With all the ghostly fun today we thought we'd post about two individuals who fit the Halloween theme that have reinforced sales ideas to us.
One of the best promoters we've met recently has to be Rev. Peter of Salem. He is a guide on the Salem Night Tour in Salem, MA - yes, THAT Salem.... with a witchy past. There are so many reasons we liked Rev. Peter - he told us he was a witch and a wizard - see our top reasons why someone could learn to sell being around him:
1. He is a unique, memorable character. Are you?
2. He has a memorable tagline - "Salem's Only Gothic Wizard" - what is yours?
3. He took a group of strangers on a walking tour and got us all interacting - asking us to imagine if this one particular person in our group did something or said something like a person from Salem in one of his stories. He wove us into his tales - it was brilliant.
4. He gave us his credentials and shared enough facts about Salem's past for us to believe in what he said. He knew his "product" We all felt like we knew, liked, and trusted him by the end of the tour.
5. He did not ask for tips but somehow everyone seemed compelled to give him one at the end of the long and incredibly interesting tour - because of the huge value we all felt we got.
6. Again he didn't promote himself and throw out business cards, but for those who he saw photograph him, he mentioned he was OK with the photos but for us to not forget to connect people to him if we posted. Nice.
7. He has the start of a website. I'd love to see some photos and a video of you walking around the town - telling those captivating stories of days gone by.
8. Rev. Peter is a master storyteller. All salespeople should learn from a pro like him - because building rapport gaining credibility comes through sharing stories well.
9. He has GREAT endorsements - just Google him. These are from TripAdvisor
10. He smiled, made eye-contact, and connected with as many people in our group as possible - and not in a weird way - actually in a very professional way. Salem Night Tours should be pleased to have such a great ambassador.
As for the GHOST I mentioned, that would be the Ghost CEO (Christopher Flett) who hails from Vancouver, BC and consults, coaches, and trains women entrepreneurs throughout North America to be great. I saw him speak live here in Seattle a few weeks ago and really enjoyed his talk - in particular to help with selling:
1. If your products and services are higher-end, don't try to sell them to just anyone. Consider a Rolls-Royce compared to a Toyota automobile - they are two different buyers. Why do small business owners who have higher-value and higher priced services continue to talk to just anyone about what they do? Consider instead that you are in a niche and find those who are more likely to want and need those services you sell.
2. If you feel "self-less" and want to help the world by giving away your services - remember that you are building a business and you need to charge for your services (and charge enough - something that many people do not do.) All businesses - no matter how small or large need a grow revenue first and foremost.
If ghosts and witches don't inspire you - find something that does - and make a plan for the end of this year, then work on a big 2012. Your focus, clarity, passion, product/service value, and persistence CAN make it happen. But WILL it happen? That's up to you.
Lori Richardson writes, speaks, trains and mentors B2B inside sales professionals and business owners to grow revenues. Score More Sales also does prospecting services for busy B2B companies. Sign up for the blog to get quick tips and follow on Twitter and Facebook.