Getting The Sale

How To Generate Sales From A Business Blog (In the space of a baseball season)

by Russ Henneberry

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Generating sales isn’t easy.

If it were, there wouldn’t be gridlock traffic at 8 am and 5 pm every weekday.

You’ve heard that business blogging is a powerful way to generate sales.

It is.

Business blogging will generate sales.  But first, you will likely endure a struggle similar to a 162 game baseball season.

Seeing a pattern

I was laid off from my job in February of 2009.

By the time baseball’s Spring Training schedule was firing up in April, I had started a blog.  After a grinding three months of blogging in obscurity, I received my first comment (that wasn’t motivated by pity.)  In October, as the World Series of Baseball was taking center stage, my blog was generating sales for my business.

Over the past two years, I have been studying the path that sales generating blogs have taken.  It’s a challenging path.  A path not unlike that of a grueling and lengthy baseball season.

The actions recommended below are by no means the only path to creating a sales generating blog.  But it is the path I have taken to sell both products and services through my blog, and the path of others I have observed.

Are you ready?  Let’s play ball!

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Learn To Increase Sales (While standing in line at the grocery store)

by Russ Henneberry

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A sale is a response.

It is a response to a call to action.  It is a response to marketing.

So, if you want to learn to increase sales, you must learn to increase response.

When you stand in line at the grocery store you have access to 100′s of lessons in response.  As you stand, unsuspecting,  in the checkout line you are targeted by the best direct response marketers in the world.

Usually to your left, you will find a dozen or so magazine covers printed with headlines that are proven to create response.  They draw consumers in like magnets and they get consumers to respond.

Where to apply these lessons

The lessons you can learn from these headlines can be applied in literally thousands of marketing and sales activities.

Here are just a few:

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The #1 Obstacle To Selling Services (And 3 ways your website can overcome it)

by Russ Henneberry

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The sale is on the line.

You are sitting in a coffee shop that is halfway between your office and the prospects office.

You arrived on time.  Your clothes are neatly pressed.

You’ve explained your service confidently.  The benefits are made clear to the prospect.  Price has been discussed and doesn’t seem to be a problem.

You have addressed every objection brilliantly.

Only one thing stands between you and the sale — TRUST.

Your prospect is sitting across from you with one last question:

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3 Super Heroes Your Tiny Business Can Become To Defeat Big Competitors

by Russ Henneberry

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It’s a bird!  It’s a plane!  It’s a tiny business owner!

Being a tiny business owner has disadvantages.  Big Bucket, Inc. (your big competitor) has an established brand, a sales force and enough cash in the bank to ride out even the worst economic downturn.

But being a tiny business owner also has its advantages.

If you use these advantages properly, your tiny business will gain the super powers it needs to defeat Big Bucket, Inc.

Here are some of the super heroes your tiny business can become to defeat big competitors:

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A Sales Stifling Mistake Most Businesses Make (And How To Fix It)

by Russ Henneberry

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Here’s the scary thing.

Cigarette smoking is the cause of 1 out of every 5 deaths in America.  Nearly 500,000 people will die from smoking related illnesses in the U.S. this year.

Smoking can cause heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and lung disease… just to name a few.

Yet, people continue to smoke.

Why?

Because it is human nature to believe, “it won’t happen to me.”

No matter how much evidence is compiled suggesting that “it” is very likely happen to them, people aren’t very motivated by prevention.

They are much more interested in a cure.

Does your marketing position you as a prevention or a cure?

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How To Get More Sales Appointments By Removing “Do Not Disturb” Signs

by Russ Henneberry

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You see the “Do Not Disturb” signs, but you ignore them.

Your prospects aren’t answering the door.

When you beat on the door, your prospects lock it.  Go away.

I get it.  You need sales.  You need cash.  Cash keeps the lights on, pays your salary and allows you to fulfill other projects that are already working.

But the “Do Not Disturb” sign is not going away.

Hang in there though… there is a way to get past that “Do Not Disturb” sign and get more sales appointments.  But first, let’s understand how the sign got there in the first place.

The Internet is the problem

In 1975 my grandfather had a problem.

He needed an advertising and PR consultant for his small grocery store chain in rural Missouri.  His plan to expand his business into neighboring towns would require him to step up his advertising and PR efforts for the launch of the new stores.

So, he pulled out the yellow pages and set appointments with several agencies in St. Louis.  He also instructed his secretary to allow any salespeople that were cold calling from advertising and PR agencies to see him.

The salespeople came calling armed with the usual:

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11 Ways To Make Business Connections By Removing “Networking Event Camouflage”

by Russ Henneberry

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Ever attend a networking event and feel invisible?
Make Business Connections

You walk in and you immediately start thinking…

Why did I come to this event? I should have stayed home, I have plenty of great stuff on my DVR and some left over thai food in the fridge.

It sucks. It’s uncomfortable.

There are a million ways to make yourself more approachable at networking events: wear a smile, wear a name tag, practice your elevator speech, et cetera.

But there is no method that comes close to rivaling these methods. The eleven methods described below will make you feel like an ‘A list’ celebrity arriving at the Oscars at your next networking event.

Benefactor Before Beggar

You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.
~ Zig Ziglar

When we decide to attend a networking event we often think about what is in it for us. I will make new business connections, maybe get a new client, and chow down on some of those awesome chicken wings they have at these events. :)

All of that is potentially true. If you attend a networking event, it may provide you with all of that and more.

And it may not.

In fact, if you walk into a networking event “cold” you will often leave with little more than a chicken wing stain.

One of the major goals of any public networking event is to attract more quality people. Without quality people, the event fails.

So, the organizers of the event want more quality people. And hey, you know some quality people. If you don’t, you have a bigger problem than networking event camouflage.

If you want to be a hit at your next event, promote the event using your network.

Guaranteed, this will get the attention of the event organizers and any other stakeholders in the event. Believe me, if you go out of your way to promote someone’s event, you will become a celebrity at that event.

Here’s how to make those new business connections…

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The “Chutes And Ladders” Guide To The Simple Sales Success Formula

by Russ Henneberry

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Simple Sales Success FormulaRemember the childhood game Chutes and Ladders?

You spin the dial.  You land on a ladder.  Bingo — you are transported to a space that puts you way ahead in the game.  You spin again.  You land on a chute, and back you go.

Building sales is this way.  You spin the dial.  You hit a ladder and you zoom ahead in the mind of your prospect.  You spin again, you land on a chute — and there goes your sale.

Sales is a function of trust.  We won’t buy if we don’t first trust the person or the brand.

But fortunately, the actions you need to take to build sales-generating trust are not as arbitrary as spinning a dial.

Think about your closest friend.

Do you remember meeting your friend for the first time?  Do you remember when you had very little trust in them?  After all, you just met.

What happened?  Why do you trust them now?

Simple Sales Formula

Simple Sales Success Formula

Actually, two things happened:

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A Proven Method For Unleashing New Sales

by Russ Henneberry

 

Unleashing New Sales

What is keeping you from unleashing new sales?

Know this:  A good percentage of your target market would love to do business with you — but they can’t.

Something is stopping them.

They have both interest in your solutions and funding to pay you.  But they can’t buy.

Something is obstructing their path.

Provide a way through or around these obstructions and you will “unplug” a gush of new sales.

Big Bucket, Inc Removes Obstructions Regularly

Big Bucket, Inc. is bigger than you and has more resources than you.  One way they use these resources is to remove obstructions to new sales.

Example:  Toyota doesn’t just sell cars.  They know that the biggest barrier between their prospects and their product is a loan.  So, they offer financing to remove this barrier.

Example:  GoDaddy knows that the biggest barrier between their prospects and buying domain names is that they don’t know how to design a website.  So, they offer website design as part of the domain purchase.

How To Identify Your Prospects Obstructions

In order to find the obstructions that are blocking new sales you must look “upstream” and “downstream” from your product or service.

Follow these steps:

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TBMP Radio: How To Refine Your Sales Process With Bill Prenatt

by Russ Henneberry

Bill Prenatt is co-owner of Simply Successful, LLC, an organization that specializes in low and no cost growth solutions for entrepreneurs and family businesses.   He is one of the sharpest minds I have ever encountered in the area of sales and particularly refining the sales process.

Bill is also founder of Experts 4 Entrepreneurs, a business community whose tag line is Don’t Fly Alone.  E4E is a group of experts in nearly every facet of business that have joined together to share their knowledge with business owners.    In Bill’s former life he was a Sales Executive and Sales Trainer with Allan Foods.

In this episode you will learn:

  • The “numbers” that can predict your sales success
  • The Sales Power Formula
  • The 4 C’s of Selling
  • and a ton more great tips about refining your sales process

Enjoy the interview and while you’re at it, check out Bill’s website.

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