Brian Giese's Blog

How To Cut Costs and Get A Better Response

I’ve been asked, “How can I cut costs and find a more practical way to get my target market to respond to my direct marketing campaigns?”

First, determine who your best customers are, then target direct marketing efforts at companies who are similar.

Rank current customers by three criteria:

• How much revenue do they represent over time?
• How profitable might each customer might be?
• How well do their needs “fit” what you have to offer?

Then look for similarities among the unique attributes of these top customers.

• What industries are they in?
• What is similar about how they use your products?
• Are they large, medium or small?
• Where are they located?
• Who are the key decision-makers and what are their titles?

Then buy some outside lists of companies and contacts that match and add them to your direct campaign. Focus your marketing with these direct marketing strategies and you’ll improve the overall quality of your campaigns. And remember, test everything.

The New I (made-a-mistake) Phone

What's a name worth? Looks like Cisco and Apple will spend millions of dollars in a high-stakes battle to find out -- and the winner will walk away with the rights to the coveted name "iPhone."

In a lawsuit filed last Wednesday, Cisco asked a judge to forbid Apple from using the name "iPhone," a Cisco trademark since 2000. The case hinges (mostly) on whether Apple's new phone could confuse shoppers looking to buy Cisco's iPhones, which is a Linksys product line. Patent and trademark attorneys seem to think that Cisco will likely win IF the case goes to court. Who knows. I have to believe that Apple is smarter that that. Or are they?

5 Worst Habits of Unsuccessful Salespeople

Here are some habits of the worst sellers. I see these over and over again and looking at these (I'm hoping) will give you some insight on what to avoid. Some sellers make lots of mistakes, here are a few;

1. Thinking you can do it all yourself.
Selling is a a numbers game. It used to be that you could spend your time smiling and dialing but these days calling, integrated with marketing, is a better approach. Cold calls have very low probability by themselves but comblined with good marketing campaigns can be very effective in B2B sales.

2. Talking too much.
Salespeople like to talk. The fact is, the best sellers are great listeners and they use silence really well. Listen when you want your customers to talk more. Silence is appropriate when you are listening so you don't interrupt your customer - ever.

3. Doing the same things in all situations.
One of the predictors of sales success is the ability to think on your feet. Some salespeople start their sales calls the same way and act the same way with every type of customer. It just doesn't work, especially at executive levels.

4. Expecting things to happen now.
Some things just take time. If you want a piece of business badly enough you may have to be persistent and try to make contact over a period of months. Be patient and don't give up if the account is worth it. Salespeople have to be able to deal with ambiguity and the unknown and patience is powerful when it's combined with persistence.   

5. Thinking it's easy.
People think selling is easy only because the great salespeople make it look easy. "Easy" really only comes with lots of years of experience doing the right things over and over again and getting the planned (subconsious) results. Until then, prepare!

For another view of this topic read Stephen Schiffmans book, "The 25 Most Common Sales Mistakes: And How to Avoid Them"