marketing

Recommended to me by: Bob Poole

A highly structured analysis of how to sell with integrity. The sales process is divided into Approach, Interview, Demonstration, Validation, Negotiation, and Close, creatively abbreviated “AID, Inc.”

Selling skillls are broken down into goal clarity, achievement drive, emotional intelligence, and social skills.

Building relationships, listening, and caring are presented as the key to gaining people’s trust and business. Also, entering interactions with positive expectations encourages people to mirror the positive behavior.

Matching people’s behavior styles is also important to gaining their trust. People are divided into four categories:

• Talkers (social)
• Doers (acheivers)
• Supporters (even-tempered)
• Controllers (logical)

This was my main stumbling block in the book, since I didn’t strongly identify with the descriptions of any of the types, and had trouble applying them to other people as well.

The Human Behavior model resonated for me much more. We are divided into

• “I Think” (Intellectual)
• “I Feel” (Emotional)
• “I Am” (Creative/Unconscious)

Integrity comes from welcoming thoughts and actions through “I Think” which are congruent with one’s core “I Am” values, producing positive emotions in “I Feel”.

Prosperity consciousness is also addressed, with the suggestion to set near-term, concrete goals, and focus on the feelings that will come with achieving them.

The book presents a thorough analysis of customer-focused selling, and is full of practical suggestions. I think some of the tips are more applicable to career sales people working with large corporations, but there is still a lot of relevant material for a solo business person.

Available at Powell’s Books.

Recommended to me by: Tshombe Brown

Seth Godin specializes in pithy marketing advice for this new era of marketing with permission rather than blanket advertising. In fact, he created the phrase “permission-based marketing,” and Purple Cow‘s mission is to convince marketers that the era of blanket advertising is over.

Seth Godin’s points:

In the old days (a few years ago), TV advertising drove demand, which created profits, which paid for more TV advertising. Now, that channel has been saturated – there are too many marketers competing for consumers’ limited attention.

Even if customers have clear needs and are open to receiving information, they turn to their friends or other trusted sources rather than to media advertising.

The solution is to create a product that is remarkable, like a purple cow, so that people will remark on it to their friends, and it will spread as an “ideavirus”.

While companies previously targeted the large number of mainstream customers with their message, it is now important to target those innovators and early adopters who will spread the word about remarkable products. Godin calls these people “sneezers” of the ideaviruses.

The book includes many brief case studies and suggestions for how to find or create a purple cow.

• Find the edges of your product or service, and see where you can go further than others
• Marketing should be part of product creation, not an afterthought
• People need a clear, short phrase to help them spread the word.
• Be willing to fail. The “safe route” isn’t safe anymore anyway.

While the book is heavily slanted toward product businesses, I’ll be thinking about how to apply the ideas to my own service business. I’ve noticed that many people have a strong reaction to the word trauma in my tagline “helping sensitive people heal from trauma” and my web address TraumaHealed.com, and I think that’s a step in the right direction.

Read more remarkable marketing ideas at Seth Godin’s blog.

Available at Powell’s Books.

The guiding metaphor of this book is a lighthouse, which is most effective when it is standing firm in one place shining a light for ships at sea, but would wreck navigational havoc if it were running up and down the beach looking for ships.

In the same way, Hall and Brogniez propose that businesses are most effective when they stand firm and offer what they do best, rather than frantically trying to discover and adapt to what the market wants. Energy is put into defining and seeking a good match, and realigning or releasing bad matches.

When I define the perfect customer for my business as someone who already appreciates what I do best, it frees me to be more authentic in my marketing, and to focus on my strengths. It’s a much more relaxing way to run a business.

There are many exercises in the book to support this new way of thinking. I liked their suggestion to view improving but suboptimal results as a “preview of coming attractions.” Instead of focusing on what didn’t work, focus on what did work, and trust that the situation will continue to improve.

In a similar spirit, I appreciated the useful advice in this book, and skimmed over the client stories of instant results. I believe in synchronicity, especially after taking the time to specify what is needed, but in my experience the Universe’s response can sometimes be slow or mysterious. Expecting instant results does not contribute to my peace of mind.

Available at Powell’s Books.

Recommended to me by: Jessie Upp, Biznik comment

Harry Beckwith, head of a marketing firm for 23 years, explains how marketing a service differs from marketing a product, and why it matters.

This book was published in 1997, so some of its claims to modernity ring hollow in 2008, but it still has a lot to offer. The ideas are clearly laid out in short chapters beginning with catchy taglines and ending with boldface commands.

Some of the ideas were new to me, and others brought clarity to vague intuitions about marketing.

• While product companies compete with other product companies, service companies compete with their own customers, who could do the job themselves or choose not to hire anyone at all. Competitive/negative marketing is counterproductive.
• Improve the service, first, last, and always.
• Integrity is key.
• A service is intangible, and, often, so is the value received. A lot of service marketing is about customer reassurance.
• Position is how the market sees you, positioning is how you want them to see you.
• When setting pricing, take not only hours of labor, but also years of training and experience into account.
• Talk about benefit to the client, not features of the service. I’ve seen this one a lot, but it made more sense in context.

Definitely worth reading in my ongoing quest to understand marketing and apply it in a way that works for me.

Available at Powell’s Books.