Sant Qiu’s Speed Profit Blog

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In just a few weeks I’ll be launching a book that I’m co-authoring with a very successful, award-winning entrepreneur. The title of the book is: “Secrets To Dominate Your Niche: Differentiating Ideas To Easily Outwit, Outsell & Outperform the Competition!”

We’re really excited about it. This book is about entrepreneurship & marketing. We show you how you can create your own niche and dominate it.

We’ve sent out an early copy of the book for reviews and we’re very happy to have received wonderful reviews so far. Here are a couple of excerpts:

“Powerful, direct, clear and highly useful advice. You will definitely learn something new and important in this bold, outspoken book. I did and I’ve been a leading marketer for over 20 years!” - Michael Weissman, High Technology Marketing Guru and co-author of The Paradox of Excellence.

“I love the book! There are so many powerful and practical messages and strategies revealed. This is real life stuff! I also enjoyed all the action points, as nothing happens without action…”
- Frank Furness CSP
International motivational speaker, sales trainer and author

“This is an excellent guidebook for entrepreneurs. In it Thomas and Sant reveal the secrets to building your business for massive profit and success… strategies can literally help you dominate your niche market. If you are interested to improve your business, get the book!”
- Adam Khoo, Chief Master Trainer & Best-Selling Author, Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group

But we need your help!

We are in the midst of tidying up the book and having the designer work on it. We have gotten 3 possible cover versions. We want to get your feedback. Which of the 3 cover designs appeals to you the most? We’re looking for something that stands out and grabs attention. And of course compels you to grab a copy.

Which one captures your attention more than others? Which one makes you want to reach out and get a copy to read? Which one makes you want to buy?

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

When you give us your opinion, I will send you excerpts of the highlights from the book.

Here’s how:

1. Please leave your opinions below as comments.

2. Please fill in your email add when leaving a comment so we can email you the ebook.

3. Only leave sincere and truthful comments.

4. Please choose the best one you like, the second best and the third. Remember, we’re looking for the one that grabs your attention, makes you want to reach for it and buy it.

5. If you have additional comments, we’d love to hear them. Please keep it short and to the point.

NOTE: This will only be available in just the next few days. I reserve the rights to take this down as soon as I think we have a good indication. So if you’re interested to get excerpts of the highlights, let us know your opinion ASAP.

Thank you very much for giving us your feedback. We really appreciate it.

Cheers!

Sant

One of the best way to improve conversion is to include persuasive testimonials in your marketing materials. Testimonials are extremely effective to help you persuade your target market because of a few solid reasons.

1) It is a 3rd party endorsement. This can be very persuasive because someone else is saying positive things about you. Obviously you will be saying great things about yourself. But when someone else is doing that, it is much more credible. You can increase the credibility factor by having an authority figure endorsing you.

2) You can use testimonials to tell a ‘before & after’ story. People love stories. Just before I sit down and write this article I was just on the phone with a client. He was telling me how surprised he is with the kind of results he is experiencing. His conversion just skyrocketed! And all he did was follow what I told him to do… include persuasive testimonials that tell before & after stories. Previously my client just didn’t believe that adding testimonials will make any difference. In fact he was concerned the testimonials will make his image look ‘low class’. With my insistence and guidance he agreed to test this out. The testimonials we included tell the stories of how he solved his customers’ problems and how thankful they are. As expected, conversion exploded. My client told me if he knew that testimonials had such a huge impact he would have use them much sooner. And I encourage you to do the same. See, I just told you a mini before & after story.

3) Answer objections with testimonials. This is one of the ‘secret’ techniques I use that others rarely revealed. Other than a credibility booster and a persuasion tool, testimonials are great for resolving potential/known objections. Just imagine if you have a testimonial from an authority figure saying how you helped solve his problems and ending with “…yes, his service is expensive BUT worth every single cent. I won’t want to use anybody else than him.” Boom! Triple the potency!

The next time you know your prospect is going to negotiate your price, simply give them that testimonial. You can even use testimonials to 4) point out certain positive differentiations about you that your prospect might not be thinking about yet.

5) Testimonials are extremely flexible and applicable in any industry. Every single business is a marketing business. Every marketing business can benefit from using testimonials. I don’t care what industry you are in. I’ve used testimonials in many different industries with great results. From luxury items, to industrial, to F&B, to education, to construction, to design, to manufacturing, to training…

And it can be used in any medium and format. Check out these recent testimonials I saw:

If they can use it, you should too! To check out more interesting testimonials go to HERE 

Now, are you going to use testimonials in your marketing?

I’ve been quite fascinated with the happenings of the US presidential elections 2008. It’s interesting to observe how the US presidential candidates position themselves and their campaigns. I’ve found the commentaries on their speeches and debates among the candidates to be an interesting case study of the persuasion tactics of ‘reframing’.

In persuasion, ‘reframing’ is an effective way of turning a negative quality/situation into a positive one. This means changing the context so that people see things differently.

For instance, if someone thinks they are too old to do something, you can reframe their outlook by saying, “Compared to younger people, you have more years of experience and practical know-how to do this.” You are effectively changing what they saw as a shortcoming and turning it into a positive attribute by placing it in a different context.

The United States presidential elections 2008 has been a fertile ground for mudslinging among candidates (and in some cases, their spouses) and criticisms of each other’s campaigns and political stand. But it is also a great resource on how to reframe ‘negative’ facts to project a positive spin.

Case study: Barack Obama has positioned himself as a candidate that represents change. This positioning is so powerful that he got all the other candidates scrambling to find a position in his ‘change’ game. Almost all of them were talking about the change they are going to bring to the White House. (That’s a sign of a winning campaign)

Hillary Clinton, in an attempt to steal the thunder from Obama’s change campaign, reframed the situation. She said that Obama is only talking about change, while she has been making changes all the while when Bill was president and continues to make positive changes.

Isn’t that just smooth?

Another great example: When Barack Obama faced criticisms from other candidates concerning his relative inexperience in Congress, he equated “experience” with being “conventional” saying, “Nobody had more experience than Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and many of the people on this stage that authorized this war. And it indicates how we get into trouble when we engage in the sort of conventional thinking that has become the habit in Washington.” (Knowing that there are many voters who are unhappy about the long-drawn Iraq war and are ready for a “fresh” change in the White House.)

Reframing is also a very good way to smoothly overcoming a customer’s objections, rather than getting defensive. Most of the time, when a potential customer raises a strong objection, the salesperson tend to:

1. get defensive about what they are selling,

2. fabricate features in a desperate attempt to make the sale, or

3. they disparage a competitor’s product so theirs looks better

These are all techniques that are weak and won’t get you the sale. The only thing they accomplish is to look really desperate.

Instead of trying to meet the objection head on or justify the ‘limitation’ of your product, reframe the objection.

Objection: “Your product is way more expensive than the competitor.”

Reframe: “You’re right. We’re more expensive because we offer a top quality that will ensure reliability and durability so you get what you pay for. I’m sure you want to get something that you can depend on and last long for your investment, don’t you?”

What you’ve done is agreeing that it is expensive. Explain the great reasons for the premium price. Attach the premium price to other attributes that the prospects feel are important. Now they have attached the idea of expensive with top quality.

Isn’t that much smoother?