Business & Sales coach
Sales coaching for ethical people
OK Martin, show me an ex-monk's selling secrets
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Lately I’m reading a lot about usability and user experience.
After all ‘To the user, the user experience IS the product’.
(Never forget that!)
Now, we all know that the primary purpose of a website is lead generation and that building your email list is task #1.
But apparently, tons of people either aren’t aware of it, or they don’t care about building a list.
Staggering, really: Probably some 25% of the new blogs I visit just don’t have the option.
I have a pretty odd collection of friends.
One of them is Dick (his real name – it’s short for Richard).
Dick is a real estate agent in England.
Now, we all know the terrible reputation that most real estate agents have.
Dick is different though, as you’ll see in a minute. He doesn’t have a bad reputation at all – in fact he’s got a 5-star reputation.
He and his wife are over on holidays at the moment, and while chatting he told me that in the seven days he had been away, 3 properties had been sold.
Big ones too. And, two more sales are lined up to close.
So then why do so many people say ‘I wrote a blog’?
It makes no sense – and what’s worse, incorrect usage of words is devastating for your sales.
I’m a wordguy.
I just love languages, especially English.
And as you would expect, I’m a bit of a puritan.
Still, language is a living thing, which means it evolves.Continue Reading
People like to make a big spiel out of copywriting.
Truth is, it ain’t all that hard.
What’s hard is figuring out why people want what you do, make or sell.
That goes back to that old fave of mine: psychology.
In other words: you need to know who your customer is. You need to know them to a T.
Their problem, their worries, their struggles, everything.
Start here: If you make something valuable, there are people who want it.
Last week I mentioned the new fad: touting psychology as a new thing in sales and marketing.
In reality, there is quite some research available – mostly not online but in print instead.
One of the most famous books on the topic is Robert Cialdini’s Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion (recommended read!).
In one section, he describes how our psyche works when we believe things.
I crack open a beer as my friend Jan pulls up on his motorbike.
It’s high summer in Holland – a dry and sweltering 35 degrees Celsius – and I’m sitting in the shade behind my house.
Been looking forward to see Jan, it’s been months.
He steps off the bike and the first thing I do after giving him a big hug is push a cold can on him.
The helmet and the sweat have plastered his hair flat against his head and around his face.
“Hang on, let me take this off first”.
I sit back down and watch him peel his leather biker suit off him. Zippers left and right, straps and buckles, boots and gloves…
He must be absolutely boiling in that suit.
Just a quick note here: Today I had two guest posts go live. If you’ve not read them yet, you can find them here and here.
Aimed at creatives, but applicable to any solopreneur, freelancer or really anyone who is in business in order to make a difference. Like them? Do please share…
Years ago, I spent a summer working at an outdoor sporting company.
My job was to be concierge, mechanic and driver. Most time I spent driving a 24-seater mini-bus, taking tourists up into the mountains.
They would get into a kayak, make their way down to the valley,
and there I would pick them back up.
Fun job, though it wasn’t easy: That was the last year I lived in the monastery and I was technically still a monk.
Continue Reading
If you’ve been a subscriber here for any length of time, you’ve probably been surprised at the nearly daily emails I’m sending lately.
And before anything else: I do hope it’s not too much for you.
If you do feel that it’s too often, or if you don’t feel my thoughts are worth your time, feel free to opt out at the bottom of the page. (Hope you don’t though).
Today on my Mastermind call I was asked why I mail so often these days.
Am I not worried that people will find it too much? Shouldn’t I schedule them and spread them out over several weeks, so my writing gets me more mileage?
Reasonable questions, but I decided to take this approach for a specific reason.
Isn’t sad when you see good people make bad decisions?
I can’t stand it: Someone comes up with a good idea, and then they just murder it off.
Point in case: Back in April, a friendly couple here in town decided to start selling soft-ice on the beachfront.
By all standards, a great idea: Tropical coast, summer, tourists, soft-ice. Spells profit, doesn’t it?
Sadly, it didn’t.
When I first heard of their plans and was introduced to them, I had serious doubts.
I asked – of course – my favourite question: How are you going to sell that stuff?
The owner blinked at me. Was I stupid?
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