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Once or twice in the last five years I’ve read one of those inordinately lengthy sales letters from start to finish. (You know, the ones that Internet marketing gurus claim are essential to make huge sales.) They must have been some of the better written, interesting letters. Or I must have been starved for some literary stimulation.

Now I realise that I really don’t have time to read all the hackneyed stuff inserted to establish credibility and to show how many testimonials one has collected. After the third or fourth testimonial, it all gets a bit ‘ho hum’. We get the message.

Similarly, audio snippets are of little benefit and I usually pass them by. The ones I have listened to were simply readings of the written test. Why would I need to read it and hear it?

Today I came across one of those long sales letters and this time I took special note of how I process the information. First I read the opening paragraph to make sure that the program I had seen advertised was the one discussed here. Yes, it was. Yes, I was able to get a good overview of what this program was about right up front. I didn’t have to wade through a tonne of fluff to find out what in hell this program was all about.

Next, I needed to know how much I was going to have to pay to own this program. Was that up front? No way. I scrolled down to the bottom of the six foot long page and eventually found a “Buy Now” button. Still no dollar signs anywhere to be seen. So I clicked on the Buy Now button and went to a processing site. Yes, the price was $97 and according to the writer, a terribly good bargain for a product who has made literally millions for so many people. If only I were to buy this program, my Internet marketing woes would all vanish and one day I’d be rolling in money like all of those about whom testimonials had been written.

While deciding whether I needed yet another program telling me how to make millions, I suddenly saw the freight fee of $75 and decided that today I could do without this product. ($172US is a fair stack of money in any currency).

So I backed out of the credit card processing pages and looked for another site I had on my list.

Now you know my MO. First, I verify what the program or service is … does it promote link management, is it MLM, a pyramid scheme, or simply an ebook you buy? Next, I want to know how much it costs and specifically if the fee is recurring (these can be a real trap!). After that I look for some additional information if I need it that will give me some reason to believe it’s worth the fee being charged. Most of the ebooks and other digital media I come across are over-priced when considering what you pay for similar type information in hard copy format.

I spoke with several of my colleagues who buy information products and services online and asked how they handle long sales letters. Without exception, they do the same as me; get an overview, look for the price and then make a decision about whether to purchase. Also without exception, they are annoyed when they can’t find a price until they click on an order button.

I strongly suspect that the reason why long copy is being used and ’said’ to be so much more successful is that copywriters earn more producing long copy. Now, I may be completely off track, but one has to wonder. What would be more conclusive is for one of the high fliers of Internet marketing to run some different advertisements, some short, the others long and see what works best.

Now there’s a challenge. One option for the short sales letters is to either provide two options for users - one long, one short and let them choose (click through statistics would reveal preferences). Alternatively, brief information could be provided at the sales letter stage and a link provided to further information for anyone who wants to read it.

While I’m deciding whether length is better than quality, I’ve changed one of my ebook sites to a shorter version with a subscription box where visitors can get further information by autoresponder if required. That way I get an email address too.

I’ll see what eventuates with this altered approach and determine whether my belief that surfers are fatigued by the long-winded sales letter and now prefer the concise, succinct version. Watch this space for a reply.

Copyright Robin Henry 2005

Robin Henry is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet entrepreneur. He helps small and home-based businesses and individuals improve performance by applying smart technology and processes and developing personally. He runs his business Desert Wave Enterprises from his home base at Alice Springs in Central Australia, although at present he is working in the United Arab Emirates.

Are you worried about your sales slumping? Are your first quarter numbers looking lower? Is your pipeline looking softer than you’d like it to be at this point even though the economy is strong? Here’s an idea that you can use to quickly pump up your sales. Its’ called the 90 day sales blitz. The whole premise behind this is to rally the whole company around doing everything it can to support the sales team to close deals, expand the pipeline, get more opportunities into the forecast, and close deals that have been out there languishing for some time. Create a sales turn around plan with your team by pulling together everybody from sales, marketing, and operations and figuring out where’s the low hanging fruit in the short term that we can go pick in order to bump our sales numbers up in the right direction. Where are our best opportunities that can close the fastest, what can we do to create more opportunities quickly through lead generation? How do we do direct mail or outbound telemarketing campaigns into our prospecting list? How can we create a compelling offer that we’d put on our website so that visitors who come through and find us from keyword searches decide that they want to convert and become quick sales leads that can be closed faster. What can they do to incentivize those that are searching for my products and services to call in immediately and speak to a sales rep? What sort of premiums and bonuses can I give to them to quickly bring me new sales opportunities?

So a good 90 day sales blitz starts by getting all of your people together, sitting down and figuring out, how can we, as a team, pull a rabbit out of our hat by bringing together all of the best knowledge and experience and all of the company’s energy and harnessing it towards making short term sales.

A number of ideas that we’ve seen over the years include short term sales contests and sales bonuses to people who are in marketing for generating the most leads. Also: customer bonuses for bringing in new referrals and doing option upgrades or doing cross sales or up sales. These are all the kinds of things that you can do to create some short term enthusiasm and rally all of your resources in your company around greatly increasing your numbers. So if you need to do something in the short term to stimulate sales, think about a 90 sales blitz. If you’re like many companies out there that have practiced this behavior in the past, you’ll find that with the right leadership, the right enthusiasm, the right incentives, involvement of all of the people in your company, you can really move mountains.

About Cube Management:
Cube Management provides sales acceleration services to emerging growth and mid-market companies in the technology, manufacturing, healthcare and business service sectors. The experts at Cube Management work across the entire spectrum of marketing, sales and business development to provide customized solutions that drive revenue and profit growth. Cube Management combines Strategy, Process & People to produce winning results.

Did you know that a credit policy is a channel where you can control your bottom line, sales and income? By tweaking your credit policy you can make more money instantly.

A new book, “Become the Squeaky Wheel” by Michelle Dunn describes credit policies and outlines how you can create one for your business so you have more control over your bottom line, sales and income.

When a potential customer fills out a credit application you can get near-perfect information about that customer and how they pay their bills, and if they can afford more credit. Most consumers that take the time to fill out a credit application are serious about buying from you; otherwise they would just go down the road to where they can buy without filling out any forms.

After extensive research it was found that consumers that can obtain credit will even pay more for a product or service when they are extended credit and have great customer service. The faster, easier and smoother procedures will get the most and better paying customers.

The result? More sales, income and happier customers for your business. This can also result in word of mouth advertising from happy customers, and that is free.

Michelle Dunn has over 17 years experience in credit and debt collection. She is the founder of Never Dunn Publishing, LLC, is a writer, consultant and the Editorial Advisor for Eli Financial Debt Collection Compliance Alert Newsletter. Michelle started M.A.D. Collection Agency and ran is successfully for 7 years. She owns and runs Credit & Collections.com a free online community for credit and business professionals.

She has written 5 books in her Collecting Money Series. For more information on Michelle’s services or to order any of her books please email her at michelle@michelledunn.com or visit http://www.michelledunn.com & http://www.credit-and-collections.com

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from one generation to the next, says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.

In many sales organizations, the heavy investment in existing sales practices makes dismounting unfeasible, and these creative strategies are adopted instead:

1. Providing motivational seminars, tapes, and group sessions, to encourage riders to stay on their dead horses longer.

2. Threatening riders with termination when they can’t get their dead horses moving.

3. Providing riders with stronger whips.

4. Determining how more successful organizations ride their dead horses. Then, adapting those methods as the company’s new “Best Practices.”

5. Determining that riders who don’t stay on dead horses are lazy, lack drive, and have no ambition - then replacing them.

6. Appointing an intervention team to reanimate dead horses and assure that all riders are in compliance with approved riding standards.

7. Awarding professional certification plaques to riders who learn the best techniques to stay on their dead horses for long periods of time.

8. Reclassifying dead horses as “living-impaired.”

9. Directing management to find new and better ways to inspire riders to charge their dead horses into battle.

10. Teaming several dead horses together for increased speed.

11. Donating old dead horses to a recognized charity, thereby deducting their full original cost. Then using the savings to buy new dead horses.

12. Proving that the reason for diminished sales results is a combination of macoroeconomic circumstances and increased competition from other dead horse teams.

13. Developing contests and incentive plans to reward the best dead horse riders.

14. Enacting a strict dress code so that their riders look “professional.”

15. Prohibiting riders from purchasing and riding their own live horses since that is not in accordance with the company’s time-tested methods.

16. Promoting the most persevering of dead horse riders to manage and train new riders.

Did you chuckle as you read this? Salespeople stuck riding dead horses need a good laugh. Sales managers who read this and laugh in embarrassed recognition need to abandon their dead horses-now.

If you’re ready to abandon the ‘tried and false,’ if you’re ready to commit to a sales process that really works, you’re ready for High Probability Sales Training.

©Jacques Werth, High Probability® Selling - All rights reserved.

Jacques Werth, author of “High Probability Selling,” is an internationally respected Sales Trainer and Sales Consultant. HPS graduates are excelling as Top Producers in over 70 industries. Visit http://www.highprobsell.com to read more articles, preview the book, and learn more about High Probability Selling.

Still looking for a way to improve your sales performance? The problem is that you’ve been going to the wrong places, talking to the wrong people and reading the wrong books. To get the right answer, you must know where to find it!

The answers that you need to enhance your method and boost your sales will come when you stop relying on bad selling techniques that require you to learn a scripted sales approach, change your company’s sales copy, or try to overcome a price objection. Your customers DON’T care about these things. If you want to really engage your customers and stir up their motivation to buy from you, you must focus on what matters to them. The only way to get customers to buy is to know WHY they buy. Understanding what makes one person buy your product is the key to creating an effective sales approach for them and your next customer.

The first important step in this process is to admit that you probably don’t have a clue why your customers do business with you. You’re so wrapped up in your company’s propaganda of why you are so great that you may actually believe it has somehow touched your customers. This is highly unlikely, and if you believe this, you have clearly lost touch with the REAL reasons people buy from you.

Once you have come to terms with the fact that you don’t know why your customers buy, don’t make the mistake of going to your salespeople for the answer. If your salespeople knew, then your sales would be much stronger! Going to them with this question will only give you another salesperson’s perspective. Your customer’s real motivation for buying has little to do with the shallow reasons you and your salespeople think of (like price or convenience).

The only way to know why your customers buy from you is to go straight to the source: your customer. Only they know the reason they buy your product! The only way you will know is if they tell you. Spend as much time with your existing customers as possible and try to learn as much as you can from them. This may sound hard, but it can be as simple as eating a meal with a few customers throughout the week.

When you’re with them, ask them questions that will get them talking about why they do business with you. Be open to what they have to say and be prepared for some answers that may be tough to listen to. Use questions that will help them describe their needs and desires, and get them to share stories of their experiences with you and previous suppliers.

A great opening question can be as simple as “Why did you buy?” Then delve as deep as you can to uncover your customer’s entire buying process: “What role did profitability play in your decision to select us?” “What role did quality play?” “How much thought was given to YOUR customers when making your choice?” “Can you describe the role our salesperson played in your decision to select us?”

Discovering buying motives should be hard work. The great part is that the process will not only help you understand your customers, it will also get you closer to the sale. While your lazy competitors focus on crafty verbiage and phony sales systems, YOU will be getting to the root of the decision. You understand that the answers are out there, and you will find them, because you will know where to look and who to ask.

Tom Richard conducts seminars on sales and customer service topics nationwide. Tom is also the author of Smart Salespeople Don’t Advertise: 10 Ways to Outsmart Your Competition With Guerilla Marketing, and publishes a free weekly ezine on selling skills titled Sales Muscle. To subscribe to this free weekly ezine go to http://www.tomrichard.com/subscribe

At-ti-tude, n.

One of Webster’s dictionaries describes the word attitude as:

a mental position; the feeling one has for oneself.

Your attitudes are mindsets—or points of view based on what you believe to be true about life, other people and yourself.

The $elling Edge®, Inc. has taught thousands of selling professionals how to consistently close sales. Some of these people have incredibly high natural sales ability but sell very little and others, with seemingly few innate skills, are able to achieve high levels of closings. What is the reason for this paradox? Very simply, a sales representative or service industry professional’s attitude toward selling.

In our research, we have found that many selling professionals do not truly value the role of selling. They dislike being described as a “salesperson” because they see selling as a manipulative process that somehow conflicts with their personal values. When these attitudes are combined with fear of rejection and failure, it is no wonder they would prefer not to undergo the discipline and hard work it takes to succeed in sales.

Your attitudes can positively or negatively influence your ability to consistently perform effective prospecting activities or vital selling techniques. Weak or negative attitudes toward the selling process will block your ability to succeed in vital sales methods. On the other side of the coin, a strong, positive, “can-do” attitude about selling can help you to sell more—even if you do not possess great natural selling skills.

My Sales Success Strategies series of articles outline techniques you can use to keep your attitude positive, your sales performance high and your selling goals focused. Check out the archive at: http://www.thesellingedge.com/newsletter1.htm

VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the “best selling” Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden’s latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/book1.htm.

NOTE: You can contact Virden at: virden@TheSellingEdge.com or check out his detailed biography at: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com/bio.htm

Ever had a party online or offline, and had guests say “I love that item, but I can’t afford it right now”, or “It’s so hard to decide, I want all of this!”. This is a perfect time to sell all those items to your customer without them having to pay a dime.

If you aren’t using this idea already, make sure to put it into action immediately. Have a gift registry form ready to point those customers to should they want extra items they simply can not buy right now.

What they do is fill out their information, special dates (Birthdays, Anniversary, etc), and the products they want. Then, they fill out names and contact information of relatives and friends they know they will be receiving gifts from. You contact the relatives, stating where you received their information and what’s on the wish list you hold. Ask them if they would like a reminder before the special date, and which item they will be purchasing.

Simple eh? It’s a win-win situation for everyone! You make the extra sale, the gift-giver knows they are buying a gift the other person wants (no guess work or wandering around a mall!), and the one receiving the gift is getting exactly what they wanted but couldn’t afford.

This idea works easily both online and offline. Keep several forms handy if you are offline, so you can pass them out at parties or events (Pre-made forms available with the Direct Sales Success Kit). Online you will want to set up a page with an automatic form for your guest to fill out. For an example of an online form, visit:
http://www.soy-wax-candles.com/gift-registry.html

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About the Authors: Kara Kelso & Anita DeFrank are two busy wahms, and the owners of Direct Sales Helpers. For more Direct Sales Success Tips, visit: http://www.directsaleshelpers.com/newsletter.html

I have recently received several questions that relate to telecommunications. These questions are not only geared toward the unwanted and bothersome phone calls we receive from telecommunicators trying to sell us something - although we can certainly learn what not to do from them - but also are concerned with how we can present effectively and powerfully over the telephone.

Telephone impressions are as important as in-person impressions. the first impression we make over the telephone will be lasting and will set the tone for the present and/or any upcoming interaction we will have with that person. Opportunities abound. We may be recording our own answering device message, leaving a voice mail message on someone else’s device, speaking to an assistant, answering a call, making an order, asking a question or trying to establish a relationship with a potential client, What kind of impression are you making?

Remember that the person on the other end of the phone can’t see you, so your voice, pacing, and words are all important. Therefore, it is imperative that you practice your telephone voice and tone as carefully as you would practice a speech in front of an audience. Use vocal variety, with tonal inflection. Add enthusiasm to your voice. Pace your words and speak clearly. And, people can hear a smile, so be sure to act and smile as if you were speaking face to face, eyeball to eyeball.

This is where we can learn from those unfortunate people who are employed by telecommunications firms and have to make calls to the unsuspecting. First of all, they seem distracted. When I answer, it usually takes them a few minutes to start their spiel. Then when they do start speaking, it is in a monotone, too quickly with no pauses or pacing (probably because they don’t want us to get a chance to say, “no”). They are prepared with a written speech which is delivered poorly. This leads me to my next point.

It is important, as always, to be well prepared. The more prepared you are for any presentation, the more smoothly it will progress and the more professional you will appear. Before you record a message on your answering device, take the time to consider the impression you are trying to make. When I receive a canned message - especially one that comes with the answering system, right away I form the picture of someone rather unimaginative.

How do you want the caller to react? For a business, I don’t suggest (and this has happened to me) that you have your five or six-year old leave a cute, giggly message or record a joke or wild music, etc. But, I do suggest adding some personality to your recording. Take the time to review what you have recorded and then call yourself from somewhere else to hear what you sound like. My message usually gets a “WOW!” and an answer, because one of the phrases I use is that “I am excellent at returning phone calls, so leave an interesting message, and I will get back to you as soon as possible.” And, I do, which to me is telecommunications’ etiquette.

Treat all your telephone exchanges with care. You will make a lasting impression to be proud of.

For many of us the thought of picking up the telephone means that we suddenly become distracted by a million and one mundane things that you desperately need to do! Tidy the desk. Sort through the Inbox. Do that filing. In fact anything, rather than pick up the telephone, but by following a few simple guidelines you can take the cold out of cold calling.

Sign up for our Email Newsletter The following is an approach that will enable you to put the right proposition, to the right person, at the right time, and achieve the right results.
Planning

Initially you need to establish the list of companies you would like to call, but don’t worry if you don’t have contact names at this point. Next, plan when you will carry out the session. This is important as it will help you to get mentally prepared for it, but you must also make sure you won’t get interrupted. I used to stick a note to the back of my chair that read: ‘Warm calling in progress please do not disturb until 12 noon’! I do have other tips to help you deal with the physiology and psychology of cold calling that I will cover in another article.

Qualification

Asking the right qualification questions can save you an awful lot of time and money if done properly. You or your marketing department may believe that the companies on your database are the right size, in the right geographic region and in the right sectors, but bought in data is often out of date. No database I have ever seen or worked has been up-to-date. In fact, I strongly believe that all data, information, and knowledge – has a shelf life!

So, what you need to do initially, is check the facts and make sure none of your potential customers have gone into sheep farming (unless, of course you supply sheep farmers with wellies). Other things change, companies downsize, right size, specialise, and unfortunately, sometimes go out of business! Direct these questions to the receptionist, general admin or maybe PA to the person you may ultimately want to speak with. Why? At this stage you could only pitch a generic proposition – just like the 15 callers that failed before you and you may not know who in the company has a problem you can solve.

You also need to be asking some other key questions at this early stage to establish if this could be a good account for you. For example, a computer support company may ask: ‘Do you have an IT Manager?’ As the companies who do have one in place, are more likely to recognise the benefit of what you are selling. Is their somebody providing the products and services that you’re company provides? If they do, great! This will tell you that the company understands the value of what you provide. More often than not, sales people will ask about the competition when it is too late, or you find out that you have been used so that the customer could get a better price from the incumbent. How often have you asked about competition at proposal stage and the buyer/decision maker won’t tell you?

Being armed with some key questions that you can ask, as well as, knowing that you probably won’t have to pitch to a buyer at this stage, should give you the confidence to pick up the telephone.

I struggle with the ‘elevator pitch’ idea, as you can’t get thrown out of a moving elevator going up 20 floors, but somebody can put the telephone down in just 3 seconds! What I do believe, more so in today’s fast paced society, that a series of adapted sound bites work best. So, at this early stage of calling, you will need to have a sound bite outlining what you offer, you need to give something to get something in return. An example of what I might say is, ‘We help companies to improve their business performance, through the implementation of practical programmes, which achieve more predictable sales results’. Could you help me by telling me how many sales people you have, and whether or not you sell direct?

Once you have confirmed, by asking a series of key questions, that the company could become a customer at some stage you then move on to the next stage in the process.

Gathering Information

Knowledge is power!

Wow, what a statement. But, knowledge is only power if you use it quickly and wisely, before it goes out of date or somebody uses it before you! So, you now know that ABC Company could potentially buy from you, but how do they engage with suppliers? Do they have a need right now? What is the process they go through to buy? What is the organisation structure? Who is feeling a pain that you can solve? All good questions, but don’t go straight to the potential decision maker to ask these type of questions. You need to identify who else in the companies that you sell to could answer these questions and then get asking. As you move around the organisation you will start to get a better of picture of what is going on. By mentioning that you have spoken to Fred in accounts, you may get a warmer reception and more information from Brenda the sales administrator. What is on top of the MD’s priority list. How do you find this out? Ask the MD’s PA, they are there to support and help the MD and if they can help solve one of their boss’s problems through something you provide, then they will help you. So-called Gatekeepers rule okay!

Other places to find information, company web site, press releases, magazines & journals, trade associations, online tools like OneSource and Hoovers, Google searches and many, many more.

Next stage.

Clarification

Check, check and double check information that you have been told and uncovered. Not that I am saying the people would go out of their way to lead you astray, but sometimes people will guess, assume and outright blag! Blagging is a word, Thomas Power used it page 13, Chapter 5, of his networking book!

So, check the facts and you will often be pleasantly surprised at what else you discover.

Final stage.

Execution

No, this doesn’t mean shooting people, it’s against the law – I checked!

At this stage, you should have qualified that this company could buy off you. You will have a better understanding of who and how the company goes about buying your products or services and also if you have competition. You will know if somebody is dealing with an issue or has a need you can fulfil. You are now in a position to make what I call a ‘Warm Call’. You will be able to deliver sound bites that will press the hot buttons of the buyer, you should be able to relate to their issues and provide a very brief verbal case study of how you have helped somebody else solve the same or similar problem. They will appreciate the fact that you have bothered to take a look at their company and have some understanding of their challenges. You may not be their hero, yet, but they shouldn’t slam the telephone down on you.

The end result should mean that you spend more time in front of people you can help. At the same time you will maximise your selling time and your sales results.

Written By John Bancroft

John Bancroft has many years experience in PR, Sales and Marketing predominatley working for IT companies in the UK. John founded Incognate 2 years ago and is dedicated to helping small businesses improve their development and creation of new business. John’s specialist subject is the effective use of the telephone as a new business sales tool.
You can contact John at john.bancroft@incognate.com or visit his website http://www.incognate.com.

Whenever you go into a shop or pick up the phone to place an order, something has prompted you to take action and buy. Have you ever stopped to consider what that prompt was? What thought went through your mind, which led to you putting your hand in your purse or wallet?

It’s all down to motivation – what motivates you to buy. Understanding your customer’s motivation will help increase sales and profits! So, let’s spend some time examining what motivates people to buy and how you can apply this knowledge to help make your business more successful.

Motivation – 3 basic drivers

Any purchase boils down to satisfying a need, want or desire. These are 3 distinct stages. You usually have to satisfy your needs before you can progress up to wants and desires. Let’s have a look at each of them in turn.

Needs

Abraham Maslow, in his work on needs, highlighted that at the basic level, before we can consider ‘bettering’ ourselves, we have a set of requirements that are essential to survival. The most basic of these needs include food, water, heat and shelter. This is mass-market appeal, from the big supermarkets down to your local corner shop. Sell into the ‘needs’ category and you are looking at high volume, low margin.

Other than the odd special promotion, you rarely see the local shop advertising; they know that they will always get a core trade because they are satisfying needs (a bottle of milk at 9 o’clock at night!).

Unless you have a huge market penetration, you will never make a fortune just satisfying needs. Find another market if you want a high-living lifestyle!

Wants

You’re getting warmer now! You are getting into the realms of people who have satisfied their basic requirements and can afford to step up the ladder to satisfy their wants.

These are ‘nice-to-have’ items – not essential but they make life comfortable. A car, a TV, a CD/DVD player – generally a decent standard of living. To capture the market of satisfying people’s wants you will have to work a bit harder on two fronts.

Firstly, the customer can take it or leave it. He may not really need it at the end of the day, so you have to clearly highlight the benefits. Secondly, there is always someone else offering the same product. In this day and age you could argue that wants, to many people, have become needs, so there is an element of mass-market selling in this sector. You are up against many other businesses offering your product; you have to advertise, make people chose you over your competition.

You will make a decent living and create a decent business. But you should want more than this! To achieve greater success, you have to find a product that satisfies desires!

Desires

Desires spring from emotions. Big, profitable sales are achieved on the back of emotions. Why? Because if someone has a burning desire to satisfy, then logic more or less flies out of the window! Someone buying on emotion will pay a high price – excellent profit for you.

If you are in the business of satisfying desires then you are probably selling niche products or services, something, which doesn’t have mass-market appeal. You are focused on people who are happy to pay a premium to get what they want. A businessman’s heaven!

Understand the real motivator

Having identified the 3 buying motivators, the next step to sell effectively to these groups is to see what the underlying need, want or desire is. Getting an idea of what drives your customer to buy means you can tailor your sales message accordingly.

The need motivators

· To eat and drink – to stay alive!

· To stay warm

· To have shelter

· To be healthy and clean

· To avoid pain

· To ensure general security and protection

The want motivators

· To be sociably acceptable – “everyone has one”

· To look and feel good – sex appeal!

· To save time or money

· To improve general comfort levels

The desire motivators

Although some of these can be similar to the want motivators, desire motivators are more driven by emotion and so the need to achieve is more passionate – money is almost no object.

· Sex appeal

· To improve social standing – not just keeping up with the Joneses but to be better

· To demonstrate love

· To gain prestige or to impress

· To be popular

· Regaining a forgotten youth

You can see by comparing the various motivators that selling to the desire group can be easier and more profitable. They have more money and so you don’t have to try hard to sell your product. All you have to do is uncover which motivator is pressing them to consider purchasing and exploit it! There’s nothing better than being in a niche market.

Steps to take

In summary, here are the steps you can take:

· Identify which of the motivators you are out to satisfy – needs, wants or desires

· Speak to your customers and find out which of the specific motivators is driving them to buy

· Tailor your sales and advertising pitch to match

Spend some time thinking and studying your customer’s motivation and you will be richly rewarded.

© Robert Warlow
Small Business Success

Small Business Success is a resource dedicated to helping small business owners be more successful. If you are looking for a regular flow of ideas and tips then subscribe to Small Business Success a free newsletter, which provides you with quick tips, ideas and articles. Visit http://smallbusinesssuccess.biz