Be Impressed, Grasshopper, Not Impressive

"Master," the Young Professional addressed his mentor, "You have told us that in order to hire us, a client must Like us and Trust us."

"That is correct, Grasshopper," the Master replied.

"I understand how I can earn a client's Trust," continued the Young Professional, "But how do I get him to Like me in the short time I might be in his presence?"

The other professionals snickered at this simple question, but they were secretly glad their classmate was so bold as to ask it, because they did not know the answer either.

The Master smiled gently and explained, "To be liked, you must try to stop being liked."

A look of confusion passed across the students' faces, and although he was blind, the Master could see it.

"We want to talk about our education, our skills and our accomplishments. We want our clients to see how well we dress, and the fine vehicles and homes we have acquired through our efforts. We want them to warm to our smiles and our conversation," the Master explained, "but what our clients want is for us to like them."

"To be Liked by a client, Grasshopper," the Master continued, "the client must perceive that you like him--that you are impressed with his accomplishments, however small they might be, and that you care about him."

"Ah," exclaimed the younger man, "I must be impressed, rather than impressive."

"Good, Grasshopper," the Master said gently smiling. "But it's more than being impressed," he continued, "You must Listen deeply and ask questions with Childlike Curiosity-not just about the problem you were trained to solve, but about his family, his hopes and his dreams."

A light began to grow in the younger man's eyes and, once again, the blind Master could see it.

"What you seem to be saying, Master," he began with excitement in his voice, "is that clients don't care how much we know, until they know how much we care. Is that it?"

"Yes, Grasshopper," the Master replied warmly, "You have learned well."

The younger man bowed, and the blind Master acknowledged it.

Turn Good News Into a Sales Pitch

I recently read an online article by Eric Chabrow on CIO Insight titled "Computer Jobs Hit Record High". While there can be negative news about employment readily available, I thought I'd share with you some signs of a sector with strong economic numbers that might bode well for you and your sales.

The article states "unemployment among computer-related jobs hovers near historic lows as the U.S. information technology workforce tops 4 million for the first time."

It also says that "the number of workers employed by IT services firms rose by 56,100 this past year to 1,414,400, a 4.1 percent increase, according to last month's BLS establishment survey of some 160,000 businesses and government agencies covering about 400,000 worksites."

So what does all this mean?

Chabrow writes: "Why would IT employment remain robust as unemployment rises in most other job categories? IT performs a critical role in business productivity, and the efficiencies it brings are crucial for employers looking to trim costs -- including payrolls -- as fuel and related expenditures soar and the economy and dollar weakens. In addition, companies today cannot operate without functioning IT systems, so certain business technology skills cannot be eliminated if a company wants to remain competitive."

Furthermore, "The increase in IT services employment reflects the continuing need by companies for outsourcers to manage corporate IT infrastructures as well as provide hard-to-find but needed skills to develop and support new applications and systems."

Again, the quote is -- reflects the *continuing need by companies for outsourcers* to manage corporate IT infrastructures.

Besides this good news there are at least a couple of take-aways:

* First, look at ways you can further increase business productivity. Chances are some of your clients are going to trim costs. Help them by making sure there is a technology solution that is going to help them stay efficient.

* Second, it is a good sign that payrolls at IT service firms are growing. It's a sign that many of your customers are looking to save on cost by outsourcing to companies like yours.

From a marketing standpoint I would suggest having your sales reps use the data I've quoted to ask questions about future plans, cost cutting measures, etc. Help them plan by being part of the solution.

The other item from a marketing standpoint is that you can create topics around these data points having to do with saving money, cutting cost, and staying ultra productive and efficient.

Limiting Factor Analysis

Limiting factor is any factor which limits the activities of the organization. The most common limiting factor is the sales volume because a company can not sell the entire product it manufactures.

Limiting factor analysis help companies to identify bottleneck resources and use best combination of available resources to maximize profit. Limiting factor in an organization or a company might be raw material, labour time, machine time. Limiting factor analysis can be applied where there is only one limiting factor involved. In case where there are more than one limiting factor, we have to use Linear programming or Simplex method.

Linear programming involves mathematical model which is solved using mathematical equations. The common area on the graph paper is called Feasible Region. The simplex method can only be solved using spread sheet software such as Microsoft Excel. In limiting factor analysis we calculate each product contribution (sales less variable cost) and then divide the contribution by per unit of limiting factor. Let's suppose raw material N is in short supply (that is it is a limiting factor) For example (Data is based on per unit of each product):

Product A Sales Price : 100$ ; Product B Sales Price : 200$

Variable Costs A : 50$ Product B : Variable Cost 135$

Contribution Per Unit A .......... 50$

Contribution Per Unit B .......... 50$

N used per unit of A 10 Kg

N used per unit of B 20 Kg

Therefore:

Contribution per Kg A ..........50/10 = 5

Contribution per Kg B .......... 65/20 = 3.25

As you can see Product A Contribution per Kg is greater than that of Product B, so every effort should be made to produce as much units of Product A as possible. After producing all units of product if company still has some kg of raw material N, then it should utilize N to produce Product B. In short the Products are ranked according to Contribution per Kg in order to maximize profitability.

Creating Urgency

"Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." --Jim Rohn

Let me repeat that because it's a building block of persuasion: without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value. That's an incredibly powerful statement and is absolutely spot on. In persuasion, once you've created trust and a feeling of rapport with your prospects and clients, and once you've removed all doubt about you and your product and service, what then? Are you going to make the sale if there's no sense of urgency on the part of your prospective client? Are you going to get ahead? No, you won't.

Some sales people and commercials create a false sense of urgency-- you know the ones, 'act now, only available to the first 100 callers'. . . We all know as a result of our advanced B.S. detectors that this is simply not true. We know that there are more than 100 Thighmasters or Magic Bullets available for purchase and even if you were caller 100,000, you would still have one in the mail to you before the call was over.

Now if it's true, if you only have 12 seats left in your seminar or 12 condominiums left to sell in a particular building, then by all means, use it. Then it's fantastic. There is actual scarcity involved in that case, but for example if you're selling insurance or if you're in real estate, what are you going to say, 'I've only got 12 houses left' or 'There are only 12 more insurance policies available'? I seriously doubt anyone would bite at that.

It depends on your industry as to how many places are left. If you're selling seminars you could genuinely only have a room that seats 50 or 100 or 10. A good friend of mine ran a seminar a couple of years ago, he sold it for $25,000 or $30,000 a head. They sold out. They had 10 spaces, 10 people, that's it. They put an arbitrary limit on the amount of space available because they did not want to give it to very many people. It was a very, very high end, hush, hush marketing strategy and they did not want the world to know about it because it would blow it, but they also wanted to get paid heavily for being able to give that skill that they had proven results with, so they limited it to ten.

How many of you have been on e-mail lists and you see subject lines that after a while they just look like all the other marketing subject lines? They're like, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, the best thing since sliced banana bread, the best thing since sliced cream cheese banana bread. It's like they're always one upping. It's the best this or that, or the most powerful this or that. I'm guilty of some of that myself, thought I try my best not to. When people do this they are trying to use urgency, they're trying to develop urgency.

We have to create urgency because without it, there's no movement. In other words, they have to believe that their needs are going to be met, that there's some compelling reason to do it now and that's called 'the offer' in sales or in marketing. You've got to come up, what's the offer that would move people that connects to their dreams and values and that moves them off of center.

Creating Urgency

"Without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value." --Jim Rohn

Let me repeat that because it's a building block of persuasion: without a sense of urgency, desire loses its value. That's an incredibly powerful statement and is absolutely spot on. In persuasion, once you've created trust and a feeling of rapport with your prospects and clients, and once you've removed all doubt about you and your product and service, what then? Are you going to make the sale if there's no sense of urgency on the part of your prospective client? Are you going to get ahead? No, you won't.

Some sales people and commercials create a false sense of urgency-- you know the ones, 'act now, only available to the first 100 callers'. . . We all know as a result of our advanced B.S. detectors that this is simply not true. We know that there are more than 100 Thighmasters or Magic Bullets available for purchase and even if you were caller 100,000, you would still have one in the mail to you before the call was over.

Now if it's true, if you only have 12 seats left in your seminar or 12 condominiums left to sell in a particular building, then by all means, use it. Then it's fantastic. There is actual scarcity involved in that case, but for example if you're selling insurance or if you're in real estate, what are you going to say, 'I've only got 12 houses left' or 'There are only 12 more insurance policies available'? I seriously doubt anyone would bite at that.

It depends on your industry as to how many places are left. If you're selling seminars you could genuinely only have a room that seats 50 or 100 or 10. A good friend of mine ran a seminar a couple of years ago, he sold it for $25,000 or $30,000 a head. They sold out. They had 10 spaces, 10 people, that's it. They put an arbitrary limit on the amount of space available because they did not want to give it to very many people. It was a very, very high end, hush, hush marketing strategy and they did not want the world to know about it because it would blow it, but they also wanted to get paid heavily for being able to give that skill that they had proven results with, so they limited it to ten.

How many of you have been on e-mail lists and you see subject lines that after a while they just look like all the other marketing subject lines? They're like, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, the best thing since sliced banana bread, the best thing since sliced cream cheese banana bread. It's like they're always one upping. It's the best this or that, or the most powerful this or that. I'm guilty of some of that myself, thought I try my best not to. When people do this they are trying to use urgency, they're trying to develop urgency.

We have to create urgency because without it, there's no movement. In other words, they have to believe that their needs are going to be met, that there's some compelling reason to do it now and that's called 'the offer' in sales or in marketing. You've got to come up, what's the offer that would move people that connects to their dreams and values and that moves them off of center.

Now, if you have trust and you've removed doubt and you've created urgency, we need to continue to build desire.