Buying partners

When we sell, we’re usually on the other side.

Our clients perceive us this way.

Like two teams playing against each other - client vs. seller.

To sell - we need shares of thought...

... and trust, is the foundation for acquiring shares of thought.

Psychologically, we need to become buying partners with our clients.

To sell, we need to think and act like partners.

Positive statements and arguments, make us opposite players again.

Selling equals playing for the same team.

We show our clients the shadows of our products, as well as the bright parts.

Completely unaltered.

If it’s not the right product for that certain client, than we're direct about it.

Always: the right product, to the right client.

Invisible transactions

Our doubts and objections are often based on unanswered questions in our minds...

...and unanswered questions are good reasons for not buying.

As possible clients, we don't have the will and time to ask 100 questions.

We want to ask ourselves – and get fast answers from outward without any vocal effort.

Smart marketers supply us with all the answers we individually need, without overloading us with information we don’t need.

Examples:

Scenario 1: I see a store, it's dark and I can’t tell what's inside. What does it sell? I’m not going in – I don’t have time.

Scenario 2: I’m on the phone in a bakery. What does this croissant cost? There’s no price tag –- it's not that important.

Scenario 3: I see an ad saying: “3.99*…” – There's small lettering at the bottom. The offer seems cloudy… I’ll ignore this.

As marketers – we know what people want to know before they want to buy. We know every possible mental-objection and every important answer.

Time is potential money, and when we react before others act, we save a pace.

We respect the potential money of others because we adapt to a situation without letting the situation happen physically.

We lengthen the life of our customers by doing this - We save lifetime.

About patient undivided individual attention

Your will to listen, is the subtle testimony that you leave in the subconscious layers of her mind.

You don’t have to say much – you just have to ask questions that she’d love to answer.

You’re not a listening rock – you’re a listening lake: your whole body is responding, by syncing your nonverbal reactions, to the statements of your counterpart.

You’re saying everything, without saying things vocally.

She can feel that you love to listen - that’s why you'd always get your point across when your time has come.

You’d never give unwanted advice/indirect criticism or direct criticism.

Instead: would you leave ideas in the mind of your counterpart by phrasing them as indirect questions?

Incomparable – you don't seem interested in yourself, your ideas and your interests.

Are you interested in people?

Expanding the results

I believe thankfulness is a key-quality for growth and success.

Too much is thought of as given, whereas receiving - is always linked to the decision of someone else.

We win through and with others.

Winning in a modern world means broadening and expanding the results, so others can benefit from their contribution to the process, that lead us to our goals.

It’s about sharing the prize.

Fresh and forthcoming thankfulness comes in different shapes and frames.

It’s not just the handwritten thanks-note, the phone call, the statement… it’s the way you make people notice that it’s also their achievement.

It's the stage you create to give thankful thoughts a clear mental picture in the mind of others.

Remember: high trees have deep roots that need to grow facedown...

...so grow facedown after growing face up.

Give away the award and the attention to the people that helped.

It’s the best thing you could do.

The way you where before you became successful, is the best way to become successful.

Just start to win

We often get caught up in the planning process.

We think of the tools, the requirements, the qualifications, the tenth step, what people will think… etc.

We often try to aim at the 100 - while taking the first 20-30 steps. I believe this leads us to fear of criticism and procrastination. It makes us wait till everything is perfect... even though anything is improvable.

Start taking the steps - even if they are wrong.

When you see, that your thoughts are becoming a reality, it makes you feel energized and motivated – it’s exactly what you need to keep going in the beginning (before the action becomes habit).

Remember: when you start – it’s halfway done.

Gifts

As customers, we love to get caught off guard by sudden and personalized gifts.

Surprising gifts are strong and bright symbols, and they are a great tool to build trust and fascination.

They stand for some of the most important things we want and need in life:

- Friendship
- Love
- Attention
- Interest
- Something for nothing
- Possessions

As marketers we use gifts to:

- Build habits
- Generate trust
- Put the counterpart into action
- Indirectly demonstrate another asset
- Engage people
- Viralize the experience through mouth-to-mouth
- Puzzle and leave people guessing, thinking and remembering
- Construct a standard
- Influence

Gifts generate an emotional memory of whatever you’re putting the subtle spotlight on.

Gifts generate the strong need to give something back to the source. Whereas the value or size of the thing we give in return is irrelevant.

Gifts should always fit into context and never leave your counterpart guessing for criptical reasons to your actions.

Base your gifts on friendship, honesty and the will to plant an improvement into someone’s vista.

The timing should be either ripples of staccato freebies - or waves of larger impact.

Smile

When it comes to interaction, the subtle layers of our communication make the impact.

It doesn’t matter if you’re interacting face-to-face or if you’re calling someone by phone.

Customize the subtle information you send out, to have the desired impact.

Here’s some examples for you:

1. Gestures
2. Your looks (your eyes)
3. Your posture
4. Vocal melody (Voice)
5. Accentuation (Voice)
6. Nonverbal communications (Smiling, breathing, facial expression, etc.)
7. Dress style (Adapted, matched to your counterpart, common, uncommon, underlining something, etc.)
8. Colors
9. Background sounds (Music containing certain contents, relaxing spheres, etc.)
10. Surroundings (visual surroundings, emotional surroundings, associative environments, etc.)

Remember: Target-oriented communication is always subtle and indirect.

Selling a service

When you’re selling services, you’re selling a desired future state.

You’re offering something that people can’t touch or see.

You’re offering a story… a potential reality.

To succeed - you need to bring your potential reality to life...

...Make it feel like a real, touchable - and bright example of your benefits.

Put your services into a physical and exemplified form in your presentation.

Sharpen your presentation with:

1. Symbols, sketches & drafts
2. Photos, graphics, 3d-models & physical-prototypes
3. Interactive videos, slideshows & powerpoint presentations

Simplify the process behind the buy.

Show your client exactly what definite results you're going to deliver (step-by-step).

Make a promise – generate trust - and keep the promise.

Injecting feelings into brand relationships

Most brands I know, feel cold and neutral.

The whole process of buying or getting the service feels planned, automated and scripted.

Nothing is personal about the whole condition of being a customer (in most cases).

First, it all starts with flowers of speech, and then develops into mechanical, specified processes (it often becomes worse after the buy).

Both sequences are unauthentic and transparent states – which customers see through quickly and acknowledge that the brand doesn’t care about the perspective of the client.

Small flourishing stores around the corner, with one employee and 45 customers give great examples on how personal, varied and honest things can get. Think of the possibilities and the opportunities…

As a customer. I want surprising actions – with real feelings behind them – actions that make me feel like I’m experiencing something unique that only a unique client like me is going to live through with this provider.

As a customer, I want to be treated like a special somebody.

I don’t want to receive automated templates of confirmation E-mails or talk to 10 different unconcerned people when I interact with a company.

I don’t want to pay the service hotline extra money for asking questions about my broken DSL - and I definitely don’t want to receive any letters implicating that I should show up in the branch office of my bank to receive a ready-scripted salestalk from somebody that doesn’t have the “I-care” expression on their face.

The time I give to the brand – I want it to be worth something – for me.

I want to remember myself uniquely interacting with that certain brand in 15 years.

Plus I want to have a personal history with that certain brand.

How can you fill the brand-experience with feelings, personalized interaction and surprising bafflement through free and extra need satisfaction?

There are plenty of ways.

Hitting the behavioral gaps

We all know that people are the foundation for a long-term success in business.

But some of us are completely stuck to standard models of behavior, related to our own standardized behavioral methods in business.

For example: forgetting to answer that email within 3 days makes the other person feel ignored and completely irrelevant. I know this isn’t on purpose – but that’s what people think when you keep them on hold. They think you consciously forgot about them – plus they think you aren’t organized.

Behavioral gaps are positive behavioral patterns - that the critical mass often lacks. Hit these gaps to positively stick-out.

Here’s how you can hit certain behavioral gaps in business:

1. Letting others win (without anticipating anything in return).

2. Laying the focus on others.

3. Actively listening to others.

4. Transfering new opportunities or potential customers to others.

5. Giving away potential power to others.

I believe a key-factor in coming forward is not prioritizing the value of people through irregular action. Treating everyone with the same tenor is a good way to win.

When you flawlessly execute the stuff – your competitors don’t even have on their agenda – you’ll come up fast. Trust me on this.

The perception of information

The search for an answer leads people to asking the right question.

The answer could be your ad.

But when your ads look like ads, they look like spam...

So whenever you want to reach certain people with a message, your message should be:

1. personalized
2. relevant
3. perfectly timed
4. embedded in something needed (like information)
5. appealing
6. helpful
7. free
8. easy to share
9. brisk
10. engaging

Our audience became immune against stereotypical trash - so we adapt to the change by reacting different than we used to..

This brought us brand new opportunities.

As consumers, most of us have a filter in our perception of the outside world.
The filter helps us deal with all the unimportant information we're getting confronted with daily.

Everything we associate with the characteristics of an ad...gets blocked by our filter. Just like a firewall.

So as good marketers, we know how to avoid the "ports" that are blocked, and use the ports that are open, to tell our story.

Good examples for open ports are: the sense of smelling and feeling.

Hearing and seeing are almost completely shut - so start opening the filter over the nose or the hands of your audience. After that you can continue by using the other ports.

To reach open ports, your message needs to get noticed...it needs to pop-out.

To pop-out, the body of the message should look like a unique, scarce, unknown object. No, not a poster or a t-shirt. Something you might need to identify to make sure you're not overlooking something of relevant value.

Remember: the interaction timeline has to expand – so when you help your audience learn your message by teaching in an appealing, interesting, visual style - your message is more likely to spread.

If you help prospects learn your story - they can easily share with others.

Splitting the value

We love to get more of something for less of something – it’s simple.

For example: A large event has to happen - and you're in control.

$500 equals 1 DJ for 1 Night

- or –

$500 equals 10 DJ’s, for 50$ per 1 hour each.

That way you can put 10 DJ’s on your ads…

…plus you get the viral message out over 10 DJ’s that naturally promote their next gigs.

Just an example – demonstrating how you can give your value more mass.

You can do this with anything you can split.

Split the value and market each peace as a separate benefit.

When we buy – we always compare – so put more weight on the side you're selling.

The extra rest, almost feels like something for nothing.

Improving the difference

I strongly believe that improvement is the best form of change…

And there’s a point where Improvement begins to take shape –- it’s asking the right questions.


Examples:

1. What’s the problem with this old solution?

2. What standardized aspect of the thing is actually a disadvantage?

3. What disadvantage can I transform into an asset? And so on…


Remember: When we ask the right questions, we can surely get clear solutions to our problems.

Think of the assets of the “thing” you want to improve.

What are the weaknesses of the assets? (Nothing is perfect.)

Make a big list of all the possible improvements.

The more you'll practically improve – the more you’ll pop-out in the crowd of “just-different” and new stuff.

Improvement is the measure for better – not just different.

And the opposite of something is not the improvement of all the improvable aspects. So don’t just be the opposite.

Make it different in many improved ways.

It'll be great.

About motivation

We’re all powered by our motives.

When we do stuff – we do it because we want to do it.

But why do we want to do it?

We do it because we loose something if we don’t do anything…

Or gain something if we do it.

So when we connect a task to a gain – we’re more likely to do it, right?

Based on needs and wants -- here are some motives for taking action:

1. Money
2. Health
3. Fame
4. Attention
5. Sex
6. Power

We either gain or loose one of those... That’s why we move.

To become faster

1. Simplify and condense everything to become faster. Only keep what you always use – put the rest into the archive.

2. Sync your work schedule to the climax of your physiological output curve. The most usual climax periods are 8-12am & 6-10pm.

3. Organize yourself – set: deadlines, reminders, timers, agendas and prioritize.

4. Take action towards that definite goal. Little goals are the enabling factors leading you to your main goal. They enable your forthcoming.

5. Use the phone as often as possible. Email is ok – but the phone is faster and more personal. Try fax if you want your message to pop-out and get noticed.

6. Know when to pause. It’s good to pause (between climax points) when steps are taken. This will give you more inner strength to continue. Remember: the ocean backs up to build the tsunami.

7. Bundle your force onto one thing. Connect your efforts towards your main goal. Don’t try to be the best in everything.

Motion equals energy and energy equals motion.

Streaming a "no" away

A “no” is just a temporary obstacle on the road to success.

Accepting a “no” is acceptance of temporary failure.

Never accept temporary failure as permanent failure.

A "No" has a meaning (for most people).

But if you take the meaning OFF of the “No”, you’ll eventually get the “yes”.

It can take weeks or years… but it WILL happen.

It’s about persistence. Don’t be too forceful – just BE persistent.

Be patient. Patience is a form of endurance.

Endurance is the foundation of persistence.

It’s not about going fast – it’s about going slow without stopping.

If you go slow – the “no” will melt away like a rock in a stream of water.


X: “I really don’t think that this would be the right decision.”

Y: “Alright, but I’d like you to keep thinking about it anyway - Ok?”

X: “OK - but my decision is probably not going to change."


Keep streaming... you'll get there.

How to reanimate the music business

Producing music is cheaper than ever and yet, as customers, we still don’t get personalized track listings. Would you like to get individual entertainment bundles from every artist. I would.

As marketers, we could bypass major parts of the CD promotion and distribution budget into the live-entertainment and live-advertising budget.

The CD should transform itself into a live-entertainment medium with a built-in store in the coming years.

As customers, we still pay for and enjoy experiencing shows and concerts. A live show happens more often than a CD release and the industry could get more out of this.

Got 6 answers?

- What could a show look like in 50 years?

- What practical steps do we need to take, to make a show like that happen next year?

- How can we maximize the show frequency?

- How can we broadcast every show live from every artist? Manage subscribers? Charge?

- How can we make the show bigger, better and cheaper for everyone?

- How can we stay directly connected to our customers so we can offer personalized mp3 or mp4 sets of entertainment?

Go ahead, feel free, leave comments and share your thoughts...

CD’s aren’t completely dead, but it’s time to remaster that old classic.

How do you like it?

If you want to show your customers that you care about yourself more than you care about them, you should use the words “I” and “We” more often. Use them in every sentence.

I once read an ad saying: “We need help because we…” –- and the page flipped.

People love to hear the words “you” and “your” all the time.

Do you think you like it? How does it have to be to fit your needs?

What was it you wanted to sell me?

How to satisfy clients with refreshed value

We all get used to the stuff we once bought.

But as value fades, you can put new layers of unexpected (personalized) value on top of the old value.

Refreshing the perception of the product you once sold, and keeping your client excited about having bought, is the goal when it comes down to reloading an old product or reactivating a good customer.

A new value layer gives your brand more personality and makes your client feel important, remembered and cared about again.

New layers put your company back in the game, driving new clients back to your company over mouth-to-mouth and other channels.

Brian bought a car, and after a few years, he received a personal looking box with a handwritten letter, stating that he could receive a free new paintjob or better seats as a gift if he wanted to!

If I was Brian, I’d feel as if I just bought something from that company.

I’d tell my friends about it.

I’d be enthusiastic about it.

How would you feel?

Plan like driving backwards using the rear mirror

This is a very light and easy way to change your perspective of thinking without being bound to linear timeframes. Short: it's an easy and great way to do the planning.

One. Envision what you or your company is supposed to look like in the year 2015. (Don’t think practical at this point.)

Two. Look back and feel like it’s the year 2015. What do you see? What do you sell? How do you work? How do you feel? What do you think? Why did things change? What markets are you in? What do you expect of others at this point? What does your industry look like? What happened to the economy? (This is the pool-of-enabling-factors*)

Three. Take your vision and compare it to the practical possibilities. How did you practically take action in the year 2008, 2009 … 2014, 2015?

Four. This is now a project with a long lifecycle. It’s not a dream anymore.

Five. Start working your plan the other way around again. Import it to the real world. Keep putting more details into your plan. As you walk along – more details (*) will come.

This is a great way to move forward faster…you should try this.

Finding potential power in powerful thoughts

5 thinking moves that I love - because they powerfully work:

1.) Completely relaxing the mind and body while thinking about the unknown factors.

2.) Keeping busy without putting any stressful weight on top… staying in motion.

3.) Taking notes… keywords… photos… saving stuff - collecting the new known factors.

4.) Not thinking about practical action while dreaming. Just listening to the inner voice.

5.) Telling a potential partner that this is ready to get done. Now! Developing and answering important questions together…Envisioning the goal - using powerful words and examples.



Filling the gap? Translating it into a reality? Want to share? I’d love to hear.

Inventing products for hidden needs

I recently understood that a lot of people create cool stuff. But than it passed through my mind that our customers don’t care about how different or new stuff is. They just say:
“What is it?”

The needs, wants and dreams of people. That’s what counts before we dive into the invention process.

The mass of all good inventors are aiming at the known needs. But what about the unknown needs? Awesome inventors love to think about those even more.

Think about stuff you want, but aren’t completely aware of... (like waiting in line at the grocery store for example – you’d love to save time but have to follow the selling process of the store).

What can you create for other like-minded people that have the same niche-thought?

If you know the hidden need, you know the new needed product.

Positive behavioral addiction is customer loyalty 2.0

The positive opposite of a bad addiction is a good habit which leads to improvement.

Is staying actively connected to your product or service leading your customers to a huge improvement?

Think about electric light. Needing it was the basic need in the beginning. Later using it became basic. It’s not harmful, and we all use it so much that we're not even really aware of the usage anymore. No contracts – just habitual usage which developed out of habitual needs.

Of course you can go the opposite way and put addicting games on your social network to make it magnetic. Or you could invent the new electric light bulb.

You'll do the right thing.