Mindshare Marketing

Happy Turkey Day to everyone!  Enjoy the time off work, spending the day with your families, and watching some stellar football games.  Also, stay tuned for the return of “Sex as a Sales Model” tomorrow!

I haven’t actually received any responses to Wednesday’s post, so I’ll just explain my goals with the material.

In sales, most people like to brag about their accomplishments.  They keep track of progress towards sales goals, margins, and the time it takes to close a sale.  For the majority of salesmen, this information is only discussed with other members of the sales team (after all, it is confidential).  There are a few salesmen, though, who will use their past success as a tool to close a new sale.

A client hesitates and questions a price.  “Can’t you give me just another 2%?  This is a very expensive software package …”

“Listen, I gave this same deal to your competitor last week, and they didn’t even hesitate to take the offer.”

Information about past sales is used to pressure customers into a purchase.  Sometimes they’ll break, but it puts an incredible strain on the relationship.  You don’t want any tools in your sales arsenal that will kill the potential for future sales!

Coming next …

Hiatus - Unfortunately, I will need to take a break for a while to clear out some other large projects on my to-do list. You can expect content to return November 28th (after Thanksgiving). Thank you in advance for your patience!

One of the most important lessons of both sales and sex: don’t kiss and tell.

You’re going to be proud of your accomplishments.  You’re going to want to brag, tell all your friends and colleagues, and shout your own praises from the mountaintops.  I can almost guarantee that, if you do, your success will stop right there.

First of all, bragging about how easily you made a sale will undoubtedly upset your customer.  Maybe not this time and maybe not next time, but eventually you’ll have a customer who will feel used after you talk about them as ‘just another conquest.’

Secondly, bragging about past sales will make it more difficult to close later sales.  In a sales meeting, no one wants to hear how much the other guy bought your widget for.  They want to know what unique discount you’re giving to them … not how much it actually costs or how much profit your boss wants you to bring in.  Your customer will always want the best deal, and being able to compare what you’re offering with what the last guy accepted will do one of two things:

1. They’ll feel pressured to accept the same deal as one of their competitors - never put a prospective buyer on the defensive like this.
2. They’ll want a discount that’s more generous than you’re willing, or able, to actually give.

In the same way bragging about sex will hurt your chances at meeting someone in a bar, bragging about sales will destroy whatever chance you have of bringing in the next customer.

Think back to your buying experiences.  What did you know about the salesman before he started his pitch?  If he was a braggart, were you more or less enticed to listen?  Were you more or less apt to actually buy?