Top Secrets of Marketing & Sales

If you're recommending bad products at high prices, and you're trying to gouge people? Well, that's evil. Right? So don't do that. But other than that, if you are providing actual solutions that clients need, at a price that makes sense for you and make sense for them, there is absolutely nothing evil about that. I would say that's what integrity is all about, is providing them with a solution that is worth more to them than the money they're paying you to get that solution. David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, I am joined by Matt Eysoldt. He's a multiline rep in the promotional products industry. And Matt and I were talking last week, and it turns out that we both like to work with smart, focused, motivated industry professionals. So I thought I'd invite him on the podcast to discuss that. Welcome, Matt. Good to have you here. Matt: Thank you so much, David, I'm excited to be here and excited to talk to you about motivation, education and how to grow your business. David: Awesome. Now, for those who don't know what a multiline rep is or what a multiline rep does, give us a quick overview. Matt: Yeah, so really what I like to say is the beauty of being a multiline is we offer value to the suppliers we represent. You know, maybe our better-known lines open the door for our lesser-known lines. So it's a definite win in that situation. But it's an awesome win for the customers that I call on. And that's because, maybe you're looking for a red t-shirt and I've got that. But I've also got other things that may be the answer to your client's needs. So it's really kind of the opportunity to open the door to more diverse products in a short meeting. You know, maybe we sit down and we talk 30, 45 minutes and we've really raised awareness to a lot of different items. David: Right. Okay. And so I imagine, in order to be successful with this, it's a choosing game to some extent. You've got to choose the right suppliers to represent. And you've got to choose the right distributors who are actually going to be able to do something with your recommendations, and with the suppliers that you're recommending to them. Matt: Absolutely. As we both know, time is our most precious resource. So we have to be extremely selective while we're on the road, to say, "who are we going to see?" Who is going to take this information and use it to the best of their ability to promote my brand and to grow their business as well?" So I think that's a very, very crucial point. I'm always looking for that rising star, that motivated person out there. And what I find is, that motivated sales rep that is looking to help their client find the right solution for their promotion. That rep is also always willing to invest their time and energy into their own personal education. So it's really kind of a self-fulfilling cycle that, just continues to grow things. David: Yeah, that's what we've found as well. Obviously, we've been doing training in the promotional products industry for a long, long time. And, it doesn't surprise me anymore, but in the early stages, when I would go to an industry trade show and find out that really maybe five to seven to 10% max of the people who go to a trade show actually participate in any of the education. In the early stages, I found it surprising. Now, I think it explains a lot about why a certain percentage of people in the industry do extremely well and a lot are just either struggling or just sort of getting by. Matt: Absolutely David. And I think, you know, I've run into customers that are afraid to make a profit that think that's evil. And, you know, I find myself trying to educate them on some of these things. Whereas, it would be awesome, talking to you,

The idea of The Four Quadrants of Promo Sales (i.e. The Four Mores) is to recognize that if you're just focusing on one thing -- bringing in more clients -- you are very likely missing out on 75% of the available profits that are going to come from these other three quadrants. The Four Mores David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, co-host Jay McFarland and I will be talking about The Four Mores: More clients, more money, more margin, more often. Great to see you again, Jay. Jay: Yeah, it's good to be here. And I feel like there's one more more, if you can get all of those. More happiness and more peace of mind, right? David: Yeah. That's true. There are more than four mores. Jay: Yes. Quadrant #1: More Clients David: I think that what we're thinking of here is that these four mores are designed to increase the value of our clients and increase the value of our businesses. A lot of times when people are thinking in terms of growing their sales and profits, they think in terms of the first more. They think in terms of more clients. “I need to get more clients, “I need to get more business.” And so many business owners focus their time and attention exclusively on bringing in more customers. And sometimes what ends up happening is they forget about the ones that they have. And they start to lose track of the fact that they could be drifting off. Anyone who's been in business for any length of time has heard the old adage that it costs a whole lot more to bring in a new customer than it does to resell an existing customer or to satisfy an existing customer. Stop Missing Out But it's easy to lose sight of. And so the idea of The Four Mores is to recognize that if you're just focusing on one thing -- bringing in more clients -- you are very likely missing out on 75% of the available profits that are going to come from these other three quadrants. Jay: Wow. That's very good. And kind of like we talked about last time, moving people into that center zone, that loyalty zone. Right? David: Yes. Jay: And then, if they're reoccurring, I mean it just makes life so much better. If you have a loyal base and then you're bringing in more clients, to me it's just the perfect pattern, right? David: Yeah, it does. So now we've got sort of conflicting visual images, however. Because last time we were talking about a target. Now we're talking about quadrants, but it's all designed to accomplish the same thing. Which is to get more of our clients buying from us more often. Spending more money with us at higher profit margins so that we can continue to grow the business, service those people. And without the profit part of it, you're dead in the water. I mean, you cannot continue to operate without that. So each of these four components is absolutely critical to being able to grow the business the way that we want to do it. What About Quality of Life? Jay: Yeah. A good, healthy business that is making money, is growing, has loyal customers. And hopefully giving you peace of mind and maybe some quality of life. Right? David: Exactly. Yeah. Quality of life is a nice bonus for some people <laugh>. It should be a requirement, but it's not always a requirement. Sometimes we sacrifice quality of life just to reach our financial goals. Sometimes, particularly in the early stages of a business. But eventually, yeah, we learn. But one of the things about this topic that I think is so important is that when you look at each of these four elements and you focus on them and you focus on improving them, it does improve your quality of life. Because now you're not investing a lot of time on aspects of the business that are less important. Because if you think about the idea of bringing ...

Creating customer loyalty? "Oh yes. I'm all about building relationships." Until I sell you something and then I'm off doing the next thing, and I forget about you completely, until and unless you call again. Most people don't do that on purpose. They don't set out to ignore you. When somebody buys from you, you want to take care of that person. But in a lot of cases, you fulfill an order. It's like, "whew, okay, that's good. Now I'm onto the next thing." And unless you have systems in place that are designed to keep you in touch, the likelihood that somebody's going to fall through the cracks is very great. David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, co-host Jay McFarland and I will be discussing how you get from obscurity to loyalty in the mind of a new prospect. Welcome back, Jay. Great to have you here. Jay: Thank you, David. And once again, I'm super excited about this. How Do You Move from Obscurity to Customer Loyalty? Jay: I feel like customer loyalty is the holy grail of having a business. But I'm not sure if people know how to get their customers to that point. So I'm very excited. Where do you even start with that? From obscurity to loyalty. How do you begin this process? David: Yeah, it's a fun topic because I think again, most people don't think of it like this. It sort of ties back to what we were talking about last week. But the idea of getting from total obscurity to blind customer loyalty for most people just seems impossible. You know, "how do you do that?" But if you think about it, one of the things that I normally do, if I'm explaining this to an audience, I'll draw a target on a flip chart. At the center of the target, the bullseye is blind customer loyalty. This is just loyal. I would never consider doing business with anyone else, but you. And then, a couple of rings out -- outside the circles -- you have obscurity, total obscurity. I have no idea who you are. I have no idea that you're taking in air on the planet. I have no idea why I should do business with you, right? Intelligent Repetition of Contact And so you're not going to get from total obscurity to blind customer loyalty in one step. It's going to require intelligent repetition of contact, which is something we talked about last time as well. So when you think about it, there are stages you have to go through to get there. The first step is to move from obscurity, "I don't know who you are," to recognition, "Oh, I recognize you." I recognize that you're here. I don't love you. I don't hate you. I don't know you well enough to do either of those things. But I recognize that you're alive. So recognition is that first step. Jay: Okay. Moving from Obscurity to Recognition David: And when we think in terms of communication, the type of communication that you will engage in to let somebody know you're alive is very different than the type of communication that you'll engage in to get them to be more loyal to you and to get them to place that first-time order. So that initial step -- moving from obscurity to recognition -- that's step one. Then from recognition, the next thing we have to get it to is some level of comfort. They have to be comfortable enough with you to have additional conversations, to place that first-time order with you. And then once they're comfortable with you, that first order happens. From there, if you perform properly, if they place that order, and if you deliver the way you're supposed to and everything works out well, then they might say, "okay, I'll give you another chance and we'll do it again." Getting from Recognition to Comfort At that point, they're in that comfort ring. They're in that comfort level. You can operate in the comfort level for quite some time.

Today I'd like to share with you the recording of a live interview I did yesterday with Brandon Pecharich from Promo Corner, in which we discussed The Four Levels of Content. If you need to get clients on social media, this will explain how to do it. It's available below as video, audio or text. I hope you find it helpful. Brandon: Hey everybody, Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having a super productive week out there. You are watching Express Training Bites here at Promo Corner. You're probably watching it on Promo Corner's Facebook Page, Promo Show's Facebook page or maybe Promo Corner's LinkedIn or YouTube. So we are on all types of different social media. And we have today on Express Training Bites an industry icon. Somebody who I have looked up to as a sales professional in the industry. And it is Mr. David Blaise. Thank you so much for being here today. And you're actually going to be speaking about something that you spoke about in January at Expo. Is that correct? David: Yeah, it was part of what we covered at Expo. At Expo, we were talking about just this whole idea of migrating people from social media into your sales funnel, essentially, and how that happens. Because it's not like throwing spaghetti against a wall and hoping it sticks. There's actually some strategy to it, methodology to it. If you choose to go in that direction. Brandon: That is awesome. That is such a huge and valuable piece of content that we've got here today on Express Training Bites. So for people that don't know who you are -- because this industry is constantly evolving and there's new people almost every day -- why don't you take a couple of minutes and kind of introduce yourself, David? David: Sure. David Blaise from TopSecrets.com, also SmartEQP.com. I've been in the promotional products industry since 1988. I feel like I should be sitting down instead of sanding up , but, I've just been in the industry for a long time. Love the industry. Started speaking at some of the major industry trade shows back in 2001. I've spoken at nearly every one of them since. I was at Expo in January. And that's what led to this discussion. You know, in the early days of the training that I did, a lot of it was related to people who were just getting started in the industry. And we created a training program called Getting Started: How to Launch a Wildly Successful Career in Promotional Products Sales. And to this day we have new people who are coming in and they go through that training. And within about six or seven hours, they're pretty much grounded and up to speed, so that you wouldn't be embarrassed to have them stand in front of a prospect and represent your company. But over the years, what I've found is that a lot of the training that I do, particularly for private groups, I love interacting with people who have been doing it for a long time, who may be running into different struggles that they hadn't encountered before. And to say, "okay, where do we go from here?" One of my favorite trainings that I did, of all time, was I was hired to speak in front of a group of people who've been in the industry for 25 plus years. And this was easily 10 years ago. I was quite a bit younger myself. The people that I was speaking to were older, and we were trying to figure out what am I going to talk about to these people? And, we finally decided I was just going to bring a flip chart and go around the room and say, "okay, what's the biggest issue you're dealing with?" And we just did that. We went around the room and it was fantastic. Because when you're able to interact with people who understand the industry and who know the ins and outs, but who perhaps have gotten stuck in a tunnel or funnel or somewhere it's, "I'm so used to doing things a certain way." You lose sight of the fact that there are a lot of different things t...

When I think in terms of building a client base proactively, to me, that means deciding in advance, what type of clients do I want? What types of clients do I not want? And then really going about putting together the processes and strategies that are necessary to attract exactly that type of customer. David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, co-host Jay McFarland and I will be discussing the topic of growing your client base proactively. Welcome, Jay. Jay: Hey, thank you for having me on. I'm super excited about today's topic. David: It's great to have you here. Jay: Yeah. And I know this is a big question for businesses. I've heard the phrase. "If you're not growing, you're dying" So growth is a constant thing that you have to be thinking about. How do you do that proactively? Overcoming the Day to Day David: It's a great question because so often we get caught up in the day-to-day of what's going on. Particularly in the early stages of a business, when you don't have as much business as you need, it can be really scary. What a lot of people tend to do is they just sort of default to whatever it is that they think is going to bring in business. And they lose sight of the fact that if they aren't proactive about it, you can really fall into bad patterns that can create problems and perpetuate a cycle where you're not generating the revenue that you need to grow and scale. Jay: Yeah, this is such important information because I think most people don't start a business because they know how to grow a business. They start a business because I have a great recipe and I'm going to put it in a food truck. Or I'm an attorney even, and I've learned the law or a dentist or a doctor. Those people are not trained or taught how to grow their business. They're taught how to do their craft. So this is outside of anything they've been taught. David: It's really funny because there was an electrician here earlier today at our house. He was taking care of some things. And we were having exactly this conversation. Because he used to work for another electrical firm. He decided to start his own business. And we started talking about "what they don't teach you in electrical school" essentially. Right? There's More to Growing Your Client Base Proactively I know how to do electrical work, but do I know how to find customers? Do I know how to find the right customers? Do I know how to handle the billing and do collections and hire and fire and do all the other things that become necessary when you have a business. It's a whole different set of skills. But you're right. And from the standpoint of our topic today, in terms of growing proactively, a lot of business owners really don't know how to go about that. They don't know how to do it, which is the reason we're having this conversation today. Jay: Yeah. It can be so daunting. So where do you start? I mean, you know, so many ideas, you got social media, you've got all of these different tools available to you. Where do you begin? David: Well, I think for a lot of people, if you want to take a strategic approach, you want to think in terms of the types of clients, you actually want to have. The types of customers that you enjoy interacting with. By and large, these are going to be people who are pleasant to deal with. They're people who have money and aren't afraid to spend it. They're people who appreciate the value you bring to the table. And a lot of times we don't even think of that. Taking Just Anybody Again, particularly in the early stages, if somebody is willing to pay us for what we do, we're like, "okay, great, I'll take it!" And I think that can really be a mistake. Because it can lead us to establishing the type of client base that we might not want to interact with on an ongoing basis.

When people think about becoming an entrepreneur, they're not thinking about working 24 hours a day. They're thinking about getting to some point where there is quality of life. "Be my own boss. Decide what I want to do." But how many entrepreneurs ever get there? And what does that have to do with breaking free? David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, co-host Jay McFarland and I will be discussing the topic of Breaking Free of Your Business. Welcome, Jay. Jay: Wow, it's good to be here. Welcome. Thank you. David: So we've been talking about this topic now for a few weeks. And I was wondering, what are your thoughts when you think of that as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, as it relates to entrepreneurs, business owners and salespeople? What's your initial thought that comes to mind when you hear a topic like that? What Does Breaking Free Mean to You? Jay: Well, it's funny. I think most entrepreneurs aren't thinking of breaking free of their business. I think it's exactly the opposite. I'm going to dive in. We always hear that if you're going to be an entrepreneur, you've got to give it your heart and your soul. And instead, we're talking about doing just the opposite. I think for a lot of people, they're going to hear that and say, "wait a minute, why would I want to do that, even in the first place?" David: Yeah. That's a great question. And what I've been finding is that a lot of people, particularly solo business owners and salespeople, get to the point where they've got so much going on, they're tied to so many different things that they feel stuck. They really feel like they're tied to their business. Like it's an anchor around them. The idea of breaking free from one's business basically means, okay, how can I let go or delegate the things that I don't like to do? I'm not good at. That don't generate much money. So that I can focus my time and attention -- my limited time and attention -- on the things that actually move the needle for myself and my business. So that's really what we're talking about here. Jay: Well, I think it's fantastic because I know when people think about becoming an entrepreneur, they're not thinking about working 24 hours a day. I know they're thinking about getting to some point where there's quality of life, right? Where I can be my own boss. I can decide what I want to do. But how many entrepreneurs ever get there? Oftentimes they get exactly the opposite effect. Right? Breaking Free to Improve Quality of Life David: Exactly. And it's true of so many people who start a business. And this whole conversation started because of a relationship I have with the guy who wrote the book, The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber. And I've been familiar with his work for years. We spoke at a number of the same trade shows. I had a chance to talk to him and tell him how much I loved the book, The E-Myth. I mentioned that, as a result of his advice, I was able to structure my businesses better. In addition, I was able to buy and sell businesses. I said, "it's the best 11 bucks I ever spent" (laughs.) He got a kick out of that because obviously, it was worth a whole lot more than that. But over the years, what I've realized is that for many of us, the idea of creating the type of business we want to live in is really appealing. But doing it seems to be the part where people get stuck. Jay: Yeah. And how do you let go? You know, I'm sure you started out as an entrepreneur doing everything and slowly, hopefully, you've brought in more staff. But how do you trust and let go? Because for them, it may be a day job. For you, it's your life! And so, just giving those little pieces of responsibility away, it's difficult. David: It is very difficult. And for a lot of people, it seems impossible.

Last week I mentioned that we're addressing the topic of Breaking Free of Your Business in our Inner Circle group. And a question came up about how solopreneurs can start to make this happen, or even if they should. The quick answer to how sole proprietors delegate is entirely dependent upon the type of business you want to build. Hi and welcome back, in our recent discussions about how to break free of your business a question came up about how this topic applies to you if you're a sole proprietorship or one-person business. Over the years I've had people tell me that as a solo practitioner, they can't afford to hire anyone. Recently, that idea has picked up a lot of traction based on the fact that people feel that it's difficult, if not impossible, to hire people. If you watch the news for any length of time -- which I strongly recommend you do not do -- you'll hear stories about businesses struggling to find people willing to come to work. And while that may be true for many people, it is not true of everyone. How Sole Proprietors Delegate Now Take a look at what's going on in the job market today. You'll see that the gig economy is flourishing. That's because there are now so many people who want to be able to call their own shots, set their own schedules, be self-employed and create value for other businesses, but do it on their own terms. This is why gig sites like Fiverr, Guru and Upwork have been thriving. It's also the reason that even a solo practitioner can start to delegate work to others without having to hire someone full-time before they're financially able to do so. The gig economy allows workers from all over the world to remain self-employed while taking on tasks that others want to delegate. What Can Sole Proprietors Delegate? Everything from clerical work to art services to prospecting calls and even bookkeeping can now be delegated by sole proprietors, freeing them up to do the work that will allow them to grow their businesses. So while it may be difficult and expensive for you as a sole proprietor to find someone willing to come into your office for forty hours a week and function as an employee, finding someone to take over individual tasks has never been easier. And the delegation documents we discussed last week are the key to making it happen. Take a moment to consider the way your business operates now. What are the one or two functions you're currently performing that you would love to get off your plate? What are the tasks that gobble up too much of your time and prevent you from engaging in the real money work of your business? What's Your Ideal Scenario? Next, picture your ideal scenario, where your business is functioning exactly the way you want it to and kicking off the cash you need to grow and scale. Does it still involve you doing everything? If so, then you're all set. Keep up the great work! But if you want more... if you're serous about growing your sales and profits by delegating low-dollar tasks and freeing yourself up to engage in the work that will move the needle for your business, then be sure to join us this week inside the Inner Circle for details and discussion on how to make that happen. If you're already an Inner Circle or SmartEQP member, just log into inside.topsecrets.com. If you're not yet a member, join us now at topsecrets.com/ic. That's topsecrets.com/ic. Need Help in Another Area of Growing Your Business? If so, check out the five primary ways we help promotional product distributors grow: * Just Getting Started? If you (or someone on your team) is just getting started in promotional products sales,

Michael Gerber and David Blaise speaking at The ASI Show (many years ago!) One of my earliest business mentors, Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited and other business classics told me that "many people leave their jobs because they're tired of working for a jerk. Then they start their own businesses and end up working for a maniac!" This is so true. No other person on earth could force us to put in the time, energy and effort required to build and sustain a successful business. No one else could force us to give up a steady paycheck, work unreasonably long hours, and deal with the unpredictable income associated with most small business startups. If anyone else tried to do that to us, it would be illegal! But those of us who choose it, do so willingly. And we often start at a point where we lack both the knowledge and the skills necessary to do it successfully. The scenario is similar for commission salespeople. We eat what we kill. So if we kill nothing this week, we don't eat. And many of the people who tell us what to do may have never done it successfully themselves. This month, in the Top Secrets Inner Circle our focus is on "Breaking Free of Your Business." This means learning to overcome some of the challenges that chain people to their businesses and prevent them from delegating low-dollar tasks. So if you're ready to focus your efforts and free yourself from the tyranny of the urgent, it's time to take control of your business and your life. One of the most popular live training sessions I conduct is called... Breaking Free of Your Business: The Entrepreneur's Path to Independence I originally designed it to help move frustrated, overworked business owners from self-employed wage slaves to liberated entrepreneurs. But since then, I expanded it to include sales professionals whose incomes have also been limited by the increasing demands associated with having to perform low-dollar tasks. Breaking Free from These Scenarios Requires a Path It rarely if ever happens automatically or naturally, because most of the necessary actions are counterintuitive. We lock ourselves into endless catch-22s, telling ourselves that we can't do it all, but we can't afford help. Or, we want to hire people, but we can't find anyone competent or reliable enough to perform the tasks. Or the big one: that no one else can do things as well as we can. That may or may not be true. But either way, it's irrelevant. When the goal is to Break Free and create a business that can run without you -- or even to create a sales career that can be both lucrative and manageable -- things must change. And it's never about finding people who can do things as well as we can. It's about finding those who can be trained to do things better than we can. While first training ourselves on how to make that happen. In my Breaking Free training, I outline... The Three Primary Functions of an Entrepreneur The first step is identifying the best way to perform an important function. What's the best way to identify the types of clients you need to grow your business? What are the best ways to initiate First Contact with them? What is the best way to get them qualified in or out as quickly as possible? These are just a few quick examples. After identifying the best way to perform an important function, the second step is to proceduralize it -- break it down into easy-to-understand steps that could be followed by an employee of average skill. This point is critical, because if you count on hiring superstars only, particularly right out of the gate, you are very likely in for some serious disappointment. Many exceptional performers struggle to proceduralize things because we don't really think about what we do.

Last week, we talked about the entry-level awareness that's required before you can start selling to anyone. This week, we'll kick it up a notch. Let's discuss the type of awareness you'll need to create if you want to make a name for yourself, become a recognized force in your market, and generate sales consistently. It's about making prospects comfortable enough to buy from you. In our last episode, we talked about moving from total obscurity to recognition. This means going from "I don't know who you are" to "Hey, I know you!" in the mind of the prospect. That basic level of awareness is really a prerequisite. You can't sell anything to anyone until they know you exist as an option for them. But bare-bones recognition alone won't make the sale. ...because there's a big difference between knowing someone exists and being willing to spend your money with them! So if the first step is moving from obscurity to recognition, then the second step would have to be moving from recognition to comfort. Because there's no way I'm spending any money with you at all, unless I feel completely comfortable doing it. What's interesting about these steps, is that we can often move from obscurity to recognition with just one contact with a prospect. I meet you for the first time at a networking event, we exchange business cards, we have a conversation, and the next time we see each other, we can approach each other as acquaintances rather than total strangers. We've moved from obscurity to recognition. And while it's possible for total strangers to meet, have a conversation and immediately feel completely comfortable with one another, that sort of situation is normally the exception rather than the rule. Moving from recognition to comfort usually involves repetition of contact... intelligent repetition of contact. We need to see each other more than once. Have more than just a passing conversation, and find commonalities. Until I am comfortable with you, I am unlikely to place my first order. So we have to get to comfort first... Many salespeople think in terms of the old adage that "people do business with those they know, like and trust." And while I have previously debunked the oversimplified version of that statement, the core of it (with a few qualifications) is essentially true. I need to know you as a professional, like you as a valuable resource and trust you with my business. Meet those criteria and you have a shot. So if moving from obscurity to recognition accomplishes the goal of knowing, then moving from recognition to comfort is what brings us to liking and trusting. In our last episode we talked about the advantage of being introduced by a referral from someone the prospect already knows, and how that introduction can essentially transfer some of the trust they have with that person to us, helping to accelerate the process. But regardless of how we're introduced, if we want to get to comfort, it will very likely require us to engage in a series of communications with the prospect, in which each contact helps us to further build rapport, establish ourselves as the expert, and advance the relationship. Obviously, moving from recognition to comfort requires a style and level of communication that's very different than when we're moving from obscurity to recognition. In short, liking and trusting doesn't come nearly as easily as knowing, which is why this second level of awareness -- what I refer to as "comfort-level awareness" -- is so important. If you want to better advance the relationship you have with your prospects and clients, ask yourself this: 1. What am I doing to create the kind of "entry-level" awareness that gets someone to know me? 2.

If there's one ability necessary to begin creating an environment in which the people best suited to doing business with you have an opportunity to do so, it's not bonding, it's not rapport-building and it's not schmoozing. It all starts with awareness. Simply letting people know you're alive. One of the biggest issues that I've always had with so much of the common, boilerplate sales training that takes place in the world is that so much of it starts in the middle. Even people who are highly successful at sales, and those who have earned a whole lot of money training salespeople how to do things better, often skip the critical first steps that actually allow a salesperson to bond, establish rapport and begin creating value for a prospect in the first place. In my Sledgehammer Marketing training, I refer to this step as moving from obscurity to recognition, that is, moving from "I have absolutely no idea who you are" to "Oh, okay, I know you. I might not love you. I might not hate you, but I do know you exist." Entry-Level Awareness Until you've created an even bare-bones level of recognition with your target market, it's very difficult to establish rapport. And those who like to lead with a cold-call, and essentially jump the line, trying to move from total obscurity to recognition, to bonding and rapport all in one (often uncomfortable and stressful) conversation, can do themselves far more harm than good, because of the way such a first contact positions them. It essentially says, "I value your time and mine so little, that I think I'll just call you out of the blue." That's not to say it doesn't work sometimes. And it doesn't mean a person's intentions are bad when they take this approach. Very often cold-callers truly believe they can help the prospect. That's why they're calling them in the first place. But their approach can easily put off even the most highly qualified prospects right out of the gate and prevent them from ever doing business together. But my purpose today is not to talk about cold calling. It's to talk about creating awareness among your target market. First, awareness that you're alive, awareness that you exist, awareness that you're even an option for them. Before any bonding and rapport can happen, some level of awareness of your existence has to have taken place. Most salespeople know that a warm referral is probably ten to one hundred times more likely to have a positive outcome than a total cold-call to a stranger. That's because the initial awareness -- that first contact -- was initiated in a way that the prospect interprets as positive. Someone they trust recommended you. For that reason, you start out with a level of credibility that a cold-caller is never likely to reach. But we can't always count on referrals alone to grow our businesses, because it's often just too reactive. What if no one decides to refer us this week... or next? Does that mean we have no new leads? Creating awareness is not a one-time thing. It's an "all the time" thing. This means that if you're not doing something, today, to create awareness of yourself, your business, your capability or your ability to help someone, you're falling behind. Social media can be great for creating awareness of yourself -- in positive ways or negative, depending on what you're posting -- but like cold-calling or referrals, it's just one method. Salespeople and business owners who are serious about creating awareness of themselves should never limit themselves to one form of awareness-creation or first contact. Because the truth is, we don't always know how a prospect will first become aware of us. Was it a direct mailing we sent them with a promotional gift enclosed? Was it a referral from a friend or colleague? Was it a cold call?

Leadership is critical. Over the past few weeks, I talked a lot about the idea of dominating your market. It's a topic that resonates with a lot of business owners and salespeople, but it also appears to make some people uncomfortable. So today, instead of talking domination, I'd like to talk to you about leadership. Every market has leaders. They are people who are known for what they do, liked and respected for their ability to provide valuable solutions and trusted to get the job done for their clients. So let's forget about market domination for a moment and just ask, "are you currently leading your market?" Are you seen as the primary go-to person in your market for the products and services you offer?  It's a pretty simple yes or no question. Because you are either leading your market or you're not. And if you're not, it's likely that someone else is. If you look at the primary characteristics of leadership in any market, you'll notice that they possess many of the same qualities. 1. Visibility. This is where it all starts because if people don't know you exist, it's impossible for them to do business with you and it's impossible for you to lead. In fact, leadership aside, if you look at the sheer number of business failures each year, you will recognize that many companies fail to create even survival-level visibility and recognition, let alone leadership level. So if you're not yet thriving, you probably have a visibility problem. Not enough people in your market know you exist. 2. Clear value. Even if I know you exist, it doesn't mean I'll want to buy from you. The benefits of doing business with a market leader are always clear and obvious. If I have to wonder why I should choose you over every other option available to me, you can't lead. If I think that anyone else can do the same job, the same way, for the same price or less, you can't lead. Instead, you need to create a level of awareness that makes clear to the market that the value you provide is exceptional and worth paying for. 3. A Track Record of Success. Market leaders successfully demonstrate they know what they're doing. They serve and satisfy their clients. Very few people want to be the guinea pig. They don't want to be the experiment. They want to work with those who have a proven track record of success, and if you've worked with and impressed people they know, they will be far more likely to do business with you and to view you as the leader. So if you want to lead, ask yourself, am I visible to enough of the people I want to sell to? Is the value I offer to them clear, understandable and better than what they can get elsewhere for a similar price? And, can I demonstrate to them that I do this successfully, with enough other people so they can feel totally comfortable and confident choosing me, rather than every other option available to them? Ready to Demonstrate Leadership in Your Market? If so, check out the five primary ways we help promotional product distributors grow: * Just Getting Started? If you (or someone on your team) is just getting started in promotional products sales, learn how we can help. * Need Clients Now? If you’re already grounded in the essentials of promotional product sales and just need to get clients now, click here. * Want EQP/Preferential Pricing? Are you an established industry veteran doing a significant volume of sales? If so, click here to get End Quantity Pricing from many of the top supplier lines in the promo industry. * Time to Hire Salespeople? If you want to hire others to grow your promo sales, 

There are many decisions you will need to make when building your business. But your biggest business decision is often how you plan to grow your sales and profits. Today, business growth expert David Blaise explores the options and their pros and cons. Whenever I ask, "What is the biggest business decision you need to make when getting started?" I get a lot of answers: Some say "Which customers to target." Others say "Whether to register as a corporation, sole proprietorship or LLC." Still others say "Where to locate my business." All valid. All important decisions. But from my standpoint, not nearly the most important. To Me, The Biggest Business Decision We Need to Make Upfront is How We Plan to Grow Our Sales and Profits. Because without a solid answer to that, the rest of it has very little value. The decision on how to grow our sales and profits is an intensely personal one. Because we each have our own strengths, weaknesses and preferences. Some of us are great at direct, one-on-one sales: Kicking down doors, establishing relationships and selling like the wind. Others are great at structure and organization: Finding the right people, recruiting them and building a business based on the strengths of the group. When your strengths are out of sync with your business building approach, you have a mismatch. As a result, your business will never grow and scale the way you want it to. How Will You Build? For that reason, some people build a highly successful business primarily around their own personal sales efforts. While others build their organization around hiring a sales team. A quick look at the Counselor Top 40 will show you that the largest distributor companies are built around sales teams rather than the sales of one individual. In fact, it could be argued that many members of the Top 40 consist, not just of a business, but of dozens or even hundreds of small businesses. Essentially, they're individual salespeople and organizations -- operating in some cases independently, but under one umbrella. And while the individuals involved may sell at very different levels -- some low volume, some high and some in the middle -- they all come together to generate sales and profits for the company. Starting in Sales In smaller businesses, excellent salespeople often start out by building the business around themselves. Then, when they reach a point where they can grow no further on their own, they may decide to hire other salespeople. But the problem with that strategy is that now the excellent salesperson has to fill other roles. He or she also becomes the human resources director, hiring manager, sales manager, office manager, bookkeeper, payroll specialist, disciplinarian, and in some cases the camp counselor. Or, if he or she has to use the proceeds from their sales to hire people to fill those functions, it's a huge shift in focus, approach and resources. And some can't make it. So ask yourself this question: How do you plan to grow your sales and profits? Do you plan to grow your sales and profits primarily through your own personal sales efforts? Or by hiring a sales team? As you've probably noticed by now, this decision is critical. Because if you're building correctly from the get-go, it should impact every other decision you make going forward. It will impact the location of your business, the appropriate corporate structure and the customers you decide to target. It will also determine whether you need to focus your time and attention primarily on your own personal sales and marketing skills or on recruiting, hiring, training, motivating and keeping other salespeople. Make no mistake.

We get a lot of comments and questions from people asking "how can I get it all done?" There seems to be so much that has to be completed on a given day. We have to follow up with clients, put together quotes, get pricing together, bring new clients through the door. Many people say they rarely have time for that type of thing. But more is never the solution to too much. So we need to leverage prime thinking time & prime selling time. So what are some tips for planning your work to accomplish more each day? Here's an important consideration. If this is something you're struggling with, don't just ask "how can I get it all done?" Instead, it's more important to ask "how much of this needs to be done at all?" So the first question I recommend you ask yourself is "can I reduce the number of activities that I'm engaged in?" Can I reduce the number of things that I need to do on a daily basis? Because the answer to having too much to do is not to add more stuff. More is never the answer to too much. I know that sounds really obvious. But I can't tell you how many times I'm on the phone with a consulting client talking about all the different things they're doing. Then they start asking about something else they can do. Whether it's related to the internet or some of the things that we were just talking about. Driving traffic to a website. If you're set up to do that, that's great. A lot of people are not. So what they're asking, in a sense, is "how can I learn and master these 50 other new skills, in addition to doing everything that I need to do to keep my business operating?" And the short answer to that is, it's very difficult to do that. So what you want to look at is, what can I eliminate first? What are the things that are being done now that need not be done at all? The goal here is to accomplish more. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to do more in terms of the number of activities. So the first step in planning your work to accomplish more each day is to look at the specific things, the primary movers, the activities that create results for you. Then prioritize those to make sure you do those first. What do you need to prioritize to get it all done? It could be targeting and approaching new prospects and clients. Maybe it's getting a customer acquisition program and system in place so that you are doing that like clockwork on a regular basis. Whatever it is, we need to make sure that happens. If you have prospects in the pipeline now, with deadlines and dates, and they need to get quotes, obviously that's a priority. You need to do that. But one of the things that a lot of people seem to have trouble with is when somebody asks for a quote. The prospect will say, "Hey, can you get me pricing on this?" And the person will just go scamper off and put together pricing without first knowing "when are they actually going to do this?" Do they really need a price right now? People will often say, "can you get me pricing on this?" But until you know they have an event or what day the event is, when they need it, what's their in-hands date? It almost doesn't make sense to put together a price quote. Because if you put together a price quote for someone now, but they decide not to move on it for the next two or three months, it's likely that pricing will be completely different. Not to mention stock levels! When do they actually need it? So one of the things you always want to find out from your prospects or clients before you put together a quote is: When do you need this? What's your in-hands date? If their in-hands date is three months out, you can give them a ballpark in terms of pricing. But it might not make sense to do the whole work of putting together a full quote until you're closer to that time.

There is a huge disconnect in business today -- one that wastes enormous amounts of time and causes salespeople and business owners to miss out on enormous opportunities. While it's common in many businesses, it's rampant, even among those who might be great at everything from social media, to content marketing to traditional selling. It's the disconnect between digital and physical, between content and conversion, between social media and your sales funnel. Over the years, one of the biggest disconnects in business that I've been complaining about is the disconnect between marketing and sales. In many organizations, marketing makes promises that sales struggles to keep. And sales says things that are completely inconsistent with marketing. Sales complains about marketing and marketing complains about sales, because there is very often little communication between the two departments. That is not the disconnect I'm talking about today, but it's pretty similar! Today, it seems to me the biggest disconnection is between our digital presence and our physical presence, between online content and offline conversion, between social media and actually selling stuff. Some people are pathological about social media. They are there, consistently, like clockwork, posting on Facebook, tweeting on Twitter, connecting on LinkedIn, blogging, vlogging, podcasting, and whatever comes next. They are in the market, commanding attention, making noise, waving their arms and legs, and getting themselves heard. And that's great. But it is far greater, far better, far more profitable, and far more valuable to prospects and clients, when all of that messaging, chit-chat, and content is actually pointing in the right direction and connecting up with your sales funnel. If you want to do that -- if you want to monetize your message by crafting communication that sells -- you're going to have to recognize that it's not just about tossing content against the wall. Throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks is a huge waste of spaghetti and it's exactly the same with your content. Instead of just putting out quantity, you are far better off crafting meaningful communication that creates a direction and a connection. Each piece of content you create should help you demonstrate your authority and bond with your audience, of course! But beyond that, it needs to lead them away from the endless loop of noise, chaos, competition and confusion on social media to the quiet, focused, helpful refuge of your client base. This requires direction and connection. The direction should be away from others and to you. You want to direct people from social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked In and iTunes to connect with you on properties you own, like your website, your blog site, your email newsletter and opt-in pages where people can make themselves known to you, one-on-one. The flow should always be from confusion to clarity, from distraction to focus, from chaos to order, from everyone else... to you. Remember, the goal is to get people on social media to become loyal, established clients. The goal is not to drag loyal, established clients onto social media. That's backwards. It's like actively sending people at the bottom of your sales funnel back to the top. It's like sending your best clients into the lion's den. I believe the only place you should ever ask a loyal, established client to follow you on social media is ON social media, so you can then use your presence there to lead them right back to you and your funnel. With very few exceptions, your messaging should be a one-way street directing people off of social media and connecting them with you. We connect our social media presence to our sales funnels, so we can pull people into our orbit,

Ready to Dominate Your Market? Read or listen to the blog/podcast below, then enter your questions in the box at the bottom of this page. Visit any city in the world and you will find a slew of businesses and salespeople, each virtually indistinguishable from the next. Same approach, same products, same pitch -- dull as dishwater! If you don’t want this to be you, you better figure out how you’re going to differentiate yourself quickly and dominate your market! So let's talk today about one of my favorite topics: Total Market Domination. That sounds like it would be tough to accomplish, doesn't it? But it’s really not as difficult as it seems, primarily because of the apathy, lack of knowledge and laziness of much of your competition! The fact is, many businesses are just so busy simply trying to stay alive, it never even occurs to them to try to dominate their markets. Of course, there are exceptions. I know that, because many of my clients ARE the exceptions. But here's the thing... If market domination seems totally unrealistic to you, you won't even attempt it. So start with this: What exactly is the market you want to dominate? Is it the world? A continent? A country? OK, Doctor Evil, world conquest might be a tad unrealistic, so maybe start smaller. Is it a state? A city? Is it one particular area of a city? If you want to make market domination happen, start with just a small subset of your desired market. Could you dominate one industrial park within a city? One building within that industrial park? One floor of a building? How about just the area to the right of the elevators on the third floor of one building. Could you dominate that? To begin your domination plan, slice it up! Establish sub-markets. Get in there with a proven customer acquisition plan that allows you to quickly create top of mind awareness with exactly the market you want to dominate. Take action on that plan, move forward on it -- even a little at a time -- and start dominating! This is not rocket science. It's something I do with my Total Market Domination clients all the time. And it is amazing how much traction you can get and how quickly you can get that traction and create those levels of awareness when you know how to do it... and when you truly make it your focus. Of course, if you knew how to dominate your market, you would have already done it by now, right? So what are a few of the components necessary to dominate your market? We cover a lot in my training materials, but for purposes of today's podcast, we'll hit just a few. First, it has to occur to you. If you never consider the idea it can't happen. Next, it requires: * Desire. You have to want to do it, or you certainly never will. You also have to make it a priority. * Vision. You need to be able to picture it in your mind before you can ever create it in the real world. What does market domination look like to you? Who will you be interacting with? Where will you spend the majority of your time? What types of clients will you have? Who else needs to be involved? * Direction. This means knowing exactly where you are now, where you want to go and how you intend to get there. This leads into the big three: Plan, Formula and Action So what's your plan for making it happen? What is the specific formula you'll use to quickly qualify the good prospects in and disqualify the bad prospects out. Here's a hint, the Lead Qualification Procedure in my customer acquisition training is a great place to start. It's also going to take persistence, better-than-average performance (because average performance in our indust...