zerald

Printer friendly version

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marketing From The Heart: Issue # 19
http://www.zerald.com
By Tom St. Louis
"The Shortes Distance Between You And Greater Profits(tm)"
May 31, 2002
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What's Even More Important Than Selling Skills?

Part II
In my last missive, I talked about a kind of positioning which would allow you to transcend the need to be constantly concerned with "selling".

I mentioned the possibility that with this positioning your prospects would think, "How can I get this great company to want to work with me?"

So how does a small company create such a positioning?

The best way to preempt your competition is to rise to a higher level than your competition ever dared to dream of. At a high enough level, you become unassailable. The positioning strategy I am advocating springs from the questions, "How can we be perceived as the only logical choice?" and: "How can we position ourselves so that folks come to us already sold?"

There is no greater way of rising above your competitors than to educate your market. Educating does not mean telling them how good you are and pretending to be objective. Educating means being the one company who tells it like it is, and that has the best and most credible information.

Pre-emptive education works wonders. The secret is to make the commitment to give your prospect the best information to work with in making their decision-even if you don't get the sale. If you place their education above your own hope of personal gain, they will sense your passion for contribution. The result will be tremendous credibility for you.

There are two keys to bear in mind at all times. The first is setting the most credible buying criteria for your product or service In other words; teach them how to be the smartest, most confident and best-informed buyers of your product or service. The second is to deliver the most credible facts about the problem or challenge your prospects face. You will have to compile information from independent sources-but you'll be surprised at the kind of marketing dynamite you can unearth with the help of a single inexpensive researcher.

Always keep this in mind:

Facts derived from credible third party research are infinitely more compelling than any articulation you can come up with about the benefits of your product
or service.

So What Does All This Mean?

What it means is that positioning trumps sales ability like an ace over a ten. The only reason you have leaned so heavily on sales skill is that you were not strategically positioned. You assumed without thinking about it that you would spend the rest of your professional life overcoming prospects' resistance.
That's what most people do, but it's not the only choice. Not by a long shot.

I suggest starting today that you decide how you want your market to perceive you and then use research-based facts to set the buying criteria for your market. Now, when a prospect comes to you, they will already be 90% ready to buy. You won't have to work on so many "trial closes" because your prospects will directly ask you to work with them.

Go to Issue # 20