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Selling vs Marketing

By Christian

The mentality that selling is bad or loathsome is pervasive. The more I talk about it, the more I’m confronted with the misconceptions people have. Even blogging A-listers and well-known social media consultants proudly express their preference for marketing over sales. Sales is broadly viewed as distasteful, and that is simply unfortunate, because it spells a huge number of missed opportunities. Marketing and sales overlap in fundamental ways, and to think you can do one or the other, especially when it comes to social media marketing where personal engagement is a key component, is a big mistake that will dilute your effectiveness to no end.

Marketing Works. So Does Sales.

Marketing works. So does sales. They are different skill sets, and a business owner needs to know how to use both. Surely many businesses have operated purely on marketing in the past. And this is what has allowed a fear of sales to develop. But social media marketing is becoming more and more crucial, and the more social media becomes an indispensable component to business, the more sales skills will become a requirement for success.

That’s why I’m using Next Level Blogger to spread the word about the importance of learning how to sell while most other bloggers are still focusing on ads. This is the direction business blogging is going.

As business owners, we need to learn that selling is not manipulation. It is not some black hat, malicious tactic. It is not the act of underhandedly trying to extort our customers. What a simplistic and inaccurate way of looking at it! Sales is a skill set. Nothing more. Nothing less. It teaches you how to engage people on a personal level, effectively and skillfully matching problems and solutions to a mutually beneficial end. It can be used to truly offer an invaluable service to our customers and clients.

Sales is Not Evil, but it IS a Super Power >:-)

Like any skill set, sales skills can be used for both good and evil. It is no different than the skills an attorney learns for navigating our legal system or that which a physician learns for solving problems of the body. Any skill set can be used for good or harm. Unfortunately sales has been abused (as is the case for ALL fields of expertise, but I digress), and it has been misunderstood for many years.

Traditional business models have allowed this misconception to perpetuate. But of course, traditional business models are crumbling these days, and that is why I’m preaching the importance of learning these essential skills, which I teach to clients. Marketing works. But combining sales and marketing in a skillful manner makes you invincible. It is a super power!

Seriously though, if you know marketing you can make a great living, and that is a beautiful skill to have. But if you know how to sell, you are recession-proof. Period. And that is a killer skill to have as well. Why would you not want both?

If Sales is Evil, then So is Your Car

You can use a car to destroy property or even kill someone. That doesn’t make driving evil or underhanded. I find it ironic that sales gets a bad wrap while marketing is touted as a more ethical and honest way to conduct business. Give me a break. I’m tempted to accuse people who say this crap of being high-minded and elitist, but I know it’s not the case. It’s just that they haven’t had the same experiences I’ve had. They don’t know the power of sales. Marketing has been abused and used to convey inaccurate and misleading messages for generations. It is no less a means of distraction and coercion than anything else.

The reason marketing has become the preferred method of building a business is not because it’s “better” or “more effective”. It’s only played out this way because it allows business owners to run their businesses from a distance…without getting emotionally or personally involved with their customers. Put more simply, it’s less messy. I don’t mean to downplay the power of marketing here. But marketing does allow you to remain detached, while sales puts you in the thick of it. It’s scary, and when something is scary our minds come up with all kinds of excuses for not doing it. But excuses don’t build successful businesses, do they?

Well, the days that we will be able to get away with running our businesses without personal engagement are numbered. This means we need to learn how to engage people on a personal level and help them solve their problems. There’s a word for that. It’s called “sales”. And if selling makes me evil, baby I don’t wanna be good >:)(just kidding)

Do you avoid selling to your customers, clients or blog readers? Do you find it difficult to ask for people to buy things? Do you feel selling is selfish, unethical or rude?

Speak Your Mind

By Christian

I just wanted to thank you all…everyone who has taken a minute to respond to my user survey for Next Level Blogger. One of the key things I preach to clients is to get all the data you can from your visitors, customers and clients…and then don’t skip the crucial next step: FOLLOW THROUGH ON IT!

Don’t just get information from your visitors and then fail to implement it into your plan! You guys and gals are AWESOME for speaking your mind and letting me know what you think about Next Level Blogger. I want to confirm with you that I AM listening to your feedback, and I am already in the process of following through on what you’ve shared with me 🙂

So far, you’ve given me input on what type of issues and concerns you’d like to see addressed here, and you’ve given me some awesome ideas for upcoming articles on blogging, monetizing, internet marketing and more, so be on the look out for them!

If you read my articles or ebooks, and you haven’t submitted a survey yet…please do so! It will take you about one minute. Seriously…and I absolutely WILL read your input, and I absolutely WILL follow through on it 🙂 Speak your mind! Let me know what you love about Next Level Blogger, what you hate and what you’d like to see next. Thanks again!

Take the Next Level Blogger Survey 🙂

Who are Your Advocates?

By Christian

Every business has them. Most business owners are oblivious to them. That’s where you and I need to be different.

What is an advocate? An advocate is a fan of your business. Someone you’ve worked with or someone who has bought from you. They know what you do, like what you do and truly believe you bring real value. They have no problem sharing their belief with their friends and peers. When someone has a question about something that relates to what you do, they don’t hesitate to say “You should really talk to so-and-so. They’re the best in the business.” You gotta love an advocate!

But ironically most business owners DON’T love their advocates! Mostly because they don’t know about them. This is a step we cannot afford to ignore.

Identifying Advocates

I mentioned every business has advocates. Is this true? It really is. If you’ve done business for any length of time, you no doubt have some real fans. See if you really sucked and everyone you work with is disappointed, you’re simply not going to be in business for very long! So if you’re in business, yes you have advocates. And it’s essential to take measures to identify them.

How do you find them? There is a highly specialized technique I use that I was taught by a guru many years ago. I ask. You should too!

When someone buys something from you or subscribes to your newsletter or works with you as a client, etc…ask them how they found you. This is old school, and oddly enough many businesses just don’t do this.

Are you going to get an answer 100% of the time? Absolutely not. It truly is impossible to get perfect results with this. The beautiful thing is that it doesn’t have to be flawless. You just need to make a concerted effort. It will pay off for you.

The Power of Advocates

The reason your execution doesn’t need to be perfect is because just by catching up with a percentage of your advocates can have a beautiful effect. You don’t have to snag all of them (although the more the better); you just need to snag SOME of them. Do this, and you’ll be writing me a thank you letter at some point. I guarantee it!

The cool thing is that an advocate can be turned into a real asset. Let’s say you get a new client. You ask them how they found you, and they give you an interesting answer. They tell you that their coworker had worked with you about 6 months ago, and they told them you were the person to call. You’ve officially received a referral client. That is an awesome thing.
You’ve already done one great thing. You asked. Now you have an answer, and you have a name. The next thing you need to do is contact that person who referred your new client to you, and you need to thank them personally. I recommend even sending them a gift of some kind if appropriate.

Reward this behavior. Don’t let their gracious behavior that led to you getting a new paying customer go unnoticed. Let them know in a very clear way that you appreciate it. And let them know that you want MORE!

It’s easy to see that big companies are understanding the power of advocates more and more. Referral programs are growing in number. Vonage offers a month or more of service for free to every customer you refer to them. That’s just one of many examples. Vonage understands that word of mouth advertising is powerful, and they want to harness as much of it as possible. That’s smart.

Like I mentioned, this kind of activity is most likely happening behind your back. If you believe in letting things like that go on without you having any control over them, then that’s up to you. But if you can harness and encourage and make it worth their while for people to continue referring business to you, do you see how powerful that can be?

Are you asking your customers how they found you? Are you taking this (or any other steps) to identify your advocates?

Selling Without Selling

By Christian

David Risley is one of the bloggers I read regularly, and if you’re not completely familiar with his site you should get over there and subscribe right away…if you’re interested in marketing yourself effectively online that is 😉

I run this “make money online” blog from a very different angle than David and most other writers in this space. I’m not a media guy. I’m not a marketing guy, and I’m CERTAINLY not a tech guy. I’m a sales guy.

I’ve spent years in the field selling and training others to make money for themselves. I’ve spent the last three years adapting all that experience to internet marketing, and it’s been a beautiful journey. That’s my angle…direct sales. It’s what I do, and it’s what I teach.

An article David Risley posted a couple days ago speaks to how essential direct sales is to blogging. I highly recommend you check it out. I love seeing a well-known blogger like David Risley talking about this, because it makes me feel like this very important idea is catching on. Unfortunately it has a long way to go before being mainstream though.

Stuff is Changing, but Not the Way You May Think!

I am convinced a fundamental truth is coming out more and more, and it’s essential to pay attention to it…here it is:

The WAY people search for information and buy things is changing. This is a permanent, global change. However, the REASONS people buy things haven’t changed at all…and aren’t going to.

What does this mean to you…the business owner or professional who wants to thrive throughout this economic downturn and all these paradigm shifts that we’re witnessing? It’s simple. It means you need to become a competent sales professional. You’re in sales! You need to become very good at engaging people and selling to them.

Social Media is a Tool, Not an Excuse

As a sales trainer, I’ve trained over a thousand people to go out and make more sales. What do you think is the biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome?

  • Lack of sales talent?
  • Time management?
  • Teaching others how to “close, close, close”?

It isn’t any of these. Fact is, sales is pretty damn simple. And you know what? It still is. There are absolutely some things to learn, but it’s not rocket science.

The biggest obstacle I’ve had to overcome with my sales training clients is EXCUSES. Here’s the brutal truth: people avoid sales like the plague. Even sales professionals avoid it. It’s called “call reluctance”. They come up with all kinds of creative ways to avoid selling.

In fact, people pride themselves on their aversion to sales! CEO’s talk openly about how they hate to sell. People talk about how they avoid selling as if it’s a good thing. This is such a misplaced mentality, and it shows clearly how misunderstood the art of selling is.

But here’s the rub…more and more people are realizing they HAVE to learn how to sell. Because if you don’t sell, you’re out of business. You have to make sales to stay in business, yet most business people hate sales. See anything wrong with this picture?

Here’s something I hope will offer some comfort: It’s not sales you’re afraid of, it’s BAD sales. Good sales is simple, natural and fun. And high-paying! You have to learn how to do it. It takes training, and it takes practice, but anyone can learn it. People misunderstand what sales is because they’ve spent their whole lives avoiding it…they’ve never learned it.

As Risley mentions in his article (if you haven’t swung out to check it yet, please do), many bloggers out there are still fixated on making money with advertising. Thing is, that works to a certain degree. If you’re getting a lot of traffic (I mean a lotta lot of traffic), you can make some scratch with advertising. But there is SO much more opportunity out there. The bottom line is that not all niches are high traffic niches. So if you’re niche isn’t a high traffic niche, are you S.O.L.? Well, if you aren’t willing to learn direct sales, then yes, you’re S.O.L.

There is No Such Thing as “Selling Without Selling”!

So many gurus and “experts” out there are touting social media as a way to “sell without selling”. Screw that noise. If you don’t sell, you don’t make sales! Let’s call a spade a spade. Sound fair?

“Selling without selling” is another way of saying “making sales on accident”. When it comes to my business, I want to know what the heck I’m doing. I don’t want my success to be accidental, because if it’s accidental, then I can succeed one month and totally suck the next month, and I won’t know why. That’s no way to live.

Here are three steps every business owner or professional needs to make right now:

  1. If you don’t have passion and excitement for what you do, do something else.
  2. Embrace that you’re in sales. Take your excitement and passion for your business and use it to put yourself out there and get good at selling.
  3. Study with a professional who knows how to teach you to sell (ahem), and get good at it. Sales is your lifeblood. Always has been. Always will be.

Highest Paying Hard Work; Lowest Paying Easy Work

We’re entering a new era at full speed, and it’s an era where job security is non-existent, opportunity is huge and risks are high. More and more people are coming online to market their wares. Business is highly competitive. To succeed you have to be good, period.

That’s the world we live in. If you are willing to do the work, you can thrive and live very well here. All you bloggers out there looking for a quick buck or some turnkey “automatic” or “automated” solution to making money…go on and keep looking; let me know how that works out for ya!

Almost 10 years now I’ve been in sales and training/coaching people to make more money. Most people are looking for a way to chillax. Why would you want to kick back and chill when you have a BUSINESS that excites you? You wouldn’t. You’d want to go out a raise hell every single day. That’s why I consider it so vital to absolutely LOVE what you do. Because when you LOVE what you do, you can’t wait to get at it every day. You push hard every day for results, because you just really like what you’re doing. That’s where you want to be. That’s where you have to be!

I read in a book years ago that sales is “the highest paying hard work and the lowest paying easy work”. I’m pretty sure it was Brian Tracy who wrote that, but I’m not positive. But it’s true.

I’ve known sales people (in all different kinds of fields) that are barely getting by, and I’ve known sales people who make an absolute killing. What’s the difference? I know many people are still convinced that successful sales professionals have a particular sleazy charm that just comes naturally to them, and in order to be good at sales you need to be born with the “shyster gene”. But it’s not true. First of all, selling is not sleazy…at all, when it’s done well. Second, sales can be learned. And it can be taught. That’s what I do.

The difference is not some innate talent or ability. The highly-paid, successful sales professionals of the world all employ an ancient and proven technique that works every time. They work their tail off, and they love every minute of it!

There is Stuff to Learn

So, quick recap:

  • The way people buy things is changing, but the reasons people buy things are NOT changing. You need to learn to engage people and sell to them.
  • Social media (blogging, Facebook, Twitter, etc) is a tool for selling. Don’t use it as an excuse for avoiding sales. It’s not “selling without selling”. It’s selling.
  • Embrace that you’re in sales. Study sales. There are a million books. Plus, subscribe to Next Level Blogger.
  • Make sure you’re in a field you love and that excites you.
  • Get coaching.
  • Work hard, every day.

Sales comes naturally to very few people, but it can be learned by anyone. It is the art of engaging people on a personal level and helping them to solve a problem. When done well, it is a invaluable service to others.

Of course when used poorly or maliciously, sales is the same as any other powerful weapon. It can be used for both good and evil. It is the evil use of sales that everyone fears and wants to avoid. The solution is simple. Don’t be evil. If you’re not evil, then learning to sell will not make you evil. It will just enable you to help you customers on a much deeper and more meaningful level. It will also make you rich. Nice secondary benefit, no?

At the end of the day, sales is nothing to be scared of. It is simply a skill set you learn. You learn it through training, study and practice. And when you learn it, it makes your income and livelihood impervious to any changes in the economy. A good thing!

How do you feel about selling? Do you avoid it? Does it scare you? Do you think I’m full of it and that learning to sell is not necessary? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

10 Powerful Tips for Increasing Your Blog’s Performance and Income

By Christian

So I have been wanting to get this report out to you for a while, and it’s finally complete! It’s called “10 Powerful Tips for Increasing Your Blog’s Performance and Income”. Pretty straightforward I think 😉

There are a number of elements that go into creating a successful blog marketing campaign. Your blog design, your offerings, your email subscriber list, your social media activity…these are all links in the chain. And as we know, any chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link.

This report targets what I consider to be some of the most important links in the chain. Especially for anyone beginning in blogging or social media marketing for their small business, this report will get you started off on the right foot.

This report is about getting started off strong. Instead of learning the basics the hard way, this information will break you straight through to the next level…getting actual results!

Want to know something cool? It’s free 🙂
Sign up here and get it now!

If you’d like a peek inside, check this following list. It’s taken directly from the table of contents, so you can see a lot of the topics covered. If anything piques your interest, then clearly this report can be of some value to you:

  • Live and Die by the Value of Your List
  • Power Content Tips
  • How to Get Your Visitors to Comment
  • How to Get Your Visitors to Subscribe
  • How to Get Your Visitors to Keep Reading and Stay on Your Site
  • How to Get Your Visitors to Share Your Content with Their Friends
  • Consistency is Essential
  • Internet Business is a People Business
  • A Balanced Approach to Using Plugins
  • How Many Plugins is Too Many?
  • The Value of Coaching

If you want to knock out a big chunk of the learning curve and start getting results with your blogging as quickly as possible, sign up and get this report today for free 🙂

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