This morning, you read #5. This is Trisha's #4. Enjoy and comment. Agree. Disagree. Be heard/read!

There is a Twitter hashtag called #neilwebfail for bestselling author Neil Gaiman because when he posts a link on his Twitter feed, if the site does not have a big enough bandwith, it will go down from the numbers of his fans who will go there.  Seriously, check it out.  If you meet one of his fans and ask about his work, you will feel their passion.  Not only is his work solidly amazing, but between his blog and his Twitter feed, he connects with people he may never meet in person on a deep level.

What do you do to make your clients your fans?  How do you build a relationship with a person so they will refer you because they LOVE you?

(And, are you on Twitter?  And if you are, you're building relationships - right?  Not bombing me with constant promotions?  I'm sure I don't have to ask, but I worry sometimes.)

Tomorrow: A good story is magic, but characters never die.

 

Good authors are constantly researching. Even you are just mentioning what kind of sidearm your character carries, it better be believable.  Even though Dan Brown got caught in the arms of controversy regarding the Da Vinci Code, it was his research into the Catholic Church and secret organizations that drew him so much attention.  In the same vein, new authors of Regency Romance (one of the top Romance sub-categories) are rejected if they even get a clothing detail wrong; their readers would know the difference.

(Bonus: This means taking children to the museum is a tax write-off for research purposes!)

What information can you offer your clients that they can't get elsewhere as easily?  What details do you provide to give you authenticity?

Tomorrow: Honor thy fans; they will sell for you.

 

"Variety is the spice of life."

Is everybody in your group the same? Do you read blogs, books and articles written by people that are different than you, come from different worlds? Are all of your friends, left brained, right brained, nearly-deads, newly-weds, business owners or union members? On Tuesday, Trisha Wooldridge published my guest post on her blog. Next week, I'll be out of town and Trish will share her thoughts on selling all week long. You are in for a treat. Enjoy! and Thank you Trish!

Herewith her introduction to Five Things Salespeople can Learn from Successful Authors.

When was the last time you supported someone's fantasy?  Paid money for other people's stories about imaginary people?

When's the last time you bought a book?

Saw a movie based on a book?

Thanks for keeping dreamers like me in business.  :)  I'm an author, among other things.

I never quite got my head out of the clouds, despite so much advice otherwise.

So what's a storyteller and daydreamer like myself doing offering advice to salespeople? 

'Cos to achieve this crazy pipe dream, I've got to not only sell my idea to an agent/editor, but I've got to sell the finished product to people like you who may or may not want to spend hours on end at bookstores - where hundreds of thousands of my competitors exist. 

Now, as a professional writer of both fiction and non-fiction, I've been blessed with a lot of learning from people in the sales industry.  I met Rick Roberge at a Society of Professional Communicators networking meeting.  Through Rick, and many others I've met through professional networking, I've had the chance to apply and share these lessons in the writing profession and community - and now I'd like to return the favor.

Especially after reading Dave Kurlan's post that asked sales evolution and education.  Educating oneself is always a good thing.

As the only salesperson for myself - and as a consumer - here are some lessons that authors can give salespersons.... (to be continued)

 

I just read Seth Godin's article, What's expected vs. what's amazing.

His last relevant point was,

"You can raise the bar or
you can wait for others to raise it,
but it's getting raised regardless."

That got me thinking.

Three questions:

1. Have you given your salespeople the latest, leading edge tools to help them be amazing?
2. Have you hired "A" players that are amazing without the lastest technology?
3. Have you given the latest technology to your "A" players anyway?

That's amazing!...............today.

Tomorrow, it'll be expected and ordinary and eventually boring and passe.

Staying amazing is really amazing!

 

 

Trisha Wooldridge a/k/a A Novel Friend suggested that we trade blog posts and write a guest post for each other's readers. She published mine tonight and you can read it here. Please share your thoughts as comments on her blog. Her series of posts will be coming shortly and you will love them.

 

Yesterday, we went to the Museum of Science in Boston. Before we left, Elaine had to visit the Museum Store which meant that I had to amuse myself because we have very different shopping styles and interests (and mine are useless). As I meandered the shelves and racks of dinosaurs, bugs, puzzles, books, etc....

I'll come back to the story. I just want to share the saying on a T-shirt that I saw a lady (who shouldn't have been wearing a T-shirt) wearing. It read: "I'm right 97% of the time and I don't care about the other 4%!" Remind you of anybody?

OK, back to the bookstore....

There was a T-shirt in the math area that had a cartoon of a mathemetician reviewing a formula on a white board. The formula looked something like this.

X = Ʊ + A/c²(Ǧƿȶ→→→r) + T

Then a miracle happens!

∏ƿ²£+∞_Ⱬ

The caption under the cartoon read, "You might want to take another look at the second step."

Do you rely on a miracle in your sales process? How about your formula for success? Are you still waiting for your miracle?

 

I was talking with a business owner the other day. Actually, he was talking to me. He was expressing his displeasure about an unknown quasi-competitor that was making inroads into "his" marketplace. How does that happen?

But the conversation got me thinking. General Motors was the #1 automaker when my grandsons were born. GM was #1 when my sons were born. GM was #1 when I was born. GM was #1 when my parents were born. Now, Toyota is #1.

Who did Walmart displace?

Hertz was founded in 1918. Remember the Avis commercials? "#2 tries harder. Along comes Enterprise in 1957 and now has almost as many locations in the US as Hertz and Avis combined.

I'm sure that you can think of many other examples of the underdog doing the unexpected.

Here's the question. Are you General Motors or Toyota in your marketplace?

 

Do you keep track of yourself?

Do you ever reflect on last year's thoughts, dreams, actions, goals?

Do you know what you were thinking about a year ago?

One of the cool things about a blog, journal or diary is that you can reflect from time to time and compare your history with today.

This is what I wrote about a year ago, today.

And this is what I wrote about two years ago.

Enjoy!

Rick

 

Have your salespeople adopted the Olympic Motto? Wouldn't you like them to be

"Swifter, Higher, Stronger."?

I read two articles this morning. Both, made me think about the changing challenges that today's salespeople face.

CJ's post talks about B2C salespeople and how easy it is to wind up in a price war. It takes a special set of skills to differentiate yourself so that you get enough of your prospect's attention to begin to take price out of the picture.

Trish's post links to a post that talks about some of the ways that that management and marketing departments are causing sales cycles to lengthen and in fact totally missing opportunities to do business.

I'm gonna let you read the two posts on your own, but watch for the line,

Years from now, management will look back at this "Slap Yourself On the
Top of Your Head", moment in time and ask, "What were we thinking?"

Enjoy, and as always, if you want to talk to me, just do it.

 

I guess you could say that I'm not adverse to plugging something that works. I'm at Alta waiting for our hosts to wake up (I'm still on Eastern Time). So, I'm catching up on some reading.

Brian Halligan, CEO of Hubspot, (as if the whole world doesn't know that) shared his 2010 Marketing Wish List a few days ago. It's a great list and you'll get value if read and think about what he's saying. I want to accentuate #8. Brian writes,

"I am more interested in the innovative marketing practices he uses to announce his new "thing" than I am in the new "thing" itself."

I want to combine that thought with the Three Tips that Hubspot's Vice President of Sales shares in this video.

So, what's the point? Most of my associates have written about developing a sales culture. To me, Brian and Mark's comments show the pretty neat blend of a marketing culture with a sales culture at Hubspot, but they worked at it. So, here's my three sales tips that every Hubspot customer can and should read.

1. Do it right! Work with a Hubspot partner. Work with the Hubspot tech folks. Hang with the Hubspot junkies. We at Kurlan have been a Hubspot customer and evangelist almost since the beginning. They want you to succeed!
2. Develop your sales culture. 'Give me the lead and I'll make time for it.' is not a sales culture. You'll miss good ones. You'll waste time with unqualified leads. Marketing doesn't sell. It tees the lead up, but like all good batters, you have to know when to swing.
3. Pete Caputa is the Partner Certification Manager at Hubspot. He is also one of my best centers of influence. Why? I think that he believes that if you want to maximize sales, you need three things in your corner. A Hubspot account, a Hubspot partner and a sales development expert that gets and likes Hubspot......

but, don't take my word for it. Ask Brian, Mark, Pete, or your Hubspot partner.

Incidentally, I'm back from Utah late Wednesday, so if you'd like to talk, send me an email. I'll reply on Thursday or Friday.