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Effective real estate marketing technique is the foundation of a good real estate marketing system. And the real estate marketing system contains a list of specific actions required to successfully implement a specific real estate marketing technique.

Here’s an example of a real estate marketing technique that every agent and his and her uncle uses: “Offer a No Cost Obligation Competitive Marketing Analysis (CMA) to attract consumers.

Once you’ve established a relationship with the prospect you can then segue into your pitch to sell additional, higher-margin products and services that enhance the consumer’s interaction with the low-cost product or service.”

Specifically, you are angling for a “listing agreement”, and if you get it you can then add on “seller” giveaways to make the listing more appealing to buyers and therefore easier to sell (seller agrees to pay discount points, offer home warranty plans, agree to sell-lease backs, etc.)

No, I’m not talking about under pricing it to sell it quickly, or anything else unethical. Instead, I am talking about having open and honest dialogue with your seller to determine what kinds of concessions he or she is willing to make to get their properties sold. It could be a new paint job, a new roof, the installation of new carpet and anything else imaginable.

It’s important to realize that a real estate marketing technique is different than a tactic. While it is possible to have a tactical real estate marketing system without a sound, well-considered real estate marketing technique, it is rare to be able to develop one that withstands the test of time.

Some real estate marketing techniques are based on market dominance. In this scheme, agents are ranked based on their market share or dominance within their communities.

Still, other real estate marketing techniques are outright aggressive. They beg the questions whether you should grow your business or not, and if so, how fast.

Finally, other real estate marketing techniques are warfare based strategies. Ever hear of Guerilla Marketing? Well, that’s where the term comes from.

Using technique that you are comfortable with, that is more in keeping with your personality is recommended, because when the going gets tough you are so likely to abandon it. I’m starting to use the term more frequently these days, but only because it’s true; slow and steady wins a lot of races, and when you implement your real estate marketing techniques and strategies know that although the going may be slow initially, while you’ll eventually reap the benefits of your efforts.

Summarily, effective real estate marketing technique is the foundation of a good real estate marketing system, which is key to your short, intermediate and long term success.

May your real estate career be long and rewarding.

Lanard Perry is the author of “Farming Expired Listings” - a Real Estate Listing System Ebook that shows Realtors how to average 1 or more listings a week. Visit http://www.farmingexpiredlistings.com and http://www.real-estate-marketing-talk.com to learn and earn more.

Do you have any idea what your customers have experienced from using the products they have purchased from you? Most of the vendors I work with make a sale and move on. They often don’t bother investing much time improving the products they sell to their customers, much less develop ways to help them better understand how to use them. A very small minority of vendors have continued to send me unsolicited free bonus ‘how to use it’ follow-up emails and publications long after I made my purchase from them. And whenever I receive something like this, it almost always compels me to take another look at the product I purchased - because anything that helps me understand more ways to use what I already own is pretty useful to me.

What this also does is cause me to appreciate that vendor even more for thinking about me. They not only added value to their product, but they helped me see how to use their tool to solve even more of my business problems. It just doesn’t get much better than that.

Does this sound like something you’d consider doing? What if you don’t have your own product? No problem - just create a way to improve someone else’s product, and then sell it or give it away when someone purchased the product you are promoting. It’s a sure way to generate more sales for an affiliate product.

One way you can jump on this is to contact your existing customers and ask a simple question along the lines of: “What results are you getting from using XYZ product, and how can I help you make this product work even better for you?”

Vendors who do send “How To Use My Product” updates to their customers are generally helping their customers experience incredible results. Why? Think about it - how much more value would you be adding to your product if you continued to send your customers updates with more examples and tips about how to actually use your (or someone else’s) product or service more completely, effectively, efficiently, profitably, etc.? Oh yeah - let’s not forget about how eager everyone is to read about cases studies of how others are using a product successfully and profitably.

When you do this, you’re helping your customer actually visualize new ways to use the product you sold them in ways they might never have considered before.

Let me ask you this: How many ebooks do you have sitting on your shelf or on your hard drive that you’ve never even read? And how many people have ever sent you ideas to help you use those products? What would you think of someone who DID do that for you? Are you getting the idea here?

The reason many marketing products never get read or used is because no one helps people understand how to use the information profitably on an ongoing basis. Your product ‘updates’ help to reduce or eliminate these issues, and also provides your customers with an unexpected bonus. Not only that, but, when you show someone how to really use a product you sell, you instill trust because you demonstrate that you truly understand the value of the product. You shift from being perceived as just a product promoter to being a true problem solver. Your customers will suddenly come to realize that you really are worth having around - and their loyalty towards you increases tremendously.

Doing this for your customers keeps any product you sell from turning into a dust collecting trophy on their shelf or taking up extra space on their hard drive. If you make a product truly useful, someone will think twice before deleting it. If you show someone a variety of profitable ways they can actually use the products you sell them, what are they going to think about you? Here are a few things that come to mind:

a) you really rock
b) making a purchase from you was a good investment
c) making future purchases from you will be just as good
d) I want to stay in touch with this person

How would you like to have your customers thinking these thoughts about you? You can make it happen. Start today by choosing a product and start thinking of more useful ways your prospects and customers can use it. Then, write a report or create a video showing them How To use that product more profitably.

© 2005 by Kevin Wirth - allrights reserved worldwide.

Kevin Wirth is the owner of KEVS-KORNER ezine, a free online newsletter offering articles, tips, resources, and insight on over 170 different marketing tactics. He is bringing together a growing community where you can work with others to create and market products online. To discover more about how you can grow your online business with marketing tactics and get a free gift just for visiting, please head on over to http://www.kevs-korner.com.

It’s a common question we come across everyday: why is business getting more difficult now? Well, it all starts with your company’s sales competencies. The strange thing is that many companies spend lots of money and time training its people how to sell their products but not how to sell.

Avoid the sales peaks and troughs experienced by the average salesperson by building an individual selling system that will guarantee you results…

Step 1: Goals

Without clearly defined goals, measured over a specific time frame, you will achieve very little. When setting your goals consider your income, lifestyle and requirements.

First aim to improve your last years’ income by a specific amount, or, if you are new to sales, aim to achieve as close to the top sales person in your team as you can.

Step 2: Prospecting

The level of success achieved by salespeople will always be determined by the number of customers self generated, that is other than floor traffic or telephone enquiries generated by your advertising.

Put a system in place to regularly find new customers from referrals, past customers etc.

Build up your database of loyal customers that you can sell time after time.

Step 3: Qualifying

Qualifying is the factor, which has the greatest impact on the management of your time. You have to become skilled in sorting prospects. The greatest stress in your career will come from working with unqualified prospects, be it someone who refuses to buy at a fantastic price or someone who is not ready, willing and able to buy at all.

Step 4: The Sales Process

The key to a successful sale is the ability to build rapport and trust with each customer.

Meet, greet and build rapport, settle them on a model, garment or product to demonstrate.

All the time check by asking trial-closing questions then asks for their business.

Remember to sell the benefits of your product speaking in their own linguistic modality. For example talking to an auditory person about a car engine you would say.

“Listen to that engine, doesn’t it sound great?”… Or to a visual person your could say, “You see how smooth that engine is”…

Step 5: Follow up

This is the first step to the next sale to your customer or to obtaining referrals from them… First a thank you letter, then a 7 day follow up call followed by a call at least every 9 days. This will ensure a steady stream of referrals… All you have to do is ask

Remember… Do what you most fear to do, and you will have the results you most want to have…

Gordon Goh is author of the free, informative website Simply Motivation offering quality useful tips for Motivation

My husband loves to negotiate. So much so that whenever I need
to buy new running shoes, he always buys a pair, too, with the
hopes that he can swing a “deal” with the store by buying two
pairs at once. Of course, he never gets a discount, but what I
find fascinating is the number of times he asks for a discount,
doesn’t get it, and still buys the item at full price anyway.

I started thinking about this from the seller’s perspective, by
analyzing my own negotiation techniques, and those of my
clients. The questions I wanted to answer were: Exactly what
makes a successful negotiator? And what do they do differently
from the rest of us to get the price they want, while still
leaving their customers feeling that they’re getting a good deal?

The following simple five-step process can help maximize your
results each time you negotiate. Even better, I find it works
wonders at every stage of the sales process, from negotiating
price to discussing delivery, added product features or any
other terms your prospect is looking for a break on.

Step 1: Get into the right frame of mind

The first thing you have to do when negotiating is make sure
you’re in the right frame of mind. Do you really believe that
your products or services are worth the price you’re charging?
If the answer is no, then you won’t be able to negotiate
successfully. Period.

If you implement the next four steps of this plan, I can
guarantee that those readers who truly believe that their
products are worth the price they charge will walk away with
more deals at full price. Those of you who think your products
are too expensive, on the other hand, will continue to sell at a
discount.

These steps aren’t necessarily easy, and in fact may take some
discipline to implement. But for those of you who are willing to
put in the effort, I promise that they will help make
negotiation easier, and more natural.

Step 2: Hold firm

Sales experts suggest that sales people in the top 20% of their
fields never cave in on the first round. So don’t give in to
what your prospect is asking for right away. Remember, to those
who love it, negotiation is a game. It’s the “art of the deal.”
And to make those people happy, you must be willing to play.

Nothing frustrates negotiators more than a sales person who
caves in and drops their price on the first round. If a client
asks for a 20% discount and you immediately say yes, they walk
away feeling two things:

The price must have been inflated to start with; and I should
have asked for bigger discount. Next time, I will! Neither of
these outcomes is good for you. So the next time your prospect
asks for a reduction in price, instead of just giving in, try
responding with one of the following instead:

I can appreciate you’re looking for the best deal, but I can
tell you that we’ve already given you our best price. You’re
smart to be looking for the best deal, but our pricing is always
competitive, and I just can’t go any lower. A discount? (in a
surprised tone) This is the stage of negotiation during which
your belief system is challenged. In order to be successful, you
really need to believe that you are already giving your prospect
a great price. When I was selling for London Life years ago, I
was once approached by client who wanted a 10% discount on his
group health benefit plan. I was so shocked by his request -
nobody had ever asked for a discount before, and I knew that we
had the least expensive plan he was looking at - that all I
could say was, “huh?” Not very professional, I admit. But he
responded with “well, I just had to ask anyway…” and then paid
full price for the plan.

Typically, 40% of all customers will respond the same way, with
either “I had to ask” or “I just thought I’d try.”
Unfortunately, over 50% of sales people cave in on the first
try, and give the client the discount they’re asking for. This
is lose-lose for everyone. Your company reduces its profit. You
reduce your commission. And your customer walks away
dissatisfied because you refused to play the game.

Learn how to hold firm, and practice your responses in advance.

Step 3: Repeat

Some clients will press ahead with their request for a discount
even after you’ve given them one of the responses outlined
above. The vast majority of them, however, are just looking for
assurance that you really are giving them the best possible
price, and there is no room to move. In other words, they want
to make it a little uncomfortable for you, making sure that you
sweat just a bit.

My advice in these cases is again: hold firm. Work to reassure
your customer that they’re getting the best price, and remind
them of all the hard work you’ve both put into the deal. Try
something like:

We’ve been 6 months putting this project together, I would hate
to see it not go ahead because we can’t settle on price; or I
knew you’d be tough, so we provided aggressive pricing up front.
I would hate to see this not go ahead because we haven’t been
able to meet your budget. We find that an additional 20% of all
business is closed at this stage - that’s 60% of all business
closed without ever having to reduce your price. Unfortunately,
by this point, 80% of all sales people have also already caved.
You do the math. Step 4: Take their mind off the bottom line

If after all this your prospect is still pushing for a discount
(and 40% of them will be), then find something else to give them
that doesn’t reduce your price.

Free shipping. Extra manuals or training. A client profile on
your Web site. What you choose will be specific to your
business, your markets and your client base. The key is to have
the list of things you’re willing to offer prepared in advance,
so you can draw on it during the negotiation.

It’s hard to think creatively in the heat of a negotiation, so
planning ahead could give you a ready-made solution that leaves
both you and the client feeling satisfied with the transaction.
For a copy of the worksheet we developed to help you plan your
“no money” concessions, just email us at
colleen@engageselling.com

Step 5: The last line of defense

Finally, if your client is still asking for a discount, you may
have to give it to them in order to close the sale. But before
you do, always ask them one of the two following questions:

“What is important to you about an x% discount?” OR “Why is an
x% discount important to you?” These questions will flush out
any last details that could help you find a different way to
structure the terms and pricing, which will allow you to keep
your price while letting the customer walk away with their needs
met as well. If, however, you ultimately do have to reduce your
price, make sure to follow these two rules:

Never reduce your price without getting something in return.
Getting something in exchange for a pricing concession is key to
managing customer expectations that future discounts will not be
easily dished out. As with the “no money” concessions above,
what you get in return for a price reduction will be unique to
your business and markets, but could include references or case
studies, a bigger order, introductions to senior level
executives or cash up front. Again, whatever you ask for,
prepare the list in advance so you can respond quickly and
smoothly. Get a firm verbal agreement from the customer that
this discount is all they will need to get the deal done. Try
asking them something like “I’m not sure if I can get you this
price, but if I can, is it fair to say that we can go ahead?” OR
“I’m not sure I can get this discount for you. If I can, though,
are you willing to sign the agreement this week?” Nothing is
worse than coming to an agreement on price (especially a reduced
price!) only to find out that your prospect is still looking for
other concessions. By asking them this last question, you can
ensure you get all the issues on the table first, giving you the
chance to deal with them fairly once and for all.

Robert Louis Stevenson said ‘Everything in Life is Selling’ and it is. Whether as a child you cry until you get what you want; whether as an adult you provide a service to your employer in return for payment; or whether as an individual you make sure that you look your best before meeting someone on a date, they can all be defined as selling.

Selling has been with us probably forever. It could be said that the first salesperson was probably the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. Selling apples in return for infinite wisdom may seem far removed from your own sales activities but they are nevertheless linked.

Selling is a professional skill which can be learned by anyone wanting to learn. Sales skills are not inherent. You can learn the same skills used by the most successful of salespeople but that does not guarantee that you will be successful in sales. As with anything that is skills based, ultimate success relies on internal motivational factors such as commitment, drive, determination and resilience.

There are several of things to bear in mind: -

• There is nothing new in selling. Most courses and most theories of selling look remarkably the same, simply because the basics of selling hold true whichever environment you work in.

• Selling is a lot simpler than some people make it out to be. That simplicity however belies the need to work hard at it. Acquiring selling skills requires significant practice.

• Selling is an honourable profession with a dishonourable reputation

• Some people appear to do it naturally

The problem is that whilst the skills of how to do this can be learned by everybody, not everybody wants to learn the skills. It is possible to provide you with all the knowledge and skills you will need to be a successful salesperson but unless you have the right attitude towards selling then the acquisition of this knowledge and the practice of the skills required will be wasted.

Here are some basic principles about selling and your role in the success of your company which should be the foundation stone of your route to sales excellence:

Treat Selling as a Profession

The reason why most people do not regard selling as a profession is that too many salespeople do not treat it as a profession. Professionals embark upon their careers by studying the subject in some depth; become qualified in their profession; practice the skills relentlessly; and update their knowledge and skills regularly.

Many salespeople adopt some of these principles in terms of product knowledge, but forget that the main tools of their trade are not the products they use, but the way in which they communicate. If we were to say that salespeople speak, then it would be an over-simplification of the power of speech. What made Humphrey Bogarde, Richard Burton, or James Mason famous had as much to do with the sound of their voices than of their acting ability.

Knowledge therefore should not be restricted to what you sell, but how you sell. Studying psychology, communication, and relationships should be as much a part of your induction to sales as a history of the company. Learning about how people react to one another is just as important as where your products are placed in the market. Understanding about buying motivation is as vital to a professional salesperson as understanding how the balance sheet works.

Accept Personal Responsibility for Sales Success

There is no such thing as luck in selling. Successful salespeople make their own luck. They engineer to be in the right place at the right time with the right product. Your sales success is dependent upon you and no one else. Theirs might contribute to it, in the same way that you contribute to the overall success of your company, but in terms of your own performance then you are responsible. Accepting personal responsibility puts you in charge.

Understand Yourself

If you analysed what motivates you, you will be well on the road to knowing what motivates others. Self-analysis is a prerequisite for sales success. Set goals, priorities and deadlines. Those who are achievers do not rely on luck but generally have a game plan that they work to. They know what they want and work towards achieving it.

Understand that Customers will buy ‘expensive’ when appropriate

If people only bought what was cheap then all companies would be selling the same thing. There are companies selling items which are more expensive than yours and companies selling items which are cheaper than yours. People buy what they believe satisfies what they want. Your own house will be crammed full of things which you could not justify on price alone - your customers are the same. Most customers buy things without comparing them. Think of the last five items you bought and what comparisons you made before parting with your money.

Treat Customers how you want to be treated

An old maxim in selling is ‘If you do what’s right for enough other people, they will do what is right by you’. Speak to people how you would like to be spoken to. Treat them how you would like to be treated. It won’t work every time, but even the times it doesn’t will physically and mentally make you feel better.

Age, Gender and Experience count for nothing

Successful salespeople come in all ages, from each gender, and have varying degrees of experience. Sales success is no respecter of age or experience. Buyers will buy from people whom they trust and trust is a matter of reaction to the behaviour of others not grey hair or the sharing of the sports news. That said, image is important, and yet everybody can improve image.

Persevere

Your attitude should be that everyone wants to buy from you at some time. Providing that you keep in touch on a regular basis, one day you will be in the right place at the right time with the right proposal. Most unsuccessful salespeople stop contacting customers on the occasion just before the one on which they buy.

The best of salespeople are usually those who have doubts about their ability to the extent that they are constantly trying to improve themselves in case anybody finds them out!

Learning is a never-ending experience. Someone once said ‘To cease to learn is to cease to live’. I encourage you to live a little.

Frank Salisbury is a highly experience motivational speaker, and inspiring business coach, particularly to the sales profession. Frank is recognised as a leading authority in the field of sales - including sales process design, sales performance, and sales coaching.

He strongly believes that whether we work in the public or private sector; whether our organisation is commercial or non-commercial; that we are all in sales. His favourite quote, which has become his maxim, is from Robert Louis Stevenson - ‘Everything in live is selling’. He has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars where his style has received popular acclaim for a speaker with a passion for life, and achievement.

He is Managing Director of Business & Training Solutions Ltd - a sales consultancy based in Ireland and the UK. He can be contacted at frank@btsolutions.ie. 28 Rye Close, Banbury, Oxfordshire. 0044 (0)1295250247

We’ve all had the superstar sales rep, who hits their quota every month and doesn’t need any hand holding, and we’ve all experienced the less experienced type that isn’t sure how to fill out a call report, much less make a cold call. Both can bring good results to the table if they are used effectively. Managing these staff members well is critical to the success of any sales team. By asking the right questions it will allow you to address the problems they are encountering on an everyday basis.

First, ask yourself, “who has the problem?” Most staff fall into one of two categories. They are either over or under achievers. Most good sales teams, the majority of reps are making their quota and have a good understanding of basic sales skills. However, staff that are in the underachiever group need a large amount of your time to see any type of improvement. Some will get better and others will not.

Second, “is this problem real?” You, as a Sales Manager, need to ask yourself if you are looking at the situation objectively and if it is serving as a distraction to your team. Sometimes the things that may bother you are personal and are not impacting the sales team. In other words, is it a behavior or a personal issue?

Third, “Where is the most work needed?” When dealing with underachievers, there may be a variety of behaviors that need to change, don’t try to change all of them at once. Focus on one new behavior/skill at a time, you may be surprised that once they achieve that skill some of the others may come along more easily.

Fourth, “What would you like them to be doing?” Have the rep focus on how to incorporate the new behavior instead of how to get rid of the old behavior. By simply replacing the bad behavior with a positive one the change will take place more easily.

Fifth, “How can you get your staff to not resist the change?” The best approach is to get them to see the results of their negative behavior. If they can understand how it is impacting their success, they can help create the solutions. By getting them to buy in, you are also teaching them the value of addressing problems down the road.

Finally, “How can you keep the change evolving?” Keep encouraging the new behavior and remember that it will take time. Reinforcement is critical to the change, so ensure that you don’t let your guard down. As a manager, it is your responsibility to help the change process to take place and without completing the process the new behaviors will not continue. Don’t forget that it will take place little by little, so be patient with it.

Tim Hagen owns and operates Sales Progress LLC. He has done sales consulting for over 15 years and has worked with organizations such as the Milwaukee Brewers, Bombardier Evinrude, and Dairyland Seed. He has produced sales increases between 15-35% in a variety of different industries. For further information visit our website at http://www.SalesProgress.com.

Are you wasting your money by brining visitors to a sales offer
that just doesn’t convert? Here’s how to pull more sales and put
more money in your pocket by using these simple secrets for
hard-hitting copy.

1) SELL THE BENEFITS: Forget about trying to explain your
product. Instead, give the customer what they want to hear. When
selling a computer monitor, you could say, “Big 19 inch screen”.

But that’s explaining your product. Try something that gives the
reader its strongest benefit, like “19 inch screen reduces eye
strain and provides a comfortable working environment for you”.

2) DEFINE YOUR LETTERS PURPOSE: Are you writing to entertain or
sale. Are you looking to pull a response or do you want people
to enter their credit card information. Define your specific
goal before you get started, and work hard to lead your
customers along your chosen path.

3) WRITE IN “EASY” WORDS: Hey, we’re not looking to win awards
here. We want to make some money, right? Don’t try to wow
readers with your use of vocabulary. Use words that even a child
can grasp.

4) KNOW EVERY BENEFIT: Before you even start, right down every
single benefit that a customer will receive with your offer.
Later, you can use these benefits for some hard-hitting bullets.

5) MAKE IT SHORT: While your letter doesn’t need to be short,
every sentence and paragraph should be tightly focused and
broken up into small, easy to chew on pieces.

As an example, take a look at this article. Sentences are short
and punchy. Some aren’t proper. But they get the point across
and make it very easy to read.

6) USE HEADINGS: You need to have one that hooks your reader in
the beginning to lead them in. Then, to keep them hooked, you
should break up your copy with a few subheadings that set the
hook even deeper to keep them reading.

7) UNDERLINE AND BOLD: Use this on words and phrases you want to
jump out. But don’t overdo. The principal quickly becomes
diluted with overuse and none of it will be read if it’s
splattered everywhere.
EDUCATE YOUR CUSTOMER: If you can teach your readers
something then they’ll believe you to be an expert. And if you
can lead them to that, then chances are they’ll buy. We all want
to learn from the experts.

9) GIVE THE READER AN ORDER: Don’t leave choices to the reader.
If you do, they might choose to click away from your site. So,
use phrases like “Click Here”, “Order Now”, or “Go Here”.

10) USE YOUR P.S.: Your P.S. will get read. Trust me. And the
way to make it work for you is to restate your offer in a
different light. That way, if your heading grabbed them, the
restate and added benefits of your P.S. can tighten your hold
and force them to read the rest of your sales letter.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

In my office, I have a fabulous collection of framed autograph pictures of movie stars like Harrison Ford, Jack Nicholson, Farah Fawcett, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Drew Barrymore and even talk show host Jerry Springer (I’m a former employee of the show). Those who enter my office for the first time, both business contacts and friends, say, “WOW! How did you get those pictures!” You should see their eyes and how they light up like a light bulb. I’ll tell you one thing; it’s a great ice-breaker! Keep reading.

Then I thought to myself, “What a great idea!” Are you asking yourself, what is he talking about?” Then it hit me, why not contact sales prospects who have been either pictured or quoted in an online or offline medium.

A few more detailed examples include the following:

People On The Move Sections

Industry Leaders profiled on a website or in a newspaper or magazine

Names mentioned in advertisements

Awards found in press releases

Management listed on company websites

Why contact these people? This approach helps to reduce and remove your prospect’s level of resistance. It helps to make the dreaded task of cold calling actually FUN and something to look forward to each day! You will find that utilizing this approach helps to change your prospects attitude in a more favorable way. I mean people buy from people they like and people love to buy. Also, why wouldn’t these people take your call? I mean, who doesn’t like to being recognized? We all want our 15 minutes of fame right? This philosophy ties into Andy Warhol’s most famous words, “In the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes!” So, I’m proposing that anyone in sales seriously consider using this technique. So let me guess, you are really excited now right? What now? How do you get started? Keep reading.

Great sources to find these leads include your local newspaper, a local or national magazine or even your local business journal! Be creative in your search, use www.google.com or www.yahoo.com to locate specific opportunities to find additional leads. You will never have any problem finding these types of leads and you will never run out of places to look. That’s another reason why I love this approach, the opportunities are endless!

One of most strategic places to begin your search is to visit www.prnewswire.com. What exactly is this site and why use it? PR Newswire is a press release service that companies use to distribute their news to large media outlets. What’s great about this site is that you can search over 50 industries, search by state, search over 40 subjects and even search by keyword. Since, breaking news may affect your industry, especially in the areas of prospecting for new business, you find important leads such as:

Personnel Announcements (if there is a promotion, maybe they are expanding the department

New Contracts

Acquisition, mergers and takeovers

New products and services

Real Estate Transactions

Awards

Joint Ventures

All of these areas mentioned above are opportunities for you to contact these companies to see if they may need your products and/or services. It’s an opportunity to be a creative thinker, it’s an opportunity to use a creative approach to win a sales prospect, it’s an opportunity to standout amongst a crowded room of sellers. Welcome to my world. The question that you may now be asking, “How do you open the call using my technique?” Keep reading.

Let’s say for example you do a search, and you come across a press release on a new product that will be introduced on a national scale in the next few months. The prospect that you may be calling may already be working with your competition, however, you don’t know that for sure right? In business, you are either proactive or reactive; my advice is it’s better to be proactive. It’s easy to say someone else has called on them, but I can guarantee you that you no one has approached them in this way! Thus, when you use my approach your prospect will remember you so that when you do call back they won’t forget how creative you were in contacting them. This will give you a strategic advantage in case they are not happy with their current vendor.

When you contact this prospect try saying the following, “Yes, I’d like to speak to the movie star (use their name here)?” Your prospect will most likely laugh and say something like, “Movie star, ha-ha, that’s me!” My name is ………and I work for (list your company here) and we specialize in …………..and I saw your name mentioned in a press release issued the other day. Your prospect will say something like, “Yeah, we issued that the other day.” You then say, “I actually didn’t think you would take my call?” They then respond, “Why is that?” You then say, “I thought you would be out signing autographs!” Your prospect will find this very funny and then you continue to go on (while they are laughing) with your sales pitch. Here you can state the reason for your call and that you have some creative ideas that you wanted to run past them that would help to compliment their existing marketing program (just one example).

This technique works great either on live call or just as effective on voicemail. In many instances, I have found that when you leave a voicemail message, they end up playing your message for their entire office. What a compliment! Keep in mind that your sales prospect gets tons of voicemails, why not be a little different right? Okay, so you want an example voicemail now? You can’t wait right? Let’s take the same example above and try saying the following on a voicemail, “Movie star (list their name), I didn’t expect you to take my call, you’re probably out signing autographs. This is ………calling from (list your company) and I saw your name mentioned in an article about your new product that will be introduced in the next few months. When you get back from your autograph sessions can you call me back at (list your phone number) I wanted to run a few ideas by you that your competition is not doing and that you could be doing to increase market share of this product. I’ll be expecting your call today, thank you!”

I have never received a negative response using this technique. Every sales prospect loves it and they always tell me how creative I am. What they are really saying is that I want to do business with you! One more thing, have I said how much I LOVE USING THIS TECHNIQUE! Have I made it clear how much MY PROSPECTS LOVE TAKING MY CALL! Why? BECAUSE IT’S SO DIFFERENT! Being different is a necessary element that will separate you from others who contact the same prospects. If you are looking for a way to STAND-OUT in a crowded marketplace then I strongly encourage you to this innovative approach to cold calling and sales prospecting!

Copyright 2006 MR. COLD CALL SEMINARS - All rights reserved.

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Behind The Scenes With Mr. Cold Call

Daniel Arenzon, known as Mr. Cold Call, has developed a series of non-traditional cold calling and sales prospecting strategies to effectively reach key business decision makers such as C-Level and Senior-Level Executives. His techniques have been tested and proven as a result of making over 80,000 cold calls working for companies such as CBS MarketWatch, Futures Magazine and Dartnell Publishing. MR. COLD CALL has been quoted and featured in a variety of sales publications including an audio program produced by Selling Power Magazine called, “Accelerate Your Sales.” Arenzon has personally spoken at companies such as Brown & Bigelow, Smith Barney, UBS, First Southern Bank, Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, New York Life Insurance, American Express, Pre-Paid Legal Services, New England Financial, A.G. Edwards, Morgan Stanley and Docutek Imaging Solutions. For more information on Mr. Cold Call and to sign up for his free weekly cold calling tips please visit http://www.mrcoldcall.com

Understand different tattoo styles will help you make better
decision on selecting the best tattoo for you. The more you know
about the options available to you, the more informed decision
you will make.

Most tattooist specialize in certain style of tattooing, we can
summarize the tattoo styles to the three fundamental approaches:
Flat, which is characterized by a lack of detail; Traditional,
which is known for thick, black outlines and solid blocks of
color; and Fine Line, Which is distinguished by narrower, fine
lines and greater details.

Flat Tattoo

Flat tattooing signals solid blocks of color often in black,
with no shading, detailing or texturing. Shapes and simple
symbols are tattooed in one thick line and can be filled in or
left as an outline.

Flat tattooing is by far best represented by Tribal Tattoo
(http://www.tattoo-symbol-design.com/Tribal-Tattoo.php), it can
be found all over the world. Simple designs rendered in dark ink
have been used to show a person’s status, protect from harm and
enhance appearance.

If done well, flat tattooing can complement musculature and
result in very flattening, striking piece of abstract art.

Traditional Tattoo

Traditional tattooing is based on clean, simple design and
execution, and uses thick, black, outlines filled in with solid
blocks of color. There is little detail in the work apart from
what is absolutely necessary to convey the design, and this is
done with color and shading. Skilled shading and color laying
give the work depth.

Daggers, hearts, snakes, roses, eagles and butterflies are all
Traditional design tattoos.

Traditional tattoos can be seen from great distances and will be
still visible years from now.

Fine Line

Modern Fine Line Tattooing expanded the imagery and opend the
craft up to serious artistry. It is characterized by thin
outlines, precise shading, detailed designs, and focus on the
lines of a tattoo.

Good Tattoists will combine the best of different styles,
incorporate the clean, solid blocks of color that characterize
Traditional tattooing with the complex design of Fine Line.

Unfortunately, the DNC legislation has many small businesses that use telemarketers a bit concerned about their choice of direct sales tactic. However, there are still many ways to have your message get into the right people’s hands without annoying them. And the fact of the matter is, telemarketing, as a direct sales tactic, works. Here are some tips and ideas to get your sales flowing and customers thrilled that you called them:

Find New Target Markets -

Have you talked with your current customer base lately to find out what their demographic standing is, on a whole? Most small businesses only do this once every couple of years, instead of once every couple of months. Find out who is using your products or services, and who they are: age, sex, race, income bracket, family unit, rent or own, etc. You may find that you haven’t been targeting some crucial groups that use your business effectively. Then all you have to do is purchase a targeted telemarketing list, and you’re well on your way to garnering more customers.

Consider Outsourcing -

There are a great number of telemarketing agencies currently that would be pleased to contact demographically appropriate customers on your businesses behalf. Why not save yourself the time and hassle of doing it all yourself, and look into one of these companies. They may just save you more time and money than you originally thought. Plus, if they specialize in products or services that your company offers, the response rates may be more than a bit surprising.

Test, Test, Test -

Before you start calling a large number of potential customers, test your telemarketers, the scripts and the telemarketing lists you are using, first. Listen to your staff; they’ll tell you pretty quickly if something isn’t quite right. Then, tweak whatever needs it, and try again. Not until you are getting an appropriate response rate should you settle into a larger scale operation – and don’t forget to test again if your response rates dip.

Buy Quality -

If you want excellent results, you need to pay for them. Make sure you’ve purchased a telemarketing list from a reputable source that offers highly targeted customer lists only. Freebie lists, or ones that you borrowed from a ‘similar’ company just won’t work here. Without a great list that exemplifies similar characteristics of your current customers, your telemarketing staff will be frustrated in no time with their low response rates.

Chris Burns - American Profiles Mailing & Telemarketing List company. Providing telemarketing lists to the direct marketing industry since 1996.

A full service mailing & telemarketing list company with over 40,000 lists available. http://www.americanprofiles.net

Online counts and orders 24/7 http://www.mailinglistsusa.com