The Black Book of Sales Secrets

So you have no sales? Or at least not enough to keep all your bills current and still party every weekend posing as Mr. Got Bucks?

Yeah, we all like to flash around the money and look more successful than we are, even if completely broke.

So where IS the money? What ARE you selling? Is your stuff any good at all? Or are you fabricating to sell anything you can and hoping for the best later on?

Like annual spring cleaning, you should go through your wares periodically and see what’s Good, Bad or Ugly and handle accordingly.

Make a list of what you have to sell, for real – something that is not just fluff or air (unless you are on Mars during the times of the first Total Recall movie).

Now give each of those items a value that people will happily pay honest money for. (Note: Leave barter out of this for now unless it’s something you can eat and won’t go stale.)

If you don’t have enough valuable items, you better get with your people and create some additions, accessories, or heck, put some space antennae on them and make them look cute.

Sometimes adding more stuff to sell is what the doctor ordered. – Look at McDonald’s. Do you think they just sell Big Macs, fries and a drink? Currently, they have 145 items on their menu. Even if they cut some down, it will still be a lot, and eventually, any chopped up menu, will grow again as new items get put back on it.

Moral of this story: More is better. (Just keep it under 145 items.)

So what do you do when sales go slow, the prospect pool seems to dry up, no deals are coming in and you are staring at your computer while secretly contemplating the meaning of life?

Some of us run into dry spells now and then when it seems that everyone took a vacation, ran out of town, or left this planet.

There is one trusty action that never leaves your side like a faithful canine companion: That is your ability to promote your products and services.

Find your prospect lists, all of them, except you can disregard those collated from your favorite dating services or the local bars and nightclubs, unless of course, there are some people in there that can actually buy your products and services. (If so, I don’t want to know about it.)

Now call those people, email them, or drop off some brochures at their offices if they are nearby in the hopes of chatting with them. You can also make arrangements to send them a postcard via carrier pigeon as that is sure to get noticed by your prospects whether they make a mess on their desks or not.

The rule is: The more postcards sent by carrier pigeon, the higher your chances of getting a sale. This applies to emails and phone calls too. (And this works when buying drinks for someone, but again, I don’t want to know about it.)

It’s as simple as that: Your odds increase as you get the word out and let your prospects know that you are still breathing and smiling, and that you possibly may have some more stories to share with them. However, that may be the reason why prospects avoid you in the first place, so fix up your game first if need be and freshen up your joke list.

Good hunting.

Promising the customer: Does this sound like you?

Sometimes you get so caught up in getting the sale that you bend the rules and promise the world to the customer. Sometimes that firm conviction seems to get you the sale on the front end.

But, that same promise and firm conviction is what bites you on the back end when the deal goes sour. Somewhere along the line, you were convinced that the only way to get the sale, instead of your competitor, is to promise more things to the client, especially when you don’t know the answer or you are not sure: just promise the customer and it will be all good, right? Works to get the sale, doesn’t it? Eventually this comes back to haunt you.

As consumers we run into this when we buy into some item, and then find out that it was not what it was cracked up to be.

So there goes your integrity and your reputation. And there goes dwindling sales, or perhaps you feel “burn-out” and have to get another job, huh?

Think about that the next time you want to build up your sales career. This makes the difference between great referrals and being sick and tired of your current sales job. – What do you do when you are promising the customer?

Ever have a project, a sale, a deal that you were trying to accomplish and it just wouldn’t go anywhere?

Well it may sound weird, but try this: Pull away from it and do something else. Just pull back. Leave it. Let it go.

This will cause that coveted item, deal, whatever, to spring forward and chase you.

Because you pulled away, a vacuum was created, and the item now comes to you.

Works on relationships too. Try it and you will be surprised. – If you want love, you may not get the exact person you want, but you will find that you run into another person who really wants to be with you. In other words, after you pull back, you will have an even better opportunity come to you.

Works on starting up a work from home business too: If the product or service you are trying does not make any money, pull back hard. You will find that another deal comes to you which is more promising than the first.

Work on this and you will get the hang of it.

Research shows 97% of SMS (text) messages are opened! What an amazing statistic. I know that it is true for myself and family as we open 100% of our text messages. SMS Marketing is the cat’s meow when it comes to getting a message quickly to an interested Continue reading →

How many times have you failed? How many times have you been told “no” to your project, idea or invention? How many times did you not get the sale you were working on?

When should you quit? When is enough, enough?

Let’s take a look at the significant failures of others…

Have you heard about Harry Potter? The author, JK Rowling had a lot of failures. She was broke and a single mom. She didn’t even own a computer or an electric typewriter when she wrote the first Harry Potter story. She was reportedly turned down a dozen (12) times by publishers. What if she stopped at 12? – What made her go on one more time?

Have you heard of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and Colonel Sanders? I once read he was turned down 97 times by investors. Another source says he was turned down 1009 times! And yet another source says he was told “no” over 2000 times! – Well, whatever the number, what if he stopped at the last “no” before getting the next “yes”?

History is full of such examples, shall I go on? Michael Jordan is an excellent example of this as well. If you don’t know his stats of failures, then a little Internet searching should find you the answers.

If you ever asked “how many times must I fail” then you should know the answer, per the above, is “as many times as needed to win; to get that “yes!”

So how many times are you going to fail before you win?

More insight on getting past failure in my book, The Black Book of Sales Secrets.

Good luck on failing enough to win!

There are times when you just gotta get it done.

The car payment can’t wait another month; the mortgage has to be paid by the end of the week; the wife and kids have needs for items now… You know the picture.

So what to do?

There are times when you can’t sit back and wait for the world to get its act together. You can’t wait for the stars and moon to align in your horoscope. You can’t wait for all the many things that are delaying or preventing money from getting into your hands right now.

This is the time to focus on those tasks that bring you money. Focus on those tasks that bring you income. Only focus on those tasks that bring you income. Everything else can wait. This means the television, the games you like to play, the hanging out at the bar, and whatever else you do. This is the time to A-C-T. And that means you have to pull yourself together and FOCUS only on those tasks that bring you income.

Imagine there is a gun to your head and that you have to make things happen regardless if the flowers aren’t blooming, regardless if there is bad weather outside, regardless of any and all distractions from completing your tasks that bring you income. They are only distractions. They don’t bring you income. Ignore them for now.

Learn to pick yourself up and focus on those key items that bring in income. Once your income is rolling, then you can go back to a more comfortable life watching television, movies, or whatever.

And if you need to make more money while doing everything else in life, you should take two immediate steps.

1. Get my book The Black Book of Sales Secrets and read it cover to cover, several times.

2. Get in on the mobile revolution and build up passive income.

Here’s To Your Success!

Do you think that a business can exude the selfconfidence of the owner or partners and manifest in their establishment? Are there places of business that you feel comfortable in buying just about anything they have? Maybe a Starbucks, or a certain type of store? Maybe a certain type of restaurant? And you will go there over and over and think it is an awesome place?

And are there other places of business that you do not trust and will never buy from them?

The difference between those business is just one word: Confidence.
If you have anything to do with selling or presenting products and services on behalf of your company, and you want to get more customers, try increasing your selfconfidence about the products and services that you offer. You may be surprised to see the customer base grow.

There are other factors that evoke selfconfidence. Some we can control, and some we cannot. Focus on what you can control, from the position you have in your company. Doing something, doing anything, is better than doing nothing. Doing a little bit more on a regular basis is enough to tip the scales in your favor.

Look at it this way: People have to buy from somewhere, regardless of what the economy is doing at the moment. Do you want them to buy from you, or your competitor?

Build your selfconfidence in your products and services and the increase of customers will come. Build it and they will come. Learn more about this in The Black Book of Sales Secrets.

The Siena College Research Institute reported Monday that its confidence index for Long Island, New York City and the northern suburbs climbed 1.5 points to 77.9 in May. This means more residents were optimistic about the economy, which would result in more spending. This means we can see an increase in sales of homes, cars, furniture and so forth.

How does confidence happen? How does one get more confidence? Would that really increase sales of our products and services? If so, how does one get more selfconfidence?

First, what is confidence? In business there are several parts: Confidence is having and showing certainty that one has good products and services. Your smile, your willingness to talk to the customer, your beingness (how you carry yourself; how you look and act) all speak volumes to your prospective customers of the selfconfidence you have in your products and services. Being certain that your product is good communicates selfconfidence all by itself.

Your representation gives the prospective customer the feeling that they can depend on or rely on you for a good product or service. It is this selfconfidence that generates the sale.

Do you want to increase your own selfconfidence, and that of your company? Do you want to generate more sales and develop prospects out of thin air? Read this a few times and you will be surprised: The Black Book of Sales Secrets.