QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"If you've got sales problems, feel bad for you. I've got 99 problems but my pitch ain't one of them"
- Jay Z, Billionaire Entrepreneur, Rapper

Have you ever had a great car-buying experience?

I mean a really great car-buying experience?

I have not; in fact, despite buying cars from a range of different dealerships, every car-buying experience so far has been about as much fun as getting a tooth pulled.

I've spent 6 hours doing paperwork at a Chevy dealership, buying a truck for cash, (imagine how long for financing).

I've been spoken to like a 6-year-old by a high and mighty Porsche sales rep.

And, on multiple occasions I've been asked if I needed to call my husband to approve the car purchase (wtf).

I'd like to tell you that the car buying process has got better over the last 4 years.

But I think it might be worse.

Check out this voicemail left on my cell phone:

"Hey Julie, it's a great day at [name of BMW dealership that shall remain nameless]. I'm calling to help you get into your next new car by letting you know we've got some great deals going on this holiday weekend. We've also got the new electric iX xDrive50 due for delivery in a few months, and I was thinking about you and how good you'd look in it. So gimme a call and let's talk about that next new car. Oh, this is Bob by the way, I'm gonna be waiting for your call."

Ewwww.

First of all, I don't know Bob.

I have no idea how he got hold of my cell number. So this is a cold call, (also known as a push call in marketing speak).

Immediately my heckles are raised.

Bob's chances of selling me a new car are about the same as a pig landing on the moon.

Secondly, even if I was in the market for a new car (which I am), and even if I had met Bob, I would never return a call like this for the obvious creep factor, and blanket, generic message.

Bob hadn't bothered to do his homework.

Bob didn't even know the kind of car I last purchased.

In Bob's message he's not asking me if I’d be interested in selling him my existing car (trade-in) or telling me how easy it could be to buy a new car and have it delivered without ever having to meet him in person or set foot in a dealership.

In fact, Bob's didn't ask me anything. But he sure told me a lot about himself.

Poor Bob is stuck in old-school marketing like it's 2019.

Here are some other examples of old-school marketing I'm still seeing (especially in wealth management and financial advisory services):

1) Buying prospect email lists and sending out emails hoping (praying) someone will respond,

2) Friending prospects on Linkedin and then quickly spamming them with a sales pitch,

3) Buying cell phone prospect lists and sending unwanted text messages or voice broadcasts (this is about the quickest way to ruin your brand reputation and expert positioning and make a large number of people furious in a matter of seconds),

4) Annoying their existing client base by repeatedly badgering them for referrals.

So what's the better "new school way"?

Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you it's some new form of digital marketing (which is a marketing tactic and not a strategy).

The new school way is to transition the lead generation portion of your marketing engine to a consultative selling model instead.

What does this mean?

It means instead of trying to push your products and services on a specific target market and see how many sales can be made, you step into the shoes of your customer and help them solve their problems instead.

Sounds simple right?

What are some of the best ways to do this?

Here are three quick ways to do this effectively:

1. Ask your prospects questions first to diagnose what they’re grappling with and how you can help.

2. Don’t launch into a pre-canned sales pitch ever.

If you’re relying on a sales pitch to make people understand your value, then it means your marketing needs an extreme makeover.

On the other hand, if your marketing has done its job properly by attracting and prequalifying the right kind of prospects, your sales process isn't a sales process at all – it's more a verification process because they've already been 95% sold by your marketing (or else they would have weeded themselves out and wouldn’t be calling).

3. Write a list of the top questions your prospects ask about your products or services, or the questions they should be asking, and turn this into an educational, entertainment video, a riveting special report, or best of all, a published, expertly written book.
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By add this step to your sales process, it offers your prospects a high-value, no-pressure way to get to know you and your business, positions you as the experts and quietly stealth-sells them at the same time.

Three birds, one stone.

This strategy works for every kind of business under the sun, including yours.

Here is an example of how even a realtor transitioned their hopelessly antiquated sales process from old school to new school using step 3 above (with a little help from Lunch Break Books to author and market the book for them):

Book Title: The Definitive Family Relocation Guide to Ann Arbor (Plus Renting & Buying in Ann Arbor - Everything You Need to Know)

Primary Target market: new families moving to Ann Arbor for University of Michigan work opportunities

Secondary target market: anyone moving to Ann Arbor looking to buy a house, condo or apartment.

How they used the book to attract new leads and sell consultatively in their marketing:

1. Free digital copy offered for download on website,
2. Banner ads offering the free book were run on zillow
3. Hundreds of copies are donated to the University of Michigan relocation department
4. Book copies gifted to uber drivers and private transportation companies doing airport runs
5. Weekly display ad in the Ann Arbor Observer (local paper)
6. Book sold on Amazon and online at Target, Walmart, Barnes and Nobel with the book listing using key search terms.

Now when someone calls the brokerage, they've either heard about the book, they've downloaded and read a copy from the website or they're been offered a physical copy in the mail. All these great value-add gestures provide a resource (a book) that can help a prospect solve their problem while building rapport with them.

How many other real estate agents offer such a valuable resource that answers their most burning questions?

Not one.

Welcome to consultative selling! Sales is not about selling anymore but about building trust and educating!

On a Personal Note

The photo below might look like an ordinary Saturday at the salon, but the last time I went, it was the first time with a new stylist who put the wrong product in my hair which ended up creating a GIANT DREADLOCK that took 19 hours to comb out. By the time the ordeal was over I was sure I must be bald (turns out only in small patches and fortunately only half my long hair had broken off, - glass half full right? Ugh).

You'd never know the real story from looking at this photo which, if posted on social media would look pretty much like every other hair salon photo on Instagram. My point is to be as authentic as possible in your social media marketing with your use of story - that's what people will remember. Don't seek perfect looking images, go against the grain and show something real instead.

(Photo below = Social Media Gloss)

(Photo below = Actual Reality) - my dreadlock with 20 pounds of conditioner in it

Hope you have a great week!

Julie Guest
Marketing Consultant & Chief Strategist
​Bolder&Louder - Extraordinary Advertising​
​Premier Physician Marketing​

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THINKING OF AUTHORING A GOOD BOOK YOUR DREAM PROSPECTS WILL LOVE?​
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​Author Tip #5 Get Your Book to Go Viral By Including Content in Your Book That Makes Your Referral Network Look Like Heros​
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​This is an advanced marketing strategy that can make a big difference in getting your book into the right hands and going viral.

Are you ready to hear it?

Include a chapter at the end of the book the sings the praises of the role of your referral partners and enhances their value. For example if you're an Estate Planning Attorney, and you get a number of referrals from CPAs, consider including a chapter on the importance of having the right CPA on your team and how to spot the good ones from the mediocre ones.

You could even include a list of your trusted CPAs in the book, and then guess who wants to get your book into the hands of as many of their clients and prospects as possible!

By doing this you've just turned your book into a marketing toolbar your referral parters too! Now that's smart marketing.

About Lunch Break Books
​​
​Is it time to make authoring a book "someday," to today? We make authoring a good book your dream prospects will love incredibly easy, time efficient and very effective.
Using our proprietary "Capture Your Genius" method we turn your wisdom into a brilliantly written book that captures your voice, uses ethical stealth selling techniques to build trust and rapport and motivates your prospect to take action. Your book will become your most powerful marketing tool. But our help doesn't stop there. We also guarantee to get your book national publicity to help elevate your expert status and build your brand.

Learn More About Lunch Break Books

Season 3 of The Client Stampede Podcast is launching soon.
Meantime there are 125+ episodes to help you get more clients. Each episode is usually short sometimes funny and always packed with tools, tips and strategies to keep your business ahead of your competitors.

Subscribe on iTunes.
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CLASSIC EPISODE # 124

Have you ever wondered what makes some on-line ads work like crazy, while others are completely ignored?

It all begins with the headline the ad uses. The ads, and the headlines, that attract the highest numbers of clicks are equal parts science and psychology. In this podcast episode I'll help you understand why your ads are perhaps not working as well as they should be, and I'll give you 7+ headline formulas to use to boost your click-through rate.

LISTEN NOW

Listen to more Client Stampede podcast episodes on iTunes.

Here are the eight most popular episodes trending:

8. Episode #1​6 Brilliant Beer Company Marketing

7. Episode #106 The Real Reason Prospects Push Back On Price

6. Episode #23 The Disaster Audi Buying Experience

5. Episode #100 How to Become an Expert to Your Dream Clients and Author a Good Book in 60-Minutes

4. Episode #93 A Funny Branding Story

3. Episode #94 Branding Demystified

2. Episode #95 How To Build A Power Brand

1. Episode ​#21 Don't Make Shaquille O'Neal's Multi-Million Dollar Mistake

Is Your Business Doing $2M to $50M+?​
​Ready to Scale? Want More Clients?

Your roadmap is waiting

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Monday Marketing Gold is produced by Julie Guest and Bolder&Louder © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.