Friday, January 29, 2010

GETTING OUT OF THE SALES PITCH BUNKER

Have you ever sat down and analyzed (or tracked) which sales/marketing strategies work for you?

At Diana Bishop’s Big Idea Adventure workshop this week, a group of us did just that. It was fascinating as we brainstormed sales activities vs. those that would fall more closely under marketing. What did we learn?

That the old-fashioned, in-your-face sales approach just doesn’t cut it anymore – at least not for us. What was working well we found was when offered some information, so people felt they were getting something out of the connection, and were not being pressured into buying something they may or may not want or need.

We also learned that too often we fall into the product-story trap instead of building the relationship first.

We spent three hours with Diana – time well spent because as the workshop progressed, I could see we were all starting to think differently and consider that big idea that would make us stand out from the crowd.

1 comment:

Cheryl Ambrose said...

The first I heard of this "new paradigm" of "building relationships" was a couple of years ago, from Dave Howlett. More recently the idea was reinforced by Donna Messer.
For me, adopting the philosophy is crucial because it will enable me to develop and grow my business as a writer. Without it, I'm doomed to failure because the hard sell doesn't fit my core values.
It doesn't work for me, and it doesn't work on me.
Keep up the good work, Anne!