3 Ways to Create Better Sales Presentations

I’ve been speaking to a lot of different groups these past few weeks, and have a variety of presentations yet to give in September. Each group is a little different, and I always try and focus some of my material on things that directly impact the audience.

As I was planning for my presentation later this week, I got to thinking about the differences between a speaking presentation and sales presentation. What are the differences?

Both provide information. Both motivate the listener to take action. Both hope for some type of outcome.

So are there really that many differences?

In both cases, your ultimate goal is for someone to take action. If you are presenting to a client, you want them to buy your product or service. If you are presenting to a group, you may wish to make connections with members in the group for future business.

Here are 3 things you can do to help you become better at presenting:

1. Plan carefully
The last thing you want to do is show up to speak in front of a group of people, and not have a polished presentation. It will show immediately, and your expertise will dwindle away. Outline what you are going to say. Provide bullet points for each topic you will cover. Research and find relevant statistics. Have stories and testimonials ready. The more prepared you are, the more your expertise will shine through, the more success you’ll have.

2. Communicate visually
In order for people to have the desire to take action, they have to “see” what you are talking about. Don’t assume they have knowledge on a subject matter unless you know them personally. Start at the beginning. Set the stage. Provide the background and lead them into a current situation. Let them see themselves in your pictures. If you can get them to feel like you understand them and their problems, you have new clients.

3. Present with perfection
I remember starting out in my first business. We had one package we tried to sell to our clients that we really didn’t like, and we felt didn’t provide the best service for our customers. Guess how we sold it?

“Well, its here if you really want it.”
“It’s not the best and doesn’t offer everything you really should have.”
“Its affordable but really doesn’t allow you to have everything you need.”

Yes, we didn’t sell it very well. And the couple of people who did buy it were lousy customers. They were problems all the way through, and quickly taught us a lesson.

If you don’t like something, and can’t sell it with perfection, don’t sell it at all.

Find a friend or relative and talk through your presentation. Can you talk with passion? Do you love what you are doing? Can you sell your information effortlessly? Sales presentations really aren’t about the sales if you love it and are passionate about it.

Your passion will shine through. And people will be attracted to you because of it. And the sales will simply come.

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How To Write An Ezine In Today’s Economy

Newsletters, or Ezines, have always been a great tool for business. I have used several for my businesses over the past few years, and have had a lot of success with them. But in today’s economy, are they still effective? And now when it seems everyone is sending email in greater proportions, can you really gain business with ezines?

Yes. The key to building a great business is to create regular marketing strategies, and use them again and again. Give your prospects and customers what they want, and you’ll be successful.

Whether you’ve been sending ezines for years, or are new to the whole process and are wondering where to begin, let’s look at 7 basic concepts to get you going in the right direction.

1. Setting up your system. Yes, you can create a simple email, and send it to a list you build through your Outlook or other email program. That’s okay with a few subscribers. But it’s not feasible once you have several hundred or even several thousand subscribers. You’ll not only risk shutting down your Outlook, but the server your email account is handled through may also shut you down for spam violations. 

The best way to get started is to set up a newsletter program that makes it easy for you to create your ezine, and keeps you in compliance with spam laws and verifications. I’ve used Aweber for years, and love their service.

2. Speak to your customers. Never write an ezine from your perspective – give your customers what they desire. You may know the technical terms and buzzwords. Yet these may completely frustrate your readers. Give them the information in language they understand and will motivate them to move forward with you.

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Using Twitter To Bring In Business Today

Your a business restaurant owner. You arrive at work before dawn to get ready for the day. You manage people, bring in the food, make sure customers are happy, market the business … and on and on.

So when someone mentions a new thing like Twitter, its easy to discount it and push it aside.

But, if you take a look at it and jump on before the majority of your competitors in your local area, you just may have a new inexpensive marketing technique that will really help you bring in the business when you need it most.

Let’s say your Tuesday’s are your slowest day for lunch. Why not start up a Tuesday Twitter campaign? You send out a Tweet offering a free appetizer or something else of value to your followers – all they have to do is mention you heard it on Twitter.

I just saw a Tweet come through from someone I’m following about a free cup of award winning clam chowder simply for mentioning Twitter. (Too bad I’m not in California, sounds good to me.) I might not be there, but how many are? And how many are planning on taking advantage of this great offer? The re-tweets are still being circulated as I write this.

Building your list is easy. Start with your clients. Give everyone that visits your location a card telling them you’re now on Twitter, and you’ll be offering surprises along the way if they follow you.

Add to the conversation every day. Even if you only have a few minutes of time, use those minutes to tweet and make contacts.

Then create your special promotions. Tuesday Twitter specials. Free appetizers. Free meals with purchase. Free desserts. Make up new specials based on your menu, the time of year, and … well really anything will work.

You’ll quickly see your followers grow. And have a new, FREE way of marketing your business and growing your client list.

Converting Your Website To Spanish

Chances are you are looking for ways to expand your market.

What if you could reach out to a completely untapped market, offering them something in a totally new way? 

Have you ever read a website in its entirely, and by the time you reach the end you know you have to connect with the company? You have to buy their product or try out their service just because they spoke directly to your heart?

That’s the power of great copy.

So let me ask you a question. Which would make better copy for your website?

Where does the photographer’s job end? The day of your wedding? After the images have been presented to you a few weeks later? Or, does it continue from the minute you choose your photographer, and continue for years?

We believe in 100 percent service. After the wedding, our service doesn’t end. We are now a part of the digital revolution, and will provide you with images to share with family and friends all across the world, thanks to the wonders of the Internet. We will provide you with a custom designed storyboard that shows an artistic rendition of your final wedding album. We will provide you with all of the tools necessary to create an elegant story album depicting each moment of your special day. We will provide you with top quality photographs and products that you will be proud to display in your home. And to give as gifts! We will be there for you as other members of you family announce their engagement. We will be there for you to remember how one day changed you life forever!

Or this?

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Do You Market More Or Less In Tough Economic Times?

One of the reasons I feel I’ve always been successful is I watch what others are doing around me, and emulate their success.

If you watch any television lately, or open up any newspaper, you must have noticed the influx of ads by Wal-Mart. They’re everywhere. Last night as I watched Dancing With The Stars, I noticed several commercials each break were from this discount giant.

And they aren’t focusing on having the lowest prices. Just giving you value for your dollar.

You can learn a lot from a company like this. 

1. Don’t stop marketing or slow it down in difficult economic times. Increase it. While others are shutting down, you can actually reach out to more people and have your message heard loud and clear because you don’t have a lot of competition. And you may get great deals on some advertising because they’re having trouble as well and welcome the

2. Repeating is okay. Wal-Mart has just a handful of ads that they play over and over again. It’s not the amount of content they put in front of you. It’s the message they’re trying to convey. They simply want you to know where you can get the most value, especially in tough times.

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Biggest Marketing Tip Secret Is … Build Your List

What’s the biggest marketing secret that will help you grow your business quicker than any other strategy? Building a list.

In traditional marketing, the large companies knew the secret to success was having a huge pool of prospects and customers to go to again and again. If someone requested information, or made a purchase from you, chances are you could turn them into repeat customers. The key was staying in touch with them through a variety of methods.

That same philosophy applies more than ever in today’s technological world as well.  

Blogging is great. So is gaining followers on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. But what happens 5 years from now when Twitter isn’t the top way of communicating? What happens when attentions move to Twitter to “Insert new name here”?

Your followers no longer stay in touch with you on the old media. They move onto something new – something that you may no longer be using yourself.

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7 Steps To Creating The Perfect Small Business Marketing Plan

Everyone talks about having an effective marketing plan. But how many small businesses truly have one? If its been awhile since you looked at yours, pull it out and dust it off. How you look for new clients has changed over the past few years. If your approach to gaining new customers hasn’t changed, maybe its time to try something new. 

Step 1 Decide who your target market is. Hint: It isn’t everyone between the ages of 18 and 80. Niche it down. The more detailed and focused you can gear your products and services to, the easier it will be to find your audience.

Step 2 Create your branding. Once you have your niche in mind, tell it to your prospects through your website, blog, and marketing materials. Make it obvious where your business focus is. Don’t say “accounting for small businesses” if you’re really targeting “accounting and tax help for small retail stores”. Be obvious.

Step 3 Educate your clients instead of marketing to them. How perceptive are you to marketing now? Do you regularly find new products and services through ads and direct mail? Chances are the answer is no. Today more than ever, people want knowledge first, and products/services second. We want to gather information to educate ourselves on what our next purchase will be. The company that educates the best is usually where a purchase is made.

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Does Marketing Really Work Anymore?

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a variety of comments and questions related to my article Find Success Through An Online Strategy.

I know a lot of you can relate to Joe’s email, and maybe have first hand experience with doing just a little bit of everything, and none of it really working.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, I’m also willing to bet that what worked well three, two, or even one year ago isn’t working the same way anymore. 

If you always mailed out postcards and had a 1 percent sales rate, that’s probably fallen to ½ percent.

Or maybe you’re referral partners just aren’t sending over the same amount of clients they did in the past.

Why is that?

Because marketing as a whole is changing.

And I attribute this to two things.

1. There are a ton of channels opening up all the time.
2. People don’t pay attention the same way.

There are a ton of channels opening up all the time.
What are your options for getting your name out to potential clients? Of course there’s the traditional channels: postcards, phone book, newspaper, magazine, trade publication, radio, television, etc.

And now there are also online channels: email, website, blog, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, SEO, etc.

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Find Success Through An Online Strategy

I remember when we built our first website 15 years ago for our first business. I knew we would find success online, and I was so excited to get a site up and running. Because there wasn’t a lot of strategy involved in web development, we just started building. And adding, changing, and growing.

We put everything we had into the site, and changed it all the time. Because there wasn’t a lot of other tools to work with, we kept at it.

But what about today?

You can start a website. Then a blog. Then join a social site. And another. And when you have 20 different things to do every day, another site comes along that you just have to join.

When does it all end?

Joe emailed me last week. “I’ve been following your advice for several months now. I have a site. I started a blog. I have a Facebook account, and I just opened up a Twitter account. I showcase my work on Flickr. I have a newsletter that I send out once a month. What do I do now – I’m still not bringing in clients?”

So I spent a few minutes and visited his website, blog and social sites.

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Small Business Internet Marketing In Colorado

If you’re in Denver and looking for someone to help grow your business, is it important to find a small business Internet marketing specialist in Colorado?

Or is it more important to find someone with expertise in exactly what you’re looking for?

Now more than ever, the world is flat. Expertise is more important than location. And with as fast as things change in the online world, there are a ton of people claiming to be specialists when they really have no clue as to how things work.

Just this morning, I met with a “marketing specialist”. She was recently hired by a company to completely overhaul their entire marketing strategy, including their website. So we met to discuss website strategy. She had a ton of ideas for their site – none of which she really knew anything about.

• She felt search engine placement wasn’t important – nobody really finds clients online anyway.
• She wanted a simple site with a little SEO – no reason to blog, all the info should be on the original site anyway.
• She was planning on creating a Facebook profile for the company. Profile for a company? Hmmm… sure hope she doesn’t get banned.

She had what I call the Old World Marketing Block. She was trained and grew up in old world marketing, and has no clue as to how to market businesses today using today’s tools.

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