Why do you stand in line to spend more money to buy a product you already own?
Double line at Apple Store
Retail craziness
Over the weekend my husband and I walked around NorthPark Mall in Dallas and witnessed this long line, really two lines (!), of Apple customers waiting, ONE BY ONE, to enter the store.
Not every store in this mall has lines forming out the door.
The secrets of Apple’s magnetic spell
Selling Rule #1: Communicate Value
You buy products that excel in the marketplace. You buy what works – professionally and personally (preferably both), what’s dependable, and what makes your life easier. And you’ll keep buying what continues to propel these attributes.
Selling Rule #2: Communicate Customer Service
You provide excellent after care for your products/services. “Apple Care” costs extra (another genius upsell!) and it’s worth it. Why? Because it works, it’s dependable and it makes your life easier.
Selling Rule #3: Communicate Loyalty
See Selling Rules #1 and #2! IF you provide value and excellent customer service you will achieve Customer Loyalty.
My clients are successful because they have achieved loyalty in their various industries.
How can you cash in on this type of momentum?
Know your Value Proposition. Keep it simple and memorable. Share it widely. Ex: Walmart – ‘Save Money. Live Better’. You see this on their trucks, on the front of their stores, and on their shopping sacks.
Take care of your customers… and they’ll take care of you.
Appreciate your buyers. Let them know how much you value their loyalty.
To sell well you must communicate well.
Author: Karen Cortell Reisman is Founder of Speak For Yourself®, a communication consulting firm, and the author of 2 books on how to communicate. She lives in Dallas, Texas and … full disclosure: Karen is typing this blog on a MacBook Air, while multi-tasking on her Apple iPhone mini 13, and looking forward to a book she’s reading on her Apple iPad.
Client travels from New Orleans to work with me for one day. He says at 2pm, “Stop! This is great. I need to schedule a second day with you. Let’s put it on the books now.” I said, “Of course.”
What I really wanted to say was, “You never sell just one bra.”
Context: My dad sold Bestform® bras and girdles (think Spanx) to stores across Texas. My mom traveled with him at times and became the original sales consultant. She told the lingerie department store sales people how to sell and often said, “You never sell just one bra.”
After booking that second day of consulting with my New Orleans client I’ve tried to never sell just one bra again.
Anne Cortell selling Bestform® bras
Secrets to the multiple sale
Value
I call myself “value driven”. I spend money when I see the value of what the item or service will do for me and my business. Otherwise I’m very good at NOT buying products, services or gizmos.
Look at what you are selling and be able to define your Value Proposition. It is not what you sell, it is what continual value you bring to your customer that makes the first, second and third sale happen.
Transaction size
Think Coca-Cola. You have lots of options! 6-pack, 24-pack, large & small bottles, and various (maybe even too many) types of coke.
How do you bundle your products/services? Is there a way to make a larger sale by bundling or creating tiers of service? You get a menu at a restaurant… and you probably order more than just one item. Can you do the same with your business model?
Belief
Belief in self
Recently I received this random email – “You may not remember me but you spoke to our dental study club 15 years ago. You gave us this bumper sticker and I’ve had it on the wall in our lab all this time. I’ve sold the practice and can’t get it off the wall but I want my son to have it”.
Bumper sticker: “The most important speeches you give are the ones you give to yourself.”
You can’t sell anything, let alone a multiple sale, if you don’t believe in yourself.
Belief in your product/service
Enough said.
Bonus Strategy
Employ “The golden rule of selling”
“Sell with the same honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy and thoughtfulness that you would like someone else to use in selling to you.”
Author: Karen Cortell Reisman is Founder of Speak For Yourself®, a communication consulting firm, and the author of 2 books on how to communicate. She lives in Dallas, Texas and doesn’t know the difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke. Do you?
This word causes problems for you and your business.
You have heard me write and say, “Our most favorite word is ‘trust’ and our least favorite word is ‘assume’”.
Never assume your audience remembers all that you say. Never assume your pitch resonates with everyone. Never even assume everyone receives your emails.
But making assumptions now goes deeper.
According to Dr. Shirley Davis, CSP, SHRM-SCP, assumptions lead to blind spots, and blind spots lead to unconscious bias… which has impact on the way you lead, communicate and make decisions.
Dr. Davis asks, “Which biases are yours?” She suggests these categories: Height, Name, Race, Personality, Appearance, Accent, Education, Skin Tone, Weight, Hand Dominance, Religion, Class, Sexual Orientation, or Age.
In all these categories you might have an unconscious opinion (negative or positive) developed early in life and strengthened over time.
Dr. Davis’ Strategies for Minimizing Implicit Bias
Acknowledge that we all have implicit biases.
Practice intellectual humility – “recognize you may be wrong, and be willing to turn some of your exclamation points into question marks.”
Become more culturally aware.
Expand your network and expose yourself to “others”.
As a leader in your business you make decisions that affect your team and company strategy. Watch for your assumptions – blind spots – unconscious biases. Communicate with mindfulness.
“You can make your team and region feel uplifted and motivated by praising more,” I said to one of my clients last week. In our discussion on how to have powerful 1:1s and meetings we brainstormed on these “do’s and don’ts” on praising.
Presence: Be in the moment and be sincere. Don’t say, “You’re doing a great job”. Rather, say, “Your sales numbers for last month hit way above the target. Tell me more.”
Proportionate: Be effusive with care. Hit the mark on what you’re trying to praise. Don’t go overboard or you’ll be discounted.
Power: Go up and down the totem pole of influence. It’s OK to compliment your Board of Directors or the night cleanup crew… and everyone in between.
Public: Praise someone in front of others – it has even more weight. If you compliment your Admin Assistant when other SVPs are standing by, your words provide an even greater positive morale experience.
Punctual… or not: Give compliments in a timely manner. However have you ever gotten this type of feedback, “You did something 10 years ago that really made a difference in my life”? You probably don’t know what the complimentor is talking about but you’re intrigued, you ask, and you are well pleased. Don’t hesitate to share praise even if you’ve exceeded the statute of limitations.
Polite – NO!: Don’t boomerang the praise if you’re the recipient. Do not say, “That’s so sweet… you’re also ….” Do say, “Thank you.” Accept the praise.
Professional & Personal: Praise in all your various worlds – sometimes we forget to praise those that we are closest to. (Reisi – thanks for always reading my blogs & providing feedback!) Compliment others in your business and personal settings.
Praise provides a positive experience that increases morale, motivation and engagement.
Your homework: Use the 7 “P”s of praising and do this today and always.
Karen Cortell Reisman, M.S., author of 2 books and President of Speak For Yourself®, works with decision makers on how to speak with gravitas. It’s all in how you speak for yourself. Karen also speaks about her cousin, #AlbertEinstein, in a message about hope, resilience and brassieres.
Picture your next national sales conference – virtual or in-person. Imagine your quarterly market report to your stakeholders. Dream about opening your inbox to short, well-written emails that you need to see.
To lead well you must communicate well – in all of these scenarios … and more.
3 ½ Tips for Leaders to Communicate More Effectively
Leader Communication Strategy #1: Simplify. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Ask yourself – what are the two to five main ideas about your topic? OR if you’re trying to persuade your board – what are the two to five main reasons for taking your action step? That’s it. Narrow your focus and think about your two to five categories/buckets/reasons to get your message across. Your buckets can be filled with all of your data – just don’t confuse your audience by having endless main topics.
Leader Communication Strategy #2: Illustrate. Use more stories. Once you’ve got your main points/reasons (only two to five) then make your topics sticky by adding stories. If you want your sales team to make more sales then urge them to share success stories with prospects. You can work around client confidentiality. Explain how you saved other (nameless) clients money and headache. Don’t think of stories as Disney musicals. Think of stories as real-life examples, with simplified metrics, of where your company has created big wins for other clients.
Leader Communication Strategy #3: Affirm. If you want to lead successfully you must share with your colleagues, team and clients what they are doing right. When was the last time you praised someone, or an entire department, specifically and sincerely, for a job well done? Praise costs nothing and creates motivation. In a study of why people get out of bed and go to work the answer, “Get paid” is #4 on a list of 10 reasons. The top three reasons revolve around feeling included in decision-making and being appreciated for the jobs they’re doing.
Leader Communication Strategy Bonus ½: Listen. Think super glue. Image that you’re putting a dab of this glue (don’t really do this… we are thinking of the Gorilla Glue fiasco!) on your bottom lip and clamp down. Figuratively you cannot open your mouth. All you can do is listen. And as a leader – listening gives you data, nuance and ideas. Information talks … wisdom listens.
Karen Cortell Reisman, M.S., author of 2 books and President of Speak For Yourself®, works with decision makers on how to speak with gravitas. It’s all in how you speak for yourself. Karen also speaks about her cousin, #AlbertEinstein, in a message about hope, resilience and brassieres.
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Blog readers, you know that we’ve done a significant upgrade on how #SpeakForYourself delivers virtual programs. We’ve purchased everything from LED lights & tripods to a very cool cordless lav mic system to the brand new M1 chip MacBook Air (arriving soon!).
As I open each box the scant directions leave much to the imagination. Needing more info takes me to YouTube videos with titles like “What to do now that you’ve opened this box”. You get it… these are introductory how-to videos for first time users. These videos are packed with good information. Until the vlogger (video blogger) uses the One Word That Will Make You Crazy – “easy”.
The vlogger says, “This is easy to implement,” or to use a more detailed example, “The TRS ring connects to your computer and the TRRS ring attaches to your transmitter. It’s quite easy to set up.” Editor’s note: This was not easy!
Bottom line: It (whatever “it” is) is easy ONCE YOU KNOW HOW it works. It is NOT easy until you’ve gained that knowledge and experience. This word usage can be demeaning to your audience.
How does this relate to you? Think about what you instruct to your team and colleagues. Or when you explain something to your significant other or kids or parents. Be careful about using the word “easy”. It is not easy until it is.
For my clients I confess I have said, “There’s a myth about giving a presentation. The myth is that it’s hard to give a speech. That’s not true. The reality is that it’s hard to start and it’s hard to shut up. The rest is easy – you’re talking within your wheelhouse.” I will not say this in the future.
It’s not easy until it is.
What words make you crazy? Send your blog comments below.
“You can make your team and region feel uplifted and motivated by praising more,” I said to one of my clients last week. In our discussion on how to have powerful 1:1s and meetings we brainstormed on these “do’s and don’ts” on praising.
Picture your next national sales conference – 
You use this word on a daily basis.
