Sales Tactics - Talking vs Listening
Posted by Sant Qiu in : Speed Profit Secrets on April 18, 2009 , add a commentIf you’re in sales, is it better to be a talker or a listener?
Since the beginning of the sales training industry, there has been the 2 camps promoting opposing views on this. We all know the usually more aggressive “talker” camp. They are the ones that tell you to “take control of the situation”, “plow your way through”, “never leave without a check in hand”… to them, ABC means “Always Be Closing”…
Who can forget Alec Baldwin’s character Blake in the classic salesman movie, Glengarry Glenn Ross (if you don’t know the show… there’s no hope for you, go hug a pillow ;)). Alec’s character and Al Pacino’s Ricky Roma, are great representatives of the ultimate “talker” salesperson. They are ruthless and do whatever it takes to get the sale. Every wonder why salespeople get such bad rep?
On the other camp, the “listener” want you to “be a good listener”, “listen actively”, “don’t push, but pull”… they prefer the softer, gentler approach. I even heard a known trainers said “If they didn’t sign, just follow up. They will come back to you. I don’t know what world he was living in, but from personal experience and statistics in the real world, I know that when prospects leave without signing on the dotted line, chances of you closing the deal dropped significantly.
So who is right, who is wrong? Which method is the best?
Well, I think people need to take a step back to see that the most important thing… the result, is to close the sale. There are great sales principles from both camps. Salespeople should see them as tactics and tools in their toolbox and be flexible in using them appropriately to get the sale. They should not rely on one tool or technique alone.
Here’s my personal take:
First of all, before you meet any prospect, you must already have some ideas on what they are looking for, their wants, their needs, etc. You need to do some research on your general target market and understand their reasons to buy. You’d be surprised at how similar most of their basic reasons are… to feel good, to get attention, to make others happy, to avoid feeling left out, etc.
Second, when you meet with a prospect, it is important to start talking and get their attention. If you don’t have their attention, you won’t get to move to the next round. Then you have to ask about what they are looking for. Just a couple of sentences are usually enough. Obviously you can do it subtly. This is just so you know that you’re on the right track. There is nothing worse than starting your presentation with all the bells and whistles only to find out at the end that you missed what they wanted from the beginning.
But once you know that you’re on the right track, then it’s time for you to take more control of the conversation and be the one that is talking (presenting) persuasively. Most prospects want to be led. They are conditioned to be led. So you need to make them feel comfortable by giving them a sense of familiarity… of being led.
You would be surprised at the number of sales that failed because the salesperson just focused on asking questions and listening. Once you have their attention and establish some trust, most prospects will look to you as their guide. If you don’t do that, you will lose their attention and trust fast. They will start wondering whether you know what you are doing and begin to reconsider their position.
If you led them well enough, they will start to ask questions. You listen. This is the time they raise concerns, objections, etc. Obviously you then resolve their objections and go for the close. I’m shocked at how many salespeople just leave things hanging after a great presentation. They had this idea that if their presentation is great enough, people will buy.
It’s more likely that they are cowards… or just not trained right. One of the companies I was helping was doing a lot of trade shows. I noticed that their new salespeople are pretty aggressive in pitching… but they didn’t close. After each pitch, they just left it hanging, and prospects just smiled, pretended to be distracted, looked away and walked off. And they let them! It was painful to watch.
So I worked with their salespeople before their next trade show. I pointed out some of their weaknesses and they confessed that they didn’t know what to say beyond the pitch. I gave them a few simple but highly effective closing tactics (Side note: you don’t want to many tactics in a trade show situation, rely on a few proven ones. It’s about the numbers. Pace and reliability is the game). I got them to rehearse it a few times. At the next trade show, which drew slightly lesser overall crowd, the same sales team closed double the amount from the previous one.
Bottom line, there is the right time to listen and the right time to talk. Be flexible enough to use those tactics to get the sale. As Donald Trump said “It’s not about book smart or street smart, it’s just about being smart.” It’s about getting the results. Everything else are just tools.
Starting Out On Your Own - Tips To Find Your Niche
Posted by Sant Qiu in : Speed Profit Secrets on April 17, 2009 , 3commentsStatistics has shown that when economic crisis hits, there will be more people striving out on their own. I guess it’s no surprise. When times are great, people are just too comfortable and complacent. They would rather stay in a good paying job than risk starting out on their own. But when you have no choice… either you do something about your situation or perish, survival instinct will kick in and creativity tends to flourish.
If you’re considering of starting out on your own, here are a few things to consider:
1. If you can, choose a niche/industry that has great growth potential.
I know, I know… lots of the gurus and those media-friendly entrepreneurs often claim that it doesn’t matter what niche/industry you choose as long as you follow your passion. Most sugar-coated advice says “follow your passion” or recently the new buzz-phrase “follow your bliss”, and you will succeed.
But in reality that’s just half true… which means that it’s half bullshit! You have to mix optimism with reality. What you’re passionate about might not pad your pockets. Some gurus (especially those new agey ones) will then justify that “bliss” is different for everyone, and that to some people money is not as important as contributing to society, helping others, etc.
However, I’m operating in the common sense assumption that it is better to have more than to have less. When you have abundant, then you can contribute and help more people.
If you take a look at the different industries (this applies to niches too), you will discover that some industries are much more profitable and have much more potential compared to others. That’s just reality. No matter how passionate you are for your industry, if it is a small industry, then there is a cap… a ceiling to the potential of growth.
Recently I had the pleasure of chatting with a few prominent millionaire entrepreneurs (in Singapore). They are really smart entrepreneurs who have become the leaders in their various industries. Most of them have their brands in the top 5 of their respective industries. In short, they are the cream of the crop.
However, I discovered something very interesting… Even though a few of them started around the same time within their own industries, the results they achieved so far were very different. Some of them are doing 50 - 80 millions per year, and the lower scale, there are those doing less than 10 millions. Don’t get me wrong, all of them are brilliant entrepreneurs. Many of them are still pretty young too! But the size of their various industries has a direct link to how big they can grow.
Recently, I watched a Donald Trump interview. And in the interview he pretty much said the same thing. He told the story of 2 of his friends, one very smart and the other was just average. The average guy went into the oil business, while the smart guy went into another more conventional business. Donald said, the average guy became so wealthy it is ridiculous, while the smart guy was just doing so so.
So choose the industry you want to go into carefully. Industries are NOT equal no matter what others say.
2. Be passionate about what you’re doing.
Now, this might seem to be a direct contradiction to what I just wrote above. However, it’s not, really. You see, you have to choose your industry based on growth potential, but also on how much passion you have for it. If an industry has great potential, but you hate it, you probably won’t do well in it. However, if you’re neutral about the industry, then go for it, because you can always grow your passion for it. And doing well and getting great income will definitely help you fall in love with your chosen industry.
So it’s a balance you need to decide on. If you have a great industry that you’re passionate about… well, that’s your bliss! The point is you have to be passionate about what you do. If you’re not, then you’re practically sabotaging yourself from the start. You might not be extremely passionate about it at the start, it’s ok. But never go into something you hate.
3. You must have overall knowledge of the industry.
To be successful you must have knowledge of how the industry works. You have to know the whole business process:
Who are the suppliers, who are the distributors, who are the retailers. Where do you stand in the process line? What are the profit centres? How many possible profit centres are there? Where are the demands coming from? Who are your competitors? Who can be your allies?
One of the biggest mistakes most start-ups make is the lack of knowledge of the industry they are entering. But these mistakes are not exclusive to new start-ups. A lot of big companies continue to commit such sins. I’ve written on this in previous articles (eg. the Starving Crowd article).
Most new start-ups only know a small part of the whole business process. And it’s ok to start with that. But it is critical to continuously learn and get to know more about your industry. You will be surprised at how many companies just stop at what they know and don’t bother to learn about their own industries. Having additional knowledge will give you the critical edge that can help you outmaneuver, outperform and outsell your competitors… and dominate your industry.
4. Focus On Building Automated Systems
As soon as possible, it is important to focus on building automated, hands-off systems in your business. For example, if you’re a designer, focus on creating a small team of other designers that you can rely on to do the hands-on work for you. You can be the creative director giving them the direction and checking on quality.
This way you free yourself from the time for money trap. This will probably eat into your profits initially, as you have to pay those designers too. So you need to consider your cash flow situation. But as soon as you can afford it, do it. You can keep expenses low by using freelancers so that you don’t have fixed expenses.
Once the automated system is set up, you have a great foundation to scale up. You’re no longer limited by your own time and efforts. So you can get more clients and get more income… while others are doing the hands-on work.
You can apply this principle to other areas (eg. finance, operations, etc) of your business as well. The less reliant the business is on you alone, the more stable it is.
5. Focus On Marketing & Selling
Here’s a cold hard fact: You don’t make money when you are creating/manufacturing the products. You don’t make money when you are delivering the service. You don’t make money when you’re interacting with customers. You don’t make money when you are improving quality. You don’t make money innovating…
You only make money when you sell something to someone. Period. And nothing sells by itself. Nothing.
Of course I don’t mean that all the rest of the above are not important. In fact, they are critical to a business’ survival and growth. And a lot of times, those elements can help in selling your solutions (products/services). But those elements only mean something when you can sell your solutions.
A business with the best product/service in the world won’t survive if it can’t market and sell it. You’d be surprised how often and regular this happens in the marketplace. If the solution is really great, another company with better marketing know-how will eventually end up with it and profiting from it.
So focus on marketing and selling your solutions. Use other elements to support your marketing efforts. Many people think that Henry Ford created the assembly-line that’s why he was so successful. But they got it wrong… they got it backwards.
Henry Ford wanted to SELL more automobiles to more people. That led him to create innovations in the assembly line techniques used in mass productions. He became the father of modern assembly lines.
Most businesses got it backwards. They spend too much time on things that don’t make them money. This is a mistake start-ups can’t afford to make.
To your profits,
Your Money Making System
Posted by Sant Qiu in : Speed Profit Secrets on January 2, 2008 , 4commentsIt’s appropriate to start the New Year with this article. I’m assuming, and it’s pretty obvious that one of your new year evolution goals is to make money. This simple strategy will help you to increase your income and achieve your targeted goal in a more predictable manner.
What is the strategy?
It is the deceptively-simple-yet-extremely-effective conscious creation of a systemized sales process. It is amazing how most of the business owners and clients that I’ve spoken to neglect this very powerful strategy. They create their sales rather haphazardly, relying on short-term promotions most of the time. Are you making the same mistake?
Without a system in place you’re basically shooting blindly in the middle of nowhere. Without a system for selling, then you’re at the mercy of your prospect’s emotional wimps of buying or not buying.
Let me ask you a question. If you’re a pro golfer, would you go to a tournament without researching about the terrain, the competitors, etc? If you’re a pro footballer in NFL or a pro basketballer in NBA, would your team go against another team without researching and knowing their strengths and weaknesses?
Of course not! Being a professional means that you do all that as part of your job, on top of training your game skills. Interestingly, or rather disappointingly, most businesses don’t act professionally even though it affects the income that they are generating. They don’t spend the time to research their target market (the terrain) and their competitors. And they don’t come up with a system (game plan) to sell (to win).
When I talk about creating marketing or sales system, I invariably get the question: So what is a system and how can you create one?
Here’s my interpretations of a system: A system is an organized and coordinated methods/procedures that are designed to achieve a predictable and repeatable outcome. For example, a system can be a lead generation ad on a magazine that offers a free special report. To get the free report they have to provide their details for you to send it to them. The free report will educated and promote your products/services. It will be followed up with a sequence of 7 letters, 5 days apart.
This means that everyone who responds to the ad will experience the exact same thing. And if the system is bringing in the sales, then you should repeat the whole process again and again.
Until when? Until it’s no longer profitable.
The great thing about having a system is that sales become predictable. And this means that you can track and measure the kind of responses and conversions you’re getting from your marketing efforts. Which means that you can always tweak and fine tune to make the system better. Can you see how this one strategy will massively increase your income?
All pros use a system. Lead generation system, pitching system, closing system. Why do you think seminar speakers always give similar presentations? It’s because it’s a system that they have perfected and know will convert well for them.
So start creating a selling system ASAP. Your income depends on it.
Secrets To Getting FREE Publicity & Achieving Expert Status Literally Overnight. . . For FREE!
Posted by Sant Qiu in : Speed Profit Secrets on November 18, 2007 , add a commentThis is the 3rd part of the “Profit Booster Case Studies” where I reveal my profit boosting strategies that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars for my clients. Apply the strategies and you will get real bottom-line results… Guaranteed!
In this case study you will learn how you can easily apply my strategies to…
Secrets To Getting Advertising Worth Thousands Of Dollars & Achieving Expert Status Literally Overnight… Practically For FREE!
And NO, it’s NOT the same old create a ’story-the-media-would-be-interested-to-publish’ strategies that don’t work.
Read this Profit Booster Case Study 4 here:
http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/
In it you will see:
- How I use my system to get FREE media coverage for ordinary folks and businesses
- The exact steps I used that have been proven again and again to work
- How you can create a powerful impact & buzz within your target market for pennies
- How you can use the system to launch your products
- And many more
As always, the case study is content-rich and shows you exactly how I implemented my system, not just some vague principles.
If you’re working on a shoestring budget, this case study can help you tremendously. I really believe if you just follow my steps, you will reap massive rewards.
You can read it here:
http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/
If you missed out on the previous Profit Booster Case Studies you can also read all of them at the link above. If you have any questions, feedback, comments and thoughts you can also post them there.
I’ve received quite a number of questions on the Profit Booster DVD Set that I’ll be releasing on 20 November, Tuesday. I’ll be answering your questions in a short FAQ on Sunday.
Meanwhile, enjoy the case studies and profit from them. Cheers.
Boost Your Results By 300% - Profit Booster 2
Posted by Sant Qiu in : Speed Profit Secrets on November 14, 2007 , add a commentThis is the 2nd part of the “Profit Booster Case Studies” where I reveal my profit boosting strategies that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars for my clients. Apply the strategies and you will get real bottom-line results… Guaranteed!
Something ‘interesting’ happened right after I sent out the first part of this series. But before I get into that let me give you the latest part (2nd) of the Profit Booster Case Studies here:
>> http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/
In this case study you will learn how you can easily apply my strategies to boost your results by over 300%, without spending additional money… even if you’re just a self-employed entrepreneur or salesperson.
Now for the ‘interesting’ part. Since my announcement of the upcoming launch of the “Profit Booster DVD Set” on 16 November, I had a few people emailing me about it. A few of them are already very interested in the DVDs and one lady even said she is extremely interested, though she will be away in Europe on the date of the launch, and she doesn’t want to miss it!
Why is it interesting?
Because I’ve not even talked about the contents of the DVD set!
So why haven’t I written about the contents of the DVD set? Well, frankly it’s because the sales copy for it is not ready yet. I’ve been busy juggling clients and posting the case studies. In fact, this 2nd part of my “Profit Booster Case Studies” should have been posted a earlier.
But don’t worry, when the sales copy for the DVD set is up, you will get a very good idea of what the program covers, in detail. Meanwhile, you can read the latest case study here:
>> http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them here. I love to hear from you. Have fun & profit from the case study, and let me know your thoughts. To your profits,
P.S. By the way, Chris Garrett suggested that I create a page to list all the case studies for easy access. Great idea! So I’ve created the page here:
http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/
I’ve also updated the old links to the above page.
How A Letter I Wrote Raked In 5 Figures… And Growing - Profit Booster 1
Posted by Sant Qiu in : Speed Profit Secrets on November 12, 2007 , 2commentsThis is the 1st of the “Profit Booster Case Studies” where I reveal my profit boosting strategies that brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars for my clients.
I guarantee that when you take action and apply these strategies, you will get tremendous bottom line results.
I’ve shown a few of my friends a sneak peek at the case studies I’ll be sharing and they are certifying me CRAZY! They are wondering whether I’ve lost my screws up there because I’m giving so much away. Apparently they are concerned that I’ll be ’spoiling the market’ by giving away my exact strategies… for free.
These are more detailed and in-depth than most of the marketing materials floating around. This first case study showed how a letter I created Raked In 5 Figures… and it’s just barely starting! The letter brings back $295.20 every time it is mailed out! You can get the first case study here:
>> http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/
Question: Imagine if you have that letter in your hands, how many letters do you want to send out? 
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them here. I love to hear from you and interact with you.
Have fun & profit from the case study, and let me know your thoughts.
By the way I plan to release the next one tomorrow, so look out for it. I’ll let you know when it’s up.
Here’s the link again:
>> http://www.maneuvermarketing.com/blog/case-studies/
Actual Campaigns That Raked In $100,000s Revealed In Detail For You
Posted by Sant Qiu in : Speed Profit Secrets on November 9, 2007 , add a commentIf you’re a regular reader of this blog then you might have known that I’ve spent most of my working life as ‘The Strategist’, behind the scenes of many successful businesses and promotions in Singapore. For those ‘in the know’, I am the go-to guy who helps them radically improve their business and income.
The good news is: I’m about to start a series of case studies where I’m revealing exact same strategies I used to help my clients raked in literally Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars… in detail!
These are the same strategies I used to help AKLTG (Adam Khoo Learning Technologies Group) become a million dollar training business within just one year starting from scratch.
Here’s what Adam has to say:
“Sant played a very valuable role in the growth and expansion of the company. He is a fantastic marketer and copywriter! He wrote most of the marketing materials from scratch, including the advertisement that we ran.
That headline was so successful that the phone rang off the hook the first time we ran the ad. It was a phenomenal result!
He also came up with a structure to use very low cost and extremely efficient marketing techniques. Within the few months that he was with the company, he helped the company bring in more than $500,000! I recommend him highly.”
- Adam Khoo, Founder
AKLTG Pte Ltd
I’m also sharing the strategies I used to help Dr. Dennis Wee (another multi-millionaire entrepreneur in Singapore) to win prestigious awards such as the ‘Spirit of Enterprise 2006′, ‘Lifelong Learning Awards’ and also arranged for his appearance in various media such as The Straits Times (multiple times), Singapore Business Review, Steer (and many others). We even wrote a best-selling book together called Get Rich Now.
Here’s what he said about me:
“Sant’s marketing ideas and strategies are powerful, creative and practical at the same time. He is a dependable friend and someone with integrity. Any business will definitely benefit from working with him.”
- Dr. Dennis Wee, President
Dennis Wee Group (DWG)
Top 12 Entrepreneurs of the Year
Winner of Spirit of Enterprise
>> NOTE: To be notified of NEW Profit Booster case studies for FREE subscribe using the form on the top right sidebar on this blog.
And in case you think that those strategies might not be relevant to you because they are for ‘big businesses’, I’ll also be sharing specific case studies of other small & medium businesses (the bulk of my clients) and how my strategies helped them raked in the profits BIG TIME! Below are some examples:
=> Like the software developer who was struggling to sell their products until I created a strategy that motivated their prospects to approach them instead of the other way around. In fact, my client more than doubled their prices and yet each of their customers are buying a few sets of their software.
=> The math tutor who was struggling to get students even when her fees were way below the market rate… until she asked for my help. After applying my system, she raised her prices to the premium level and yet she had more students than ever before!
=> An IT company that was fighting to increase sales in their highly competitive industry. After following my strategies, their sales jumped by 30% and they spend 50% less time closing their sales.
=> The brand new bakery that started in a new market. In just a couple of months it was supplying well-known cafes and restaurants with a 20% premium pricing.
=> The real estate entrepreneur who experienced over 300% more responses after applying my strategies… even though he is in a highly competitive area.
=> The massage therapist who was failing to promote her services to schools. After applying my strategies, her prospects were seeking her out and offering 5-figure deals.
And many more! I could go on but I think you get the idea.
I’ll break down the strategies to their nuts and bolts so you can see how you can apply them in your own business. These will not be one of those generic or regurgitated advice most people are posting. These are specific in-depth strategies I personally used to create massive results from. You will get to see the blow-by-blow implementation and the results they generated.
>> NOTE: To be notified of NEW Profit Booster case studies for FREE subscribe using the form on the top right sidebar on this blog.
Why am I doing this?
There are 2 main reasons.
Reason 1: Earlier this year I decided to stretch myself to help more people. While I did, frankly I know I can do much more. This will be one of the ways I can do that. (I swear my up-coming birthday next week didn’t give me more pressure to achieve this goal!)
Reason 2: On 16 November, I’m about to launch the “Profit Booster DVD Set”. (It is quite a massive collection of 15 DVDs + many bonuses.) This DVD set is jam-packed with the exact same highly potent and ultra explosive strategies I regularly use to help my clients rake hundreds of thousands of dollars in a matter of weeks, sometimes days!
I have applied them in many different industries such as education, training, IT, design, F&B, production, real estate, health, beauty, publication and others. And every single time, without fail, they raked in the profits!
There will only be 70 sets available and only for the Singapore market for now. This is because most of the specific case studies I teach in the DVD uses Singapore context (although the principles are applicable anywhere).
If you’re an entrepreneur, business owner, in upper-management or in sales based in Singapore, you might want to pay close attention and mark the date - 16 November.
But I Need Your Help…
While the DVD set is only for the Singapore market, the high octane principles and strategies can be used anywhere, in any business. And I would like to have as many people benefit from this as possible. So I’m asking for you to help me spread the word about the coming case studies.
If you’re a newsletter, ezine, blog publisher or you have a list of subscribers who are interested in entrepreneurship, business, marketing and sales strategies, let them know about this post. Please only send to your relevant lists as they will probably be the ones benefiting the most.
Your subscribers will thank you for it and they will know that your recommendations are of high value to them. This will help you establish better loyalty with your readers too.
The case studies begin in the next post.
>> NOTE: To be notified of NEW Profit Booster case studies for FREE subscribe using the form on the top right sidebar on this blog.
