STOP HIRING CONSULTANTS

(for the wrong reasons!)

Dear Business Owners and Managers: Stop with the knee-jerk decisions to hire consultants. They will not help you through the economy unless they are specialists at bringing sales in your door!

Until at least a couple of years down the road,  there is no need for “communication consultants” or “management trainers” or “personal growth and development consultants” or people to write your mission statement, your vision statement, your annual reports or your “white papers.”

How do I know? Because I’ve done all of the above (and made a successful career of it), but I also have run my own business for 35 years, and helped to start hundreds of others. I’ve run management and communication and personal growth and development training programs for 20,000 people. And I’ll be the first to tell you not to waste your time and money on these services, in this economy.

There is only one thing you need consultant support for these days, and that is for services that bring you sales. Period.

That having also been said,  I will be so bold as to suggest that communications and marketing generalists are also not the kinds of “sales consultants” to trust. Find a specialist. Do not EVER hire a marketing or communications consulting firm to do your website. Get a website specialist. Do not EVER hire a website specialist to write your website content. Get a writer who understands sales.

A good, proven commercial / marketing / advertising / website writer can do more for your business than all the ad agencies, marketing and communication consultants and non-sales trainers you can find put together! You need writing help? Hire a writer!

There is a growing temptation to panic at the financial strangulation your cutbacks have created, and grasp at any outside service that –like the frustrated wife whose husband  was a marketing executive and could only ever sit on the edge of the bed and talk about how great it would be– you simply cannot afford right now.

Promises do not perform. Providers with track-records for creating and delivering sales perform, and are worth paying! Look for a successful writer who is a quick study and who shows you she or he can learn your business promptly, who has a customer benefit focus instead of a chest-beating, “how great your business is” and product / service features focus.

You want someone who can help you develop sales strategies and and create the tactics that support that thinking. You want someone who is not afraid to work weekends or evenings to get the job done.

You want someone who will take the extra step, go the extra mile, and give you more than what you expect … someone who is both a talented writer and an example of what you want and expect from a sales pro.

Anyone who fits this profile,  by the way, should also be receptive to at least partial compensation based on performance. I know a lot of consultants will hate me for this post, but –down deep– they’ll have to admit that I speak the truth.

# # #

If You’re Thinking

Fireworks,

Think Again!

     If you’re one of those theatrical entrepreneur types,  and you’re not getting the sales you deserve, you might want to consider trading in the Broadway-belt-it-out and marching band music, the 3-D glasses, dogs and ponies, and PowerPoint specials for a much higher-impact (and, btw, much less expensive) presentation tool. It’s called truth.

The times have changed.

The economy has changed.

The marketplace has changed.

Buying motives

have changed

(though they’re still emotionally-triggered, not rationally evaluated).

And sales prospects and repeat sales customers

are rapidly retreating from RAZZMATAZZ!

     Out- of-touch-with-reality car dealers and furniture dealers  are still tangled up in their underwear shooting 0ff desperation-anchored messages, thinking that s~o~m~e~h~o~w they will manage to come up with the magic super sensational presentation ingredient that will send hoards of people charging into the parking lots and showrooms. Those days are over.

     People want to buy products and services that speak the truth  to them about value and performance and potential. They want every sales presentation to tell them what’s in it for them, and they want it to be the truth. Smoke and mirrors are out. The truth is in.

     I don’t care if the truck I want is a gas guzzler  as long as I know that it is going in, and as long as it’s a reasonable gas guzzler in my mind, and as long as the sales rep is being honest about it with me . . . but don’t give me a big come-on and a spielful of exaggerations. I’m not interested in how it compares with a hybrid; I don’t want a hybrid. Just the truth will do.

     Oh, and you could have the best furniture price deal in 57 states,  or since the earth died from global warming, and give me fat rebates and 20 years to pay. You can plunk me in a lounge chair, give me a pino colada and have six beautiful women fan me and feed me grapes while I watch a 3-D revolving stage of perfect room settings.

     Each setting can be in perfect lighting  with perfect background music and perfect chocolate chip cookie smells wafting around perfect flower arrangements, and not only will it get you nowhere and cost you untold expenses, it will make me walk out . . . because all I wanted was a pair of nightstands that will look nice next to my bed.

     Sure I’ll drink the drink,  smile at the help and grab a flower on my way to the door, but I only wanted something I can put my glasses, alarm clock and a lamp on. The whole bedroom I don’t need. The time-wasting presentation I don’t want. Good-bye, Yellow Brick Road!      

     The truth.  The truth is that evasive, unfancy bit of product and service (and sales rep) authenticity that caters to me the customer and the evidence of performance that I’m looking for. It does mean, of course, that the sales rep IS going to have to listen to me and deal with my interests, instead of telling me about hers or his.

     I would never admit it, but I will probably still buy that truck because I think I look good driving it.  Of course I’m going to want to like the sales rep too for being honest with me, and I will certainly need some good list of features to wave in my green family’s faces to justify my purchase.

     The nightstands?  Give me good honest quality for a good price and make sure they look okay with the rest of my room. Please don’t waste my time or my brain with B.S. and a ton and a half of RAZZMATAZZ. It’ll cost you the sale. Besides, RAZZMATAZZ is dead!

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Hal@Businessworks.US     302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

HOW you show what you show

can win or lose sales!

     No, one picture is NOT worth a thousand words.  Absolutely nothing sells better than the right words. But, the right words need a visual payoff, and that all comes down to HOW you show your wares, people, services, vision and ideas… websites, ads, news releases, promotional materials, videos and commercials.

     When your advertising spokesperson  is saying or doing one thing and whatever’s in the background is saying or doing something different, you lose sales. A professional service video produced in a trashy, cluttered office leaves viewers believing the business is trashy and cluttered no matter what is said.

     When a news release  is accompanied by a (yawn!) yearbook-looking head shot photo of the person featured, and the contact person sending it is even fortunate enough to have the editor actually give it print space, readers will yawn and turn the page.

     When a news release  is accompanied by an action-based candid-looking photo, it will get inted more often and it will gain reader attention more often. HOW you show what you show in a news release attachment must be as “newsworthy” as the text of the release.

     Remember you’re not paying  for this space so give the editor something to get excited about or laugh at or learn from or be mesmerized by.

     Websites? I’ve seen an awful lot of websites with photos of things that have little if anything to do with the text. If your photos and illustrations are not providing a payoff, a punchline, to what the words say, fold up your site and go home.

     The world is smarter today.  You no longer need to spell out every tiny detail of what the benefits are to customers and clients, but you sure as hell better make sure that you’re not leaving out the essentials. Leave out enough to not bore people, but include enough to make sure you get your message in their faces quickly and without prompting puzzled looks.

     Photos need captions.  Captions need to include exact names and exact titles and exact descriptions. People will read them or not, but photos should NEVER go unexplained. Don’t assume others will get your message because it’s a spectacular graphic. They won’t.

     Trade shows?  Determine your single (yes, SINGLE) mission ahead of time and stick to it. You are either there to sell or to get leads or to attract investors or to strut your stuff to the industry r whatever, but NEVER more than one of those objectives, or you might as well throw the booth rental money out the window!

     Once you’ve defined what you’re doing  there, make sure your display shows what you want others to understand about what their benefits are for doing business with you! The right words will do the deed, but your visual experiences must serve as the cornerstone to your message, and must strongly reinforce what you say. Always and everywhere.            

# # #               

Dear FTC: C’mon in. I dare you!

A www.NEWSMAX.COM headline today reads:

“OBAMA’S FTC MOVES TO REGULATE BLOGGERS”

     The story reports  how I (blogger) will be required as of 12/1/09, to disclose all the “computers, toys and trips to Disneyland” (cited as examples) that I’ve received in exchange for blog post endorsements because such arrangements are a “conflict of interest.”

     I thought I had enough  computers. I am too much of a realist to be interested in Disneyland. But: Gee, free toys! Now that’s a cool idea.

     Why does the FTC’s focus  remind me of the infamous captain we’ve called into play a few times? You know, the one who busies himself arranging deck chairs while the ship sinks? With all the major federal trade violations taking place every day, don’t these people have anything better to do than worry about such drivel?

     I’m sorry to disappoint you, “Mr. Obama’s FTC people”  but — BESIDES being appalled at the audacity you evidence by leveling your taxpayer-financed sites at bloggers instead of simply prohibiting advertisers from pursuing those bribery practices that may result in harmful consumption or use (some of which certainly should not be condoned)— BESIDES that:

Do you think for one minute  that American businesses are blind to the fact that your blanket overstepping of bounds serves to fan the out-of-control wildfires of the Consumer Federation of America?

     As a long-term business owner/consultant/author and educator,  responsible by the way, for the first consumer education mobile unit in the United States, and for initiating numerous consumer-benefit companies and programs, I can assure you that the CFA is a radical organization with political underpinnings that is waaaay over the top!

     Some (perhaps CFA?) will jump for joy  at having your implied endorsement to spread the notion of “unethical bloggers.” Could it be possible that something like a desperate smear attempt might be fostered to undermine Internet credibility and reduce embarrassing blogger attacks on sadly misguided administration decisions?

     This is of course particularly convenient timing  as well, as we continue to stand witness to the long-deserved, self-imposed collapse of traditional mainstream media!

     I hate to have to own up to  the fact that I have never engaged in the kinds of underhanded, conflict-of-interest shenanigans that ineffective FTC leadership has chosen to decry, and I’m quite certain that neither have the vast majority of bloggers.

     To be sure though, Dear FTC’ers,  you are cordially invited to examine my blog archives in detail. You might actually learn something.

     You will find only  good, sensible business and personal development advice and ideas… plus occasional (warranted) attacks on your “higher authority” for passing along, promoting and endorsing NON-sensible business and personal growth and development advice… and many bad ideas! Sorry, but it’s true!

     This is not to suggest  that there are not unethical bloggers out there. Y’know, there are also unethical judges, government officials, and religious leaders. Maybe FTC’ers should turn their agency’s venim in those directions and stop being Mr. O’s puppets.

# # # 

Is your business too frivolous

to survive this economy?

Of course not!

ONE: Find the people you need as new and repeat customers or clients.

TWO: Show them how they’ll benefit from your product or service.

THREE: Push an emotional trigger.

That’s it!  Let’s put it this way: if you think your business is too frivolous for you to be able to make sales in this crummy economy, you’re right! Fold up the tent and go home!

If you believe that people  are only spending money on basics right now and that they haven’t enough spare dollars to afford your products and services because they’re hardly “essentials,” odds are that you are also letting that attitude show in the ways you conduct and promote your business.

I don’t care if you’re selling  designer soap, dictionaries, Swedish Massage, venture capital pool memberships, jeweled toiletpaper holders,or gold-plated shoelaces … now is not the time to be timid in your promotional messages … or be turning out all your store or office signage lights at night … or going into US Postal Service-style retreat mode.

Now is the time  to rise to the occasion, to innovate, to put in extra hours, to go the extra mile, to show people why they can’t live without your products and services. I know, I know, there’s no excuse like the present. That’s true. There’s also no loss like losing a business.

So toss your chin back there, Buckeroo!  Go get your glove and get in the game. Remember that YOU CHOOSE to give up or slow down or make excuses. It’s just as easy to choose to charge forward and speed up and own up to your shortcomings. Everyone has shortcomings.

“Yeah, sure, easy for you to say,”  you say, “but you don’t know how hard it is and what a struggle I’m having just to pay the rent and salaries!” Ah, but I do know. I also know that feeling like it’s hard and feeling like it’s a struggle are — guess what? — right! — choices!!

Choose to feel like it’s easy and choose to feel like you’re on cruise control.

It will be and you will be.

# # # 

Call 302.933.0116

That’s 302.933.0116

Call 302.933.0116 Now!

     What makes three mentions  of a phone number work better in your broadcast commercial than just one or two, or five or ten? We all know — or perhaps we’ve forgotten — that REPETITION SELLS. Uh, what’s that? Repetition sells. Repetition sells. Repetition sells! (There we go again: 3)!

    If you’re a real estate professional,  it’s LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION, right? Writers live to REVISE, REVISE, REVISE. Scientists EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT, EXPERIMENT. From piano teachers to football coaches, the word is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

     Adventurers  EXPLORE, EXPLORE, EXPLORE. Insurance claims people ADJUST, ADJUST, ADJUST. Corporate R&D people and direct mail experts TEST, TEST, TEST (and many kids undoubtedly think that’s also their least favorite teacher’s motto)!

     Politicians and Little League parents  seem universally to think that WIN, WIN, WIN is what life is all about. How many BUSINESS things come in three’s? Why triplicate copies? One for you, one for the customer, and one for who knows what? Many Caribbean resorts process 3 receipts for a bottle of beer! 

     Therapy group shrinks  use triads to process stuff. Olympic stars do triple flips. Fat guys order triple scoop cones. And there’s nothing like a base-clearing triple for excitement. The triple crown. A hat trick. 3-D. 3 tenors. Triple chocolate (Mmmmm).

     Three.  Is it that we can we only count that far these days? Or is America becoming a nation of shameless stutterers?

     Have Wii and WiFi and Twitter and Spaceface (I know, I know, I’m being sarcastic again) put us all into such a fast-track lifestyle that there’s simply no longer any time available for 4, 5, and 6? Or, AHA! It must be the attention span thing. We just don’t have it anymore.

     I mean who could  read a whole book now, when — instead — it’s possible to read eleven gazillion 140-character stories with the same number of eyeball numbing hours in front of your Twitter monitor? Why limit yourself, yes? 

     So, okay, we’ve narrowed it down.  3 works because we don’t want two (or is it we don’t want “three”) pay attention two (pay attention “three”) 4, and 2 doesn’t reach out and grab us by the belt buckle! So what’s a poor business owner two (ah, “three”) do?

     Shucks!  You mean it’s supposed to be to and not two? Well, three still stays three and not “Twee” unless you’re Elmer Fudd . . . now there’s a dateline incrimination!

     Start by realizing that repetition of thoughts and repetition of actions sell as well as repetition of the words we use,  and that there’s a thin line of acceptance (tolerance? Perhaps threelerance?) between 3 and 4.     

# # # 

When you quote a price,

do you quote a schedule?

     When you tell a story,  do you use a timeline?

     You’re in sales, right?  Of course you are! You own or run a business or professional practice or company department? Then you’re in sales. You work at the top crossbeam of a new skyscraper construction site? You’re in sales.

     You work inside an underground  storage container or facility? You’re in sales? You don’t work at all? You’re in sales. And since now that you’ve found out that you are in fact in sales, it’s important to know how important it is for you to make maximum use of a timeline.

     Why? Funny you should ask. You knew I had the answer, right?  Okay, here it comes. Because a timeline helps make your sales points quicker and simpler. It helps your prospects, customers, bosses, parents (and anyone you need to influence) to understand your frame of reference more clearly and more readily.

     When you propose a fee for providing a service,  for example, you must be prepared to give a target date for completion. In some cases, you can hedge it a bit by estimating 60-90 days or 1-2 hours or 9-10 months, but be quick to support the reason for not being more specific. Specific is best. Always.

     Why? (You knew that was coming, right?)  Here’s why:  For a goal to be a goal instead of just a meaningless “wish,” it needs to be specific, realistic, flexible and have a due date. (And, yes, it must be all four of those things or it is fantasy and fantasy doesn’t get things done!)

     To promise something by a specific date  gives you credibility and a certain amount of accompanying trust, which of course you need to fulfill on or notify the payer as far in advance as possible of the need to extend the time period… and why.

     You would be amazed  at how many people don’t automatically build a timeline into their planning, sales pitch, agenda, project, program, meeting, advertisement, work schedule, new product or service launch, construction or revitalization effort, financial review, or story.

     As a writer,  I find the inclusion of a timeline related to job completion to be essential, but I also find that including a timeline reference inside the actual writing –whether it’s a commissioned book or a brochure, advertisement or website– has value in and of itself.

     Part of the credibility and fascination  of the “story” or “sales pitch” will often actually evolve directly from an integrated timeline. Juxtaposing historic events alongside a biographical story, for example, or as part of “what happened when” in the “About Us” webpage, or as a schedule of events in an ad or brochure can give your presentation the teeth it needs to attract attention and create interest! 

# # # 

I, Me, My, We, and Our

Lose To You and Your!

     Unless by some miracle,  you’ve managed to uncover an exception, I believe it’s safe to say that You and Your win 100% of the time!

    So howcum  the vast majority (MUCH more than 50%) of small business advertising and marketing consistently takes the loser position of emphasizing I, Me, My, We, and Our? 

     The answer no doubt  has to do with the fact that entrepreneurs tend to be more self-centered than corporate types, and may lack certain psychological-impact-of-word-usage awarenesses. That tendency is not necessarily a bad thing, it simply is.

     Most entrepreneurs  probably skipped through, over, or around English, creative writing, and psychology coursework in school as they marched to different drummers on paths less traveled to innovate and create and pursue their business ideas. 

     The only problem  with this is that when small businesses beat their chests and tell everyone how great they are and why they’re better than their competition: NOBODY CARES!

     Let’s put the fact that you own  and/or operate or manage a business off to the side burner for a minute, and examine this paradox from your own personal perspective. Surely, YOU purchase products and services for yourself and your family and your business because you believe there are benefits in what you choose for yourself and your family and your business.

     So why would you think  that what you have to sell would be any different? Why would you think that others would spend their money on your products or services for any reason other than that they believe them to offer,have, or promise a benefit to them?

Customers really don’t

                                          

care about how great

                                             

you think you are! 

                                                                                          

     So why does the wording you use  in your brochure, on your website, and in yours ads and commercials emphasize your reputation, your company history, your mission and vision statements? Credibility can be worded to be a benefit instead of a boast. Why does what you say focus on ANYthing besides what the benefits are?

     Cars, parts, appliances, homes, vegetables,  personal and professional services, healthcare, boots, lightbulbs, newspapers, cruise ships, circus acts, roofing and flooring, ice cream, software, fish, septic systems (which may require upgrading if you eat too much ice cream and fish together!)

     Nobody gives a flying frog  about the features of any of these, or any products or services, except tp be able to tick off a bullet list to impress friends, justify expense, or appease parents or bosses. Customers ONLY care about what’s in it for them (to purchase your offerings). What specific benefits will someone gain by buying your product or service?

     This all translates to  removing I, Me, My, We, and Our from your marketing, advertising, sales, PR, and promotional language. Replace them (and the emphasis) with You and Your. Watch your sales rise.

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Hal@Businessworks.US     302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open   Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Perceptions Sell and

Perceptions UNsell!

What you perceive is what you believe… and what you believe is FACT, even when it’s not!

     It makes a big difference  how you, for example, define a traffic jam depending on your frame of reference. If you’re from LA, the Bronx, the DC Beltway, or Gumboro in Southern Delaware, the New Jersey Pine Barrens, or Rangeley in NW Maine, what you perceive can vary from endless seas of hornblowing standstill cars, to a pickup truck and two motorcycles waiting for a freight train.

     Perception is selective  and varies every minute of every day. You walk into a party and immediately scope the gathering to find a hot-looking member of the opposite sex who’s serving up inviting looking eyes because you are single and on the hunt. The next party-goer enters and immediately seeks the bar, looking to unwind with a free drink. The artist who comes in the door looks past all the people, and the bar, to find the wall where her painting is hung. And so it goes.

     Selective perception  is also what customers exercise when they are sizing up a product, service, showroom, salesperson, commercial, ad, brochure, warranty, or website. You are using selective perception right this minute by having read this far into this blog post. 

     So a good part of the challenge  for your marketing is to capture prospects’ perceptions and imaginations by properly setting the stage. This — as with any stage — is accomplished with colors, props, backdrops, lighting, spatial arrangements, sounds, and often smells and touch… activating the five senses.

     And isn’t channeling selective perception  what the bombardment of opinion forms, attitude surveys, customer questionnaires, R&D studies, media ratings, and focus groups are all about? In order to make a sale, we need to understand what makes our customers tick.

     This is accomplished  most thoroughly and most rapidly by first finding out and figuring out what makes each of us, as business owners and managers, and entrepreneurs, tick! Once you have a better idea of what turns on your attention, your desires, your interests, and prompts you to action, you’ll have a better idea of how to ignite your customers.

Why does that matter?

Because perceptions sell, and perceptions UNsell! 

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Your Small Business

Management Methods 

Getting Stale? Try This.

     It’s already September.  If your business is going to survive the year, you’d better get on the stick! Counting holidays, you’ve only got about 70 business days left in the year! Now is the time to hustle your butt! With Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Jewish holiday slowdown periods thrown in, you’re looking at super crunch time.

     This impending brain drain  is only going to be worse if you’re starting to feel like the economy has clobbered you into la-la land (and you don’t even live near Los Angeles!), and you and your business are getting stale.

     You’re trying? BS!  Stop trying and DO something about it! Hold a garage sale! You will get such a rude awakening by forcing yourself (and neighbors, if you’re the energetic type) to face up to the realities a garage sale produces:

• agreeing  with yourself to let go of prized possessions for a fraction of the prices you paid

• collecting  all these items together from every corner of your home

• pricing  and labeling each item

• picking  appropriate hours, obtaining necessary permits, and scheduling your life accordingly

• promoting  and advertising with posters, local newspaper ads, flyers and signs

• moving  your complete inventory into your driveway or yard or garage 

• making  sure you have enough change and single dollar bills on hand     

• displaying  your inventory in the most appealing manner (and, heartily recommended, writing an informative or enticing headline for each major piece you offer for sale

• dealing  with garage sale “professionals” who will come knocking at your door 30-60 minutes before your announced time — an interruption you can count on even if you advertise 6am; they’ll show up with flashlights; set your coffeemaker for 4:30am

• smiling  and greeting every visitor like a long lost cousin without being too pushy or too salesy

• moving  and rearranging items to keep most enticing-looking items up front and to keep table surfaces constantly filled

• accepting  that some people will rip you off by short-changing you and/or by outright stealing stuff when your back is turned — and that it’s generally best to bite the bullet and ignore these incidents by reminding yourself how desperate or deranged an individual has to be to be trying to make off with an extra dollar and a quarter’s worth of junk

• returning  unpurchased merchandise without feeling rejected

• inventorying  your sore feet and back, as you count up your meager profits

     If this experience  doesn’t turn you and your business attitude into a fresh new direction overnight, I’d be astonished. The experience of being the whole business and making all decisions and responding instantly and keeping positive customer relations as you make sales, is enlightening to say the least.

     The awareness’s  and perspectives you gain will shed new light on your business and freshen up the approach you’re taking to make the rest of this year work FOR you! 

# # #

  FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone!