Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales David Blaise

Staying in touch with prospects is required, and creating value in your communication is certainly something that will keep you from being a pest in sales. Because if what you're saying to them is going to help them to accomplish a result, they'll be a lot more likely to pay attention to it.



But ultimately it's required. You can't just skip it.





David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. In today's episode, co host Bianca Istvan and I will be discussing the topic of staying in touch without being a pest. Welcome back, Bianca.



Bianca: Thanks so much, David. And wow, such a topic. Please tell us, why is it so critical to stay in touch?



David: Well, I think for anyone who is in sales, you recognize that you're probably not going to sell something in one call.



You're going to need to have multiple points of outreach, multiple contacts with a prospect or client before you're going to be able to make that first sale, let alone the second or third or fourth. So staying in touch is obviously a critical part. of the process, being able to reach out to them on an ongoing basis without coming across as annoying or without coming across as what most people would describe in sales as a pest.



I think this is something that more salespeople tend to think of than prospects or clients. I mean, unless you're really annoying, right? In which case they may think you're a pest. What I've heard from a lot of salespeople is this exact thing. How do I Remain in touch with the people that I need to be in touch with without being a pest.



And so again, I think that's why this topic is such an important one.



Bianca: Now that's, that's absolutely so right. And that leads me to my next question, like what do you think people mean when talking about being a pest?



David: I think the concern is what's going on in their head, what they're thinking about.



If I'm a salesperson and I'm going into any interaction with another human being with the idea that I want them to buy something. If that's my motivation, then it's likely I may be thinking in the back of my mind, oh, I hope I'm not being a pest about this, But, If you can make it about the person that you're interacting with, then it's totally different because now you're not just there to sell them a product. You're there to try to help them with whatever it is that they're trying to do. So if you're selling custom imprinted promotional products, you're not just selling them something that has their logo on it, you're selling them awareness or you're selling them more sales in their business, or you're selling them the idea of being in front of more people.



So when you think of it in terms of what it actually delivers for them, it makes it a lot better for you.



Bianca: Well, that's so true. And yes, absolutely right. But what about, you know, because this is a sensitive topic as well. And what if you're afraid to make those calls? What if you're afraid to send that first message or you just think you can do it?



David: That goes back to mindset, which I know we've talked about in previous podcasts as well. But I think if you're in sales, you recognize that you have to do it, right? There's no alternative. You have to be able to reach out. Now, it doesn't have to be a phone call. It doesn't have to be a networking event. It doesn't have to be an ad on social media. It can be lots of different things. So I think if you recognize that there are different things that you can do, and you can find out something that is more comfortable for you, that will certainly help.



If you also think about the concept that we've talked about in the past about creating value in your communication, that is certainly something that will keep you from being a pest, because if what you're saying to them is going to he...

There are steps involved with making prospects and clients comfortable with you. You can't go from, "I have no idea who you are," to "I'm completely comfortable with you and I trust you implicitly" without steps. It just doesn't happen.









David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. In today's episode, co host Bianca Eastfound and I will be discussing the topic of making prospects and clients comfortable with you. Welcome back, Bianca.



Bianca: Thank you so much, David.



Definitely one of my favorite topics. And please tell us, what does it take to make prospects comfortable with us?



David: Yeah, that's sort of a magic key, isn't it? What does it take? Well, I think it takes desire, certainly starts with the desire to want to do it, because a lot of times we're just so focused on selling what it is that we want to sell that we don't really think about that too much.



We just think in terms of introducing ourselves and letting them know what we do and hoping that they're going to want to buy it. But so much of that, can never really happen until and unless we get to the point where they're comfortable enough to even want to hear what it is that we have to offer.



Bianca: Well, that's absolutely great. And yeah, I definitely agree with you. So who do we need to do this with?



David: Pretty much everyone, pretty much every prospect, every client we ever interact with, we need to create a level of comfort.



In some of my early training, I talked about sort of four levels, if you picture a target with archery practice it's a series of rings and outside the rings, there's this area outside the target. That I think of as total obscurity. They don't know who you are. They don't know what you do.



They have no idea why they should do business with you at all. So that's sort of outside the target. And then the first level inside the target is recognition. They recognize that you're alive. They recognize that you're taking in air on the planet, but they don't know exactly what you do or how you do it, or if they should use you at all.



They just recognize you. Okay, I recognize you. So you move from obscurity to recognition. That's sort of the first step. And then after they recognize you, then you can start to move to comfort. Because until I even know who you are, there's no way I'm going to feel comfortable with you. So there's that next level.



So you move from obscurity to recognition, and then recognition to comfort. And then from Comfort, you can eventually, if you do your job well and consistently, you can get to loyalty, right? We didn't even talk about loyalty in the topic today, but ultimately that's kind of the goal.



And Comfort is one of the steps we need to get through in order to get to any sort of level of customer loyalty. But when we talk about making prospects and clients feel comfortable with us, it really is a process.



And in our total market domination training, we talk about different methods of interaction. In other words, we have entry level awareness.



So entry level awareness is designed to make someone aware of the fact that we exist and we do what we do. From there, we can then move on to that comfort level awareness, which is designed to expand the relationship a little more.



Okay, I know who you are, I know what you do, and now I feel comfortable enough with you to place that first time order with you.



And then once that happens, if I deliver well and consistently, and then you order again, and I deliver well and consistently, then eventually that can lead to loyalty. But I think a lot of it goes to recognizing that there are steps involved here. You can't go from, I have no idea who you are, to I'm completely comfortable with you and I trust you implicitly.

Once you outperform your competitors in terms of the way that you do things, the way that you make your presentations, the way that you interact with your clients, the way that you follow up and service them -- when you're already outperforming your other competitors in that area, then the only thing you can really do is focus on how can I outperform my previous performance?









David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. In today's episode, co host Bianca Istvan and I will be discussing the topic of outperforming your top competitor. Welcome back, Bianca.



Bianca: Thanks so much, David. So happy to be here with you. And what are we talking about? And what does that mean to outperform your top competitor?



David: Yeah, great question. For a lot of people, we kind of feel like we need to do it. We want to do it, but we're not quite sure how or what or even who they are. So, what it means to me is that we are doing a better job at the things that need to be done to be able to deliver a positive result for our clients.



So outperforming a top competitor means that we're doing it better. We're doing it differently. And we're able to convey that to people in a way where they understand it. They understand that there's a difference between the way that we deliver things and the way that other people deliver things.



Bianca: Wow, that's absolutely fantastic. And, you know, thanks for bringing so much awareness because yeah, it's a lot of confusion around this topic. And you mentioned something about who our competitor is. So how do you even determine who that is?



David: For a lot of people, when you're out there in the market and you're talking to people about buying your products and services, they'll say, Oh, well, I deal with this person or I deal with that person.



So that's a good way to find out who your top competitors are. Because if you keep hearing the same names over and over again, that's a pretty good indication that they're a top competitor.



Also, very often when we're starting out in a market, we may be aware of sort of the big dog in the market, the person who is already recognized as a leader.



So, you may just know when you're going in the person who does the most advertising or who seems to be the best known in the marketplace. That's also a good way to determine, okay, this might be one of my top competitors.



Ultimately, we need to decide who we see as our top competitors. But that's really just the starting point. Because I think that people make a big mistake when they focus on outperforming other people as their top competitors versus getting to the point where they ultimately have to outperform themselves, right?



So I think ultimately we want to get to a point where we are our own top competitor that we're trying to outperform.



Because once you've outperformed your other competitors in terms of the way that you do things, the way that you make your presentations, the way that you interact with your clients, the way that you follow up and service them.



When you're already outperforming your other competitors in that area, then the only thing you can really do is focus on how can I outperform my previous performance?



Bianca: Wow, that's absolutely a great answer. And I heard there a lot of hows. So how do you really outperform your top competitor?



David: Well, a lot of it has to do with determining what is it that we're saying to people.



How are we saying it? How often are we saying it? So it really boils down to a lot of our interactions with our clients. How often we're communicating with them, the very specific things that we're saying. The way that we're performing.



Are we able to deliver what they're looking for in a timely manner?

Brute force selling usually comes about when someone feels like they have to sell their product or service, regardless of the needs, wants, or desires of their prospect. The alternative is better understanding, relationship building, and effective qualification.







David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. In today's episode, cohost Jay McFarland, and I will be discussing the idea of brute force selling. Welcome, Jay.







Jay: Hey, thank you so much, David. I know we've talked about a lot of different issues, you know, generating leads and those types of things. I'm very anxious to talk about this brute force. When I hear it, as a customer, I'm like "brute for selling? What exactly do you mean here?" Because I might want to run away from it.

The Case Against Brute Force Selling

David: Yeah, well, I'm not really here today to advocate for brute force selling, okay? So, definitely not my first choice, but it seems to me like there are so many people, so many industries that tend to engage in it, that I thought we should probably have the discussion.



Jay: Yeah. I mean, nothing could be worse than chasing potential clients away. I think there's a fine line between brute force and still trying to help customers understand the importance of your products and using good sales techniques. It's really a fine line. Isn't it?



David: It is. There's definitely a balance. And I think there's a big difference between persistence and brute force selling. But to get to the core of it. I think one of the biggest problems that a lot of small business owners and salespeople have today is that they think in terms of selling.



I have to sell this product, or I have to sell this idea. I have to sell this concept. I have to sell this customer. "I have to sell," being the main thing.



When you're approaching someone for the first time with the idea of, "I have to sell," it's easy to slip into the wrong gear about trying to push what you have onto them before you've even identified, whether they have a need desire, money, budget, willingness to spend, any of those things.



When I think in terms of brute force selling, to me, it's often about people who have gotten into sales. They've been given maybe a lead sheet or in the old days, it was a phone book by their manager who said, "Go make sales. Knock yourself out."



And when you don't know how to do that well, then trying to sort of push or bully or cajole people into buying from you becomes the default.



So when the focus is just on sales as the first, middle, and end of the process, it's kind of a lose/lose for both the salesperson and the prospect. Also for the company. So it's a lose all the way around.

Effective Qualification is the Key

If we can train salespeople on the idea of first determining need, identifying whether or not this person is a good candidate for what we're selling. I mean, we're really just talking about qualifying. And a lot of salespeople and even a lot of sales managers fail to make the distinction between qualification and selling.



When we're qualifying somebody, we're not trying to convince or persuade them to buy our stuff. We're trying to find out if our stuff even makes sense for them.



And what I've seen over the years is that there are a lot of salespeople who waste enormous amounts of time pushing and trying to sell to people who have absolutely no capability even to buy what it is that they're selling.



Without taking that step back and saying, okay, let's do a little qualification first. Let's find out what this person is dealing with, and what sort of help they need. And if I can even help them, if you do that first, then you can find out pretty quickly if somebody is a good prospect for you or not.



And if they're not,

Just the idea of initiating first contact versus cold calling is a lot more exciting. It's a lot less intimidating in most cases. I started using that phrase after I saw an old Star Trek movie where they referred to first contact as being your first contact with an alien species. And I just thought, wow, that has a lot of correlations with sales. Where you're approaching somebody and you really don't know what you're getting into. Strange new worlds and all that sort of thing....







David: Hi and welcome to the podcast. In today's episode, cohost Jay McFarland and I will be discussing the idea of initiating first contact with a new prospect. Welcome back, Jay.







Jay: I'm so glad to be here, David, and I'm excited to talk about this issue because to me, personally, this is one of the hardest things to do.



I'm fine once that first contact has been made. I feel like I'm really good at building relationships and closing.



David: Mm-hmm.



Jay: But I'm terrified about making that first contact and I'm not really sure how to do it. So I find myself shooting in the dark all the time trying to figure it out.



David: Yeah, well, you're certainly not alone.



I've certainly felt that way myself, and nearly everybody I've ever met in sales has had issues with it. And we talked about this in a previous podcast. We were talking about cold calling and the idea that cold calling is really just one form of first contact. And so the reason I thought it would be good to have a discussion on the topic of First Contact itself is to first of all, recognize that, yeah, it's more than just cold calling.



There are lots of different aspects to it. And if you realize that, then you also realize that you can get comfortable with first contact, generally by engaging in a first contact method that is more comfortable for you. So if cold calling is not your primary thing, you have other alternatives and that should maybe give you a little bit of hope.



Jay: Yeah, that does give me hope and I think the key is to know what the possibilities are. Because like I said, sometimes I'm like, okay, my only option is to cold call, and that's not working. So really understanding what are the other options available.



And the other thing I found is, lately I'm better at cold calling because you force yourself to do it enough and you can build a skill and you can get over the hump at least I'm finding that.



David: Yeah, absolutely. And when you are good at cold calling, and there are a lot of people who are very good at it, there are a lot of people who actually really like it. They don't even struggle with the call reluctance and that sort of thing, but for those who do struggle with it, I think just discussing this idea of first contact is going to be helpful.



And if we think about why first contact is really so important, in my mind at least, it's because it really helps to set the stage for the entire relationship. Whatever it is that they're going to learn about us or think about us down the road, it's all going to come from what that first contact is.



If it's a great experience, they're going to have good feelings about us. If it's less than a great experience, then they're not going to feel as great about it. Since it sets the tone, it's really important that people become comfortable with it, or at least come up with a form of first contact that they can be reasonably comfortable with.



Jay: Yeah. It's such a great line of thinking.



I hadn't really thought about it that, that first moment, maybe the first five minutes,



David: Right.



Jay: That could determine the whole lifespan of the relationship. How they view you. How they respond to your sales pitch. Everything.

Most marketing messages and business communications are bland, directionless, and dull as dishwater. They lack a clear marketing voice.



If you're sending out emails that don't get a response or leaving voicemail messages that are largely ignored, take a look at what you're putting out. I can virtually guarantee it's missing one or more of the Five Elements of a Compelling Marketing Voice.









If you've ever wondered what's missing from your marketing -- what causes it to be ignored rather than acted upon, It may very well be one of the 5 things we're about to discuss.



First is a clear target: Knowing exactly who you're reaching out to and why.

Every communication you put out should be written as if it's to one person, even if it's going out to dozens, hundreds or even thousands of people.

Think of one particular prospect or client you know well. Pick someone you communicate with most authentically, who could be representative of this group, and then write as if you're writing to that person. Go back over it before you send it, of course, and make sure it applies to the entire group, but if you write as if you're writing to just one person, it will be far more effective.



This leads right into the second thing which may be missing, which is "you" centered communication.



Have a look at the messages you're putting out -- the emails and texts you're sending. Listen to yourself as you're leaving a voicemail message and see how many of your sentences start with or contain the the word "I" vs. the word "you."



"Hi, I was just calling because I'd like to set up a time to get together and go over some ideas I had for you."



You may not realize it, but that simple sentence had 3 I's before it ever got to a "you."



That ratio, 3:1, is completely off. Whenever possible, your communication should lead with them, be centered around them, and refer to them... a lot. That means using the word "you," more than "I" or "me."



A third thing that might be missing is good, old fashioned, conversational English. Many marketers and salespeople, for some reason, slip into formal "corporate speak" the moment they start writing a letter or email.



Dear Mr. Phillips, pursuant to our conversation of Thursday, March 1st, I herewith enclose a detailed proposal incorporating my primary, secondary and tertiary suggestions, recommendations and guidance for your impending client promotion of April 15th.



That's one side of the coin. The other is those who are too informal. If you've ever received an email with no punctuation, no sentence structure or capitalization -- either all lower case or even worse, all upper case (which is seen by most as shouting) -- you know what I'm talking about.



In both cases, the solution is the same: conversational English. While some clients prefer a more formal approach and some a less formal approach, you can always adapt your conversational English to their preferences without taking it to either of the two extremes we just discussed.



Fourth is a personality or point of view. Each of us is unique, so whenever possible, it's good to convey the most positive aspects of our personality in our communication. This further humanizes our message and creates a better bond with the person who's receiving it.



The Fifth element which may be missing is interest or passion. How can you make what you're saying as interesting as possible to the recipient?

Are you excited or passionate about your ability to help your client?

If so, be sure to allow some of that excitement to show through in your choice of words in a written communication and your tone of voice in spoken communication.



This element is very compatible with the previous points,