for free. It’s like an open, public syndication. Why would you do this? EzineArticles.com requires people who use your article to credit you and include a link to your website in their ezine. This is a great way to gain widespread exposure to your blog.

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How are you taking advantage of your knowledge?

I have been a student of sales since November 11, 1971. I was listening (via the brand new voice technology called the “cassette tape”) to a guy named Jay Douglas Edwards, who uttered the sales tip, “If the customer says, ‘Do these come in green?’ you say, “Would you like them in green?” Cool.

That’s the day I realized that there was a science of selling. I wanted to learn more.

I will admit that most sales skills and sales tips taught in the 1970’s were somewhat manipulative. But at the time that’s all that existed. Over the last 40 or so years sales models have changed.

Probably the best example of change I can offer you comes from a column I wrote several years ago about the “Benjamin Franklin close.”

You can get that column in its entirety by going to http://www.gitomer.com/articles/ColumnSearchResults.html and entering the keyword: Franklin.

Basically what the column says is rather than use an old, time-worn manipulative sales close on the customer, try using it on yourself before you go into the sale as a means of preparation.

I have read all or portions of hundreds of sales books over the past 40 years, but most of what I have learned has come from the spark of an idea gleaned from a book, and then it was somewhat altered once I got out into the field and had to actually apply the strategy. Kind of like you.

All sales books offer some form of valuable information. All sales experts offer some form of valuable information. As a student, your job is to determine how that information fits into your skill set, your environment, your marketplace, and your customer interactions.

Learning sales skills is a matter of understanding, adoption, application, and a bit of tweaking.

In my experience I have found that unless the tip or strategy is comfortable to me, I won’t use it. It has to fit with my personality and be in the framework of my comfortable conversation and ethics.

HOW TO READ: As a reader myself, I am challenging you to look at the ideas you read with an open mind, and strike from your mind the phrase, “I know that.” Most salespeople already know everything. The problem is they don’t do it.

I would rather have you ask yourself, “How good am I at that on a scale of 1 to 10?”

Then ask yourself:

• How does this information apply to me?
• Do I agree with this?
• Am I comfortable with this?
• Does it fit my personality?
• Is this “me?”

If the answer to all of those questions is yes, then ask yourself the following three questions:

• Is this in the best interest of the customer?
• Will this lead me to a long-term relationship with the customer?

And finally the true self-test question:

• Will this make my mother proud?

Jeffrey, what about CDs and the Internet? YouTube, podcasts, and other forms

accessing sales skills information?

They’re all GREAT! They’re just not as great as reading a book. Of course there are multi-media forms of sales information you can access. But none are as flexible as reading. Reading gives you a chance to move at your own pace, underline, scribble notes in the margins, re-read what you may not understand, even dog-ear the important pages and where you left off.

Reading time is usually quiet time. It gives you a chance for reflection. Whenever you choose, you can stop and think about the meaning and the AHA!, or you can adapt and apply what you read.

The messages offered in books are from a combination of men and women, experts in their field, who have actually used these methods and strategies to build their own success. And your job is to adopt them, adapt them, and turn them into money.

Got book? Maybe you should try to read a book a month.

Technorati Tags: how to marketing, Jeffrey Gitomer, lead generation, marketing consultant, marketing solutions, small business marketing

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