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Open Directory Success Story and Tips

Yesterday, I was really happy to find that this new blog, Marketing Centricity for Small Business, had already been added to the Open Directory Project. I say "already," because I submitted to the Directory less than three weeks ago.

For those of you not familiar with the Open Directory, three weeks may sound like a long time. In many situations, though, it can take many months for a site to be listed and some sites are never listed.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Open Directory, I'll discuss three things:

1. What is the Open Directory?
2. Why is the Open Directory important to you?
3. Tips on how to get your site listed in the Directory - hopefully in a shorter amount of time.

Non-Manipulative Selling: A Sales Book Summary for Small Business Sellers

Introduction

Non-Manipulative Selling is a great overall book that includes some theory and a lot of tactical selling advice. It offers an overall emphasis on understanding behavioral styles.

The goal of the book is help the reader learn to sell with flexibility by adjusting to each prospect’s style. The six-step selling process described by the authors is particularly useful.

With its details on behavior styles, Non-Manipulative Selling will be beneficial for those small business sellers involved in complex or transactional sales.

Branding Your Way, One Small Step at a Time

As I mention frequently, if you're a small business owner or professional who sells services - you are the brand. It is your personal brand that will most likely determine if the business is won or lost. So, any little thing you can do to positively brand yourself in the mind of others is a big step toward creating the differentiation needed to win more business.

I met Elaine at a meeting with management consultants here in St. Louis. She has a very distinctive and memorable business card shaped and styled like a bookmark. I heard at least three or four people mention how much they liked Elaine's business cards. I bet she receives similar feedback from other groups, as well as potential customers.

This bookmark works especially well for Elaine because she is a publishing consultant. So, this unique business card fits very well with her line of business - it's consistent. Probably wouldn't have the same impact if this bookmark business card was given to me by a landscaper or attorney.

What small, but unique, elements do you use to help differentiate your personal brand from competitors? The more elements, regardless of how small they may seem, the higher likelihood you'll successfully differentiate and win more.

Website Design: What Do Prospects Really See on Your Website?

How does your web site look to prospects? Do they see what you want them to see? Is it effective at getting them to take the action you want them to take?

While surfing the other day, I ran across a really interesting company that helps you truly identify what your prospects see when they visit your site. The company is called Eyetools. They have taken a technology originally developed at Stanford University and adapted the system to literally track what your eyes see when viewing a web page.

How to Increase the Likelihood Prospects Remember Your Sales Message

I recently finished reading Selling the Invisible (TB-$C) by Harry Beckwith. Really good book and I highly recommend to anyone who markets services.

Below is one of many excerpts I thought really hit home for those of us who attempt to sell services.

Consider this:

[Your wife] sends you to the store for milk. You bring home milk.

Next time, she says, "Get raisins, Drano, Gummy Bears, milk and some hundred-watt light bulbs."

You forget the milk; but it's the milk you family needed most. All you have for breakfast tomorrow is  [dry] cereal.

Marketing Successfully Without a Perfect Product or Service

Have you ever experienced the perfect product or service? If so, I'd sure like to hear about it. I think most people would agree, including marketers, that no product or service is perfect. Since it is the perception (which is reality) of your customers that no product or service is perfect, then, don't be afraid to admit to one or two shortcomings in your sales and marketing efforts.

I talked a little bit about this in a previous post about presenting a one or two-sided argument when marketing a product or service. While recently reading, Selling the Invisible, I ran across this study which reinforces why you should not avoid discussing a shortcoming.

Marketing Gone Wild: How to Alienate Customers in Your Marketing Efforts

Did I miss something? Is there some direct marketing guru suggesting that companies send more than one direct marketing piece to the same address, at the same time, in hopes that at least one of the pieces will be opened?

I used to have a Chase credit card. A few years ago, my wife and I decided to consolidate our two credit card accounts into one account. By no means would I consider myself a loyal Chase customer, but they never did anything to make me hesitant to one day return as a customer either. Until today...

Why You Should Not Be Afraid to Provide the Details

I came across a great article in The New Yorker discussing how experts are no better, and sometimes worse, than "regular" people at predicting future political and economic events. While not part of the main theme of the review, I found the small blurb below particularly interesting to those of you who must convert prospects to customers:

Plausible detail makes us believers. When subjects were given a choice between an insurance policy that covered hospitalization for any reason and a policy that covered hospitalization for all accidents and diseases, they were willing to pay a higher premium for the second policy, because the added detail gave them a more vivid picture of the circumstances in which it might be needed. In 1982, an experiment was done with professional forecasters and planners. One group was asked to assess the probability of “a complete suspension of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, sometime in 1983,” and another group was asked to assess the probability of “a Russian invasion of Poland, and a complete suspension of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, sometime in 1983.” The experts judged the second scenario more likely than the first, even though it required two separate events to occur. They were seduced by the detail.

When writing marketing copy or creating a sales pitch, then, don't be afraid to include the details. For instance, if you were able to save a previous customer $1,032, use that detailed number. Don't change it to "over $1,000." Details, especially when written down,  give you more credibility - so use them!

"I'm the Bug Guy" - How Small Differentiators Can Get the Sale

When the phone or door bell rings around dinner time, often the individual on the other side of the phone or door is usually trying to sell something. I don't know about you, but unless I immediately recognize the voice or the individual (e.g. neighborhood kids on the latest fundraiser) the first words out of my mouth are focused on ending the conversation before the salesperson has a chance to begin.

Recently, I had a unique experience with a door-to-door salesman selling extermination services. There was one, very small thing he did to interrupt my "defense mechanism" when I opened the door. Rather than the usual introduction such as, "Are you the man of the house?" "Are you Mr. Reed?" "Hi, my name is John with xyz company", this individual opened with, "Hi, I'm the bug guy."