Writing effective sales copy is difficult, time-consuming and financially rewarding once you master it.  We have not mastered it at Select Metrix.  Earlier I posted on the effectiveness of using “P.S.” in your voicemails and written correspondence.  Now MarketingProfs.com offers Want Better Sales Copy? Take a Tip From Zig Ziglar.  There are many tips in this article, but I want to focus on one tip about what not to do:

Want to set your sales copy and your business apart from the overwhelming majority of organizations you’re competing against? Here’s a simple but powerful strategy you can start implementing today. Specify exactly what you mean when you use such words and phrases as quality, quality products and services, customer-service-oriented, we put the customer first, value, etc.

Because these words and phrases€”in and of themselves€”are meaningless. Yes, they sound good. Yes, they look good on your stationery and in your email and on your Web site. But the sales impact of using them, without defining and detailing what you mean, is virtually nil.

If your sales copy is laden with “quality, service and price,” you are sacrificing your copy for the common language of indistinguishable products or services.  Prospects assume a certain level to enter the market place – a level that includes good quality, reliable service and a reasonable price.  Notice I wrote “assume” – it doesn’t mean these assumptions are based in reality.  There are plenty of companies that don’t meet this level.  But the prospect initially assumes this level.

If the assumption is already made, writing sales copy that simply restates the assumption without defining it is pointless.  The better approach is to follow the author’s advice and put some metrics to your claim.

I would go further and recommend not focusing on those 3 topics.  I am rarely swayed by those topics.  Instead, I am drawn to companies that state their value proposition and define it in customer terms (how this value would affect me if I chose their solution).

P.S. This approach works in voicemail messages too.

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ManageSmarter.com offers some excellent suggestions for making your voicemails far more effective.  Their 15 tips include a couple that I cannot stress enough:

11. If you can’t say it briefly, don€™t say it at all. Voicemail is not “story time.” Leaving a long message is an invitation to have the entire message skipped. The optimal voicemail message is between 8 and 14 seconds.

Few things in life are more tiresome than a rambling voicemail.  My view is if the topic required a call to discuss, then mention the topic in one sentence, leave your contact info and hang up.

And this gem:

13. Leave a “P.S.” at the end of your message. A “P.S.” is a very quick, additional piece of information that will connect with the person.

This is an effective tip that I have heard, and used before (by the way, it works for emails and letters too).  In written form, most people tend to read the P.S. before the entire body of the writing.  Obviously, that makes the P.S. line quite impactful.

One tip I read recently that is not mentioned in this article is slow down when you say your phone number.  State it twice is a good tip, but make sure you are not rushing through it.  I have received the odd message where the person stated their phone number one time and I swear they accelerated their speaking pace when they got to the number.  I couldn’t catch it and I did not return the call.

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Team-based selling has become a dominant trend in the sales world due in large part to the information flowing through the Internet.  Prospects expect knowledgeable salespeople to call upon them – the basic information they can (and probably have) learn from your website.  ManageSmarter.com offers this article – Cross-Selling Takes Teamwork – which discusses team-based cross-selling to your customer base.

Some might suggest that customers are irritated by cross-selling and perceive it as an aggressive sales approach. Interestingly enough, consumer research indicates that the reverse is actually true. Most customers prefer a full spectrum of products and services and appreciate the convenience that is provided through a comprehensive cross-selling approach.

You know, people are irritated by poor salespeople so it doesn’t matter if it is a cross-sell opportunity or not.  Nonetheless, I think this author is correct in his statement.

Cross-selling in today’s market requires consultants who bring value to the discussion.  This requirement is reshaping the modern salesperson and the abilities they bring to the process.  Many complex sales are complete team-selling events today (and rightly so).  One very important point on that approach:

When developing a cross-selling program, it is critically important that everyone in the organization buys into the philosophy and fully participates in the program. The foundation of every successful cross-selling program is rooted in a strong incentive system based on personal recognition and financial reward.

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Smoke screens are moves prospects use on salespeople that appear to be reasons for not moving forward with a deal. Many times these smoke screens sound something like this:

We’re going to take a look at all options.

We need 3 quotes before deciding.

We need to think it over.

Smoke, nothing more. If you have salespeople believing these statements are a precursor to a close, take them out to the wood shed on their qualifying. These “prospects” are not qualified and should not be on any forecast.

Justsell.com offers up a simple, yet powerful web page that addresses the real objection from the prospect. Their objection falls into 1 (or more) of these 8 areas:

1. lack of perceived value in the product or service

2. lack of perceived urgency in purchasing the offering

3. perception of inferiority to a competitor or in-house offering

4. internal political issue between parties/ departments

5. lack of funds to purchase the offering

6. personal issue with the decision maker(s)

7. initiative with an external party

8. “it’s safer to do nothing” perception

Ask your salesperson to answer each one of these 8 topics and you are guaranteed to discover where the smoke is coming from.

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I’ve never seen this statement in a cover email before:

I’m well kept, dress business casual on most days, and mind my own business in the office.

This statement comes from the cover letter of a salesperson.  If you realize that you only have a small window to make an impression, I think there are far better topics to address in the cover letter.  Maybe it’s just me.

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I take a fair amount of grief from the “youngsters” in our organization. Being the elder statesmen has earned me several names and acronyms not suitable for publication.

A recent article in Money magazine listed the “Best Jobs” if you’re over 50 and planning a new career. What struck me most, were the following tips – regardless of age or occupation.

Make age an advantage

Sure, bias is out there. It’s up to you to put your age in a positive light. Talk up your experience and how it fits into what a potential employer is looking for. Is the company trying to launch a service, cut costs or find new customers?

Use examples from your work history that show how you tackled similar problems, and explain how that will help in your new job.

You’re cool. Prove it.

Half of hiring managers in a 2006 survey said the biggest disadvantage of taking on older workers is that they don’t keep up with technology. In an interview, talk about the Web research you did on your prospective employer or the new software program you mastered.

Look the part

Wear an up-to-date suit for interviews, and during small talk drop in your weekly tennis game or that 10-k race you ran. Appearance counts, but energy is more important.

If you are a sales type over 50, several areas of technology will be discussed in an upcoming blog post – and no, it will not require the assistance of a certain “youngster.”

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CareerJournal.com offers something new, at least to me, in the modern-day hiring process – Add One More to the Hiring Process: The Boss’s Coach.

Welcome to the latest development in job hunting. You impressed the recruiter, treated the receptionist politely and bonded with the hiring official. Now, you must also pass muster with the executive coach for your likely boss. The rising popularity of such additional screening reflects management’s increased use of coaches and its worries about the high turnover among new hires.

I’m not a fan of adding more cooks to the kitchen when it comes to making strong hiring decisions. Our process is geared around group input, but the more people at the table, the more difficult the decision. The reason is that people’s biases become intensified when there is little objectivity in the hiring process (read: assessments).

Here is spin:

And the extra hoop can have an added benefit for the job seeker “because an executive coach can describe what this new boss will really be like,” suggests Marilyn Machlowitz, a New York recruiter who handled Ms. Shapiro’s search.

Right. I doubt that the executive coach is going to describe what the boss is “really like” to a candidate. Maybe I am wrong, but what does the coach gain by sharing that information? The example from the article involves a nonprofit foundation – a far cry from the typical market-driven, B2B business world.

Use a process and objectively assess the candidates – that approach alone will drastically improve your hiring success.

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I came across a sales ad by a large customer we used to work with at our previous company. We no longer work with this company which is not a bad thing. The reason I say that is due to the fact that though this company is fairly large, they are overrun with bureaucracy.

One of the battles we took up was to change their atrocious sales ads since they were not attracting good candidates. We had no idea what a tar pit that topic was going to be. We were directed to the HR department. They accepted our suggestions in the meetings we attended, but they continued to place long, tedious job descriptions for ads. We took this topic up with the sales management team who simply deferred to HR.

The point here is that some companies are awash in bureaucracy which is a death knell in this new economy. This company had clearly defined political boundaries that no one dared cross even if their own department was taking a hit for it. My father often says companies like this have a “hardening of the categories.”

It is still possible to be a large company and still be nimble in the marketplace. This large company has survived on its long-established reputation, but their market share is circling the drain.

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This week’s focus is on the ability of a salesperson to connect with their prospect.  Building rapport is first step in starting an effective qualifying discussion with a prospect.  Of course, some salespeople can only build rapport – we call them schmoozers.  Nonetheless, an strong salesperson with this trait is incredibly effective with new prospects.

Relating to Others
This trait coordinates personal insights and knowledge of others into effective actions. It includes the ability to make use of accurate interpersonal skills in interacting with others.

A salesperson with strength in this trait is able to establish a good rapport with others including a feeling of comfort between both parties.

A weakness in this area often indicates a person who feels the necessity to present an image of a person that is different from what they think they are. Not being comfortable with who we are can lead to others not feeling comfortable around us. It is very difficult to relate effectively with others if you are not comfortable with yourself as a person.

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Has your sales department stalled? Is your team awash in mediocrity? If so, you are not alone. According to ManageSmarter.com’s Different Year, Same Objectives for Sales Teams:

57 percent of reps are making quota, but 43 percent are still under quota.

Not good. Obviously it is next to impossible to ascertain why 43% are not selling at their quota. My first guess is misaligned hiring for the position, but that’s only a guess.

Here is a stat we are attempting to influence greatly:

27.8 percent of companies say it takes more than a year to get new sales reps ramped up.

Sounds about right…and that’s not good. That extended ramp time is the reason behind our new on-ramping program. The program includes a 6 month warranty for that salesperson. There are techniques and milestones for ramping a new salesperson faster than 1 or more years and our new program guides the sales manager through the on-ramping period.

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