How many of us consider ourselves in sales? Are you a business owner? Anyone that owns a business is a salesperson. How are you selling your product? How effective are you at selling your product? Could you do a better job at getting your message out? When I talk to a company about a web page or a software project they need, I first try to learn all I can about their company, marketing, and what they hope to do with a web page. Many business owners that I talk to know very little about who they are selling to (i.e. their target market) or how they plan to sell to their market.
Cold Calling
Cold calling is old school, so is the cold calling approach, “We sell some really great products. It does all this neat stuff. Would like to buy some?” What is your natural reaction to this type of pitch? Usually it is something like, "Why don't you give me your card and I'll get back with you." Which is a polite way of saying, "No, I'm not interested in what you have to sell."
How did Steve Jobs make Apple a success? I gan garuntee you that it wasn't by using the cold calling approach but rather by simply stating, this is what we’re all about, this is what we enjoy doing. Many who shared that same enjoyment and passion bought into the Apple products.
What Problems Does Your Product Solve?
Honestly, would you buy your product or services? Does what your company offer help solve any of your problems? If your product solves real problems (and not made up problems) than chances are there are others out there that can use it. All you need to do is tell your story about how your product solves problems and your prospective clients will listen and are more likely to buy from you than if you use the cold calling approach.
“If you build it, they will come!”
Not necessarily. Just because you make something offer a specific service doesn’t mean people will buy it. It needs to serve a common purpose and need. I see many new businesses owners with this mentality. They think that just because they offer a certain product or service that people will buy it. Again, what problem is your product solving or what need does your product fill?
New Approach
Teach people about your product. Teach and you’ll form a bond you just don’t get from traditional marketing tactics. Buying people’s attention with a magazine or online banner ad is one thing. Earning their loyalty by teaching them forms a whole different connection. They’ll trust you more. They’ll respect you more. Even if they don’t use your product, they can still be your fans.
Teaching is something individuals and small companies can do that bigger competitors can’t. Big companies can afford a Super Bowl ad; you can’t. But you can afford to teach, and that’s something they’ll never do, because big companies are obsessed with secrecy. Most everything at large companies has to get filtered through a legal department and go through layers of red tape. Teaching is your chance to outmaneuver the big guy.
Emulate famous chefs. They cook, so they write cookbooks. What do you do? What are your “recipes”? What’s your “cookbook”? What can you tell the world about how you operate that’s informative, educational, and promotional?
Emulate Drug Dealers
Make your product so good, so addictive, so “can’t miss” that giving customers a small, free taste makes them come back with cash in hand. This will force you to make something about your product bite-size. You want an easily digestible introduction to what you sell that you can give away for free. This gives people a way to try it without investing any money or a lot of time. Bakeries, restaurants (i.e. food courts), and ice cream shops have done this successfully for years. Car dealers let you test-drive cars before buying them. Software firms are also getting on board, with free trials or limited-use versions.
How many other industries could benefit from the drug-dealer model? Don’t be afraid to give a little away for free—as long as you’ve got something else to sell. Be confident in what you’re offering. You should know that people will come back for more. If you’re not confident about that, you haven’t created a strong enough product.
The Best Promotional Tool is a Great Product
If you have a great product, that people find really useful, the word will get out. Still, a great product without great execution is dead in the water! These days, great execution means that you need an ace promotional website. What should you include on this site?
1. Overview: Explain your product and its benefits.
2. Tour: Guide people through various features.
3. Videos: Show people what the product actually looks like and how to use it.
4. Manifesto: Explain the philosophy and ideas behind it.
5. Case Studies: Provide real life examples that show what’s possible.
6. Buzz: Testimonial quotes from customers, reviews, press.
7. Forum: Offer a place for members of the community to help one another.
8. Pricing & Sign-up: Get people into your product as quickly as possible.
Don’t Stop Blogging Once You Launch
Show your product is a living creature by keeping a dedicated blog that you update frequently (at least once a week, more often if you can). Things to include are FAQs, how-to’s, tips & tricks, new features, updates, & fixes, etc.
A blog not only shows your app is alive, it makes your company seem more human. Don’t be afraid to keep the tone friendly and personal. Also, don’t be afraid that your customers will post negative comments on your blog. This is the place to deal with negative comments in a friendly, positive manner. Better to be aware of negative complaints than to have everyone but you know your clients are complaining about you behind your back!
Sometimes Small is Better
Small teams sometimes feel like they need to sound big and ultra-professional all the time. It’s almost like a business version of the Napoleon Complex. Don’t sweat sounding small. Revel in the fact that you can talk to customers like a friend. An example of small is better is Special Ops Forces, like the Green Berets or Navy Seals. These Special Ops Forces use small teams and rapid deployment to accomplish tasks that other units are too big or too slow to get done.
Be a Surfer
Watch the waves. Figure out where the big waves are breaking and adjust accordingly. Experienced surfers know which waves to let go by and which ones to catch. They will sit on their board and let the wrong wave go by that all the inexperienced surfers swim after and catch the better wave that all the inexperienced surfers missed.
Working hard is not good enough these days to survive as a business. You have to work hard AND smart! But also today, you have a vast amount of Information that is given to you for free on the Internet if you just take the time and create an interest to learn and grow.
This article was inspired by, Rework and Getting Real by Jason Fried & David Hansson Heinemeier
This article was given as a presentation to the “We Get It” Leads Club of the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce. Contact Steve Moreland, CEO of Intexch, Inc. if you are interested in a presentation on the Internet, Technology, or Information for Business Owners for your club or organization.
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