Students Of Success

One of the questions I often get asked as a sales coach by sales people and business owners alike is, “How do I close sales better? What closing techniques would you recommend?”

In my experience, closing is one of the three most feared areas of the sales process. The other two are fear of canvassing and fear of objections. But the real question is, what is it about these three that creates such a fear? Especially, when even some of the most successful sales professionals face challenges in one or more of these three areas. The answer is simple - fear of rejection. Humans are social animals and the fear of rejection is one of the primary human drivers so it takes a different line of thought to face this issue. Mere techniques will not suffice.

There are books about closing with hundreds of different types of closes in. Some are great examples, some are awful but all of them have one thing in common. They are just examples. They are often not usable as “off the shelf” solutions for your sales scenarios because they each represent a model and that model only works if the person you are dealing with is “running” a similar model in their personality and if your situation is nearly the same too!

Now, I am not saying don’t study about sales. Infact, quite the opposite. I do recommend that you read everything you can about sales and human communications because you will learn more about sales and communications in that way than from virtually any other. What you learn however may not always be what the author intended as you should be a student of human behaviour and influence, not beholden to any one particular book! When Bruce Lee studied kung fu he took the best of each style of kung fu and designed a new art which had no set forms and changed to be the most effective for each and every situation. A good sales professional will be aiming to achieve the same.

The first tactic for achieving a better close ration is to change the words that you use. Why not “ask for the business” or “take the order” or “provide a solution” instead? These words don’t create the same fear. I have tested this on dozens of sales people and removing the word that the fear is associated with removes the fear too. If anyone has read Anthony Robbin’s material he describes how you can only experience feelings that you have words for and that words only have the meaning that you ascribe to them. He describes how, because the quality of snow is important to their survival, eskimos have dozens of different words for snow but we just have sleet and snow. Their experience of snow is different than ours and we cannot comprehend that because we have no words to describe it.

Secondly, it is important that you start with the end in mind. Whenever you go to a meeting or make a call think through it in your head first. Think about what outcome you want from the meeting or call and think through the possible ways this might occur. Think also of what the minimum outcome is that you are prepared to accept from the meeting or call. When you have built rapport, asked questions, uncovered your clients’ needs and provided a solution it’s only natural to ask for the business. After all, you have provided a solution so asking for the business is the next step! Why would you accept less than your minimum acceptable behaviour from the client?

I once worked with a talented sales professional. He made fantastic cold calls, built elegant and effective rapport and uncovered client needs effortlessly but he did little business. In a short coaching session I discovered that he disassociated the sales process from “closing” hence he would “do the meeting” and then think, “Oh dear! Now I need to close!”. Cue panic. His customers could see it and the sale was lost, every time. He was in “sales” mode and they were resisting and he was a nice guy so it was easier to walk away than risk rejection or upsetting the client! Simply by viewing the sale as one seemless process with a natural conclusion he was able to see the “timeline” and “path” of the sale. If the client deviated from this he was able to maintain control and bring them back on track. He achieved a sales breakthrough literally overnight.

At this point, I might add that you must remain flexible. There will be times when you cannot make the sale for unexpected reasons. On these occasions, it is important that you assess your performance objectively. Ask yourself whether next time you could ask better questions to uncover the unexpected situation earlier. If the answer is “no” then reset your objective for the meeting. If the answer is “yes” then take on board what you have to learn and reset the objective for your next meeting. But, and this is very important, always remember to set a new objective for the meeting.

When was the last time you heard this conversation:

“How was the sales meeting?”
“Great”.
“How did you get on?”.
“Oh, great I think he / she will use us!”.

My next question for you is, “So what’s the next step?”

This should have been agreed, with time-scales with the client. If it hasn’t then you haven’t reached your objective. Maybe this was because you didn’t set one or you didn’t achieve it but this sales meeting was not “great”!

Lets face it, you work hard to find clients and get that all important meeting with them and you listen hard to understand their true needs not your perceived ones. When you provide a solution that matches their needs they are expecting you to “ask for the business”. When this becomes a relaxed, natural part of the meeting you will achieve more and effortless sales.

For the last 10 years, Gavin Ingham has been helping sales people to explode their sales performance by turning self-doubt, fear and lack of motivation into self-belief, confidence and action. With his inspirational approach to sales performance and motivation Gavin combines commercial experience, personal excellence and communications technologies in delivering personal and business sales success.

Visit http://www.gaviningham.net now to join Gavin’s free monthly newsletter packed full of sales secrets, strategies and tactics. Join now and get Gavin’s ground-breaking 9-part objection handling course absolutely free.

“Did you see that game last night?”

“How about all this rain we’ve been getting?”

“That’s a nice bowling trophy. I love bowling!”

Ever use one of those questions? Thought so. Who are you kidding with that crap? In the words of Jeffrey Gitomer, “All things being equal, people buy from friends. All things NOT being equal, people buy from friends.”

If people buy from people they like, one of your first goals should be to get your prospects to like you.

For a salesperson, this can be tough. People have a hard time trusting salespeople with their time, money and business. Most people don’t even want to talk to you.

Welcome to reality: your prospects are busy and may feel that speaking with you is a complete waste of time. Many of your prospects may not even see a need for your product, or may be content with the version they already have.

Point being, if you want to successfully establish rapport with your prospects, you’ll have to do it quickly, before they get the chance to assume you’re just like every other salesperson. Fortunately, there are 5 keys to help you get this friendship off to a quick start!

1. RelaxHave Fun!

It is your job to create an environment that is conducive to buying. Pointless, scripted, ice-breaking questions only create a cold selling environment. So relax and have a little bit of fun!

As soon as you meet your prospective customer, you will be evaluated. That evaluation will be determined not just by how you feel, but also how you make your prospect feel. The only way to put your prospect at ease is to be at ease yourself. If you’re uptight and contrived, your prospect will remain guarded and cold. If you are having fun, chances are your prospect will, too!

After all, people buy from people, and your job as a professional communicator (a.k.a. salesperson) is to make your customer comfortable enough to grab a Coke from your refrigerator.

2. Lighten Up, Laugh It Up

Nothing is more powerful than humor when it comes to building rapport quickly with your customer. Laughter is the spark that ignites interest and cordiality between you and your prospect; it’s hard to laugh with a person and not feel comfortable around them.

Some salespeople take their job too seriously, and are so focused on the sale that they forget to think about the customer. So, lighten up! If you make them laugh, they may buy from you!

3. Get to the Point

You got them on the phone, you secured an appointment, and you got them in your store now get to the point! State your objective and why they should care. Be careful not to use clichéd and insincere reasons like saving money, increasing productivity, and other transparent and ineffective reasons they have heard from so many salespeople before you.

Prospects don’t enjoy wasting time by playing games, and they certainly don’t trust a salesperson that makes them. Being specific will clear the air and will lead to a conversation and relationship that you will both enjoy.

4. Show Humility, but Be Yourself

Salespeople seem to be born with a humility deficiency, which is probably why most prospects don’t like them.

Your prospects think that THEY are the most important person in the world, and they expect to be treated as such. To build rapport quickly, you must learn to put that customer and their needs first, regardless of the size of the sale.

Curb the talk about how your company is the biggest and the best, and skip the part about how your product is superior to all other products in the market. The prospect needs to come to that realization independently, and the only way for that to happen is for you to remain humble.

Being humble doesn’t mean that you have to stifle your uniqueness. It simply means that you must let the prospect see and experience your uniqueness rather than having to hear you talk about it.

5. Be Sincere and Honest

Trust is the foundation for building a relationship with your prospect. You CANNOT fake this! If you are only in it for the commission, it will show! You must be sincere and honest throughout every step of the process to be successful.

Being sincere means believing in yourself, your product, and your company wholeheartedly. It means believing your product or service will benefit the prospect. You must be passionate about wanting to help your prospect and do so in an honest way. Without sincerity and honesty, you have no chance at building the rapport that will lead to loyal business.

When you believe in your heart that your product will have a profound impact on your prospect, it will accompany every word and impression delivered to that person. Your words will be more meaningful and your prospect will be more likely to respond to them.

So the next time you are tasked with trying to make a sale, remember to relax, laugh, and enjoy yourself; you’re really just making a new friend!

Tom Richard is the author of a weekly ezine on selling skills. To subscribe to this free ezine send a blank email to subscribe@tomrichard.com. Tom is also the author of the book titled Smart Sales People Don’t Advertise: 10 Ways to Out Smart Your Competition With Guerilla Marketing which you may purchase from your favorite online bookseller.

My research has clearly shown that, when it comes to selling, the part we’re most comfortable with is talking about what we do - explaining our services and how we can help the client.

So what do you think happens in most sales encounters? That’s right… we tell ‘em what we do.

Problem #1 - Clients don’t really want to know what we do.
Not to start with anyway. Usually they first want to know that they can trust us and that we comprehend their situation. They also want to understand ‘how’ we can help them. This is different to knowing exactly ‘what’ we do. To achieve this we need to look at what they want to achieve, and what their concerns are.

Problem #2 - When we’re talking we’re not listening.
It’s a fact. People can think many times faster than they talk. This means that when you’re talking, your client can think about lots of other stuff (like their next appointment, or your unpolished shoes). So keep your client focused by getting them to do the talking.

Control the sales encounter with questions. By using a structured questioning sequence you can move from initial exploratory questions to high-impact outcome oriented questions. When done properly this creates a harmonious exchange between the seller and the client. It’s not a matter of interrogating the client, or forcing them to make a quick decision.

As the salesperson (whether you be a consultant, partner, owner or manager) the overriding temptation is to start explaining what you do. Often this includes mentioning previous clients and interesting outcomes you have achieved. But does the client care? Not always. And not ever if what you are saying is not relevant to them.

The secret to selling like a professional is to listen closely to the client. Find out as much as possible that might be relevant to your service. Ask questions about their expectations. Then when you have that knowledge, discuss only the aspects of your service that have a direct bearing on your clients stated needs. Use this ‘inside knowledge’ during your presentation to highlight why you are the best choice as service provider.

And when you finish your presentation and need to gain a commitment from the client, ask another question, or suggest the next step. “Would you like to sign the agreement tomorrow?” or “Can we meet next week to finalise these last few issues?”

With a bit of practice you can replace your old sales monologues with a meaningful exchange of information that leaves your client wanting to work with you.

(c) 2004 Stuart Ayling

Stuart Ayling runs Marketing Nous, an Australasian marketing consultancy that specialises in marketing for service businesses. He helps clients to improve their marketing tactics, attract more clients, and increase revenue. For additional marketing resources, including Stuart’s popular monthly newsletter, visit his web site at www.marketingnous.com.au

After falling in love with the Hipster PDA and Levengers Shirt
Pocket Briefcase,I started becoming more and more dependent on
3″ by 5″ index cards. They are great for note taking on the go
and keeping organized at my desk, so I naturally started
thinking of ways to use the cards to automate my sales process.
>From this, the “3X5″ was born. I may not be the first person to
use index cards in this way, but I do think a lot of salespeople
will find the system easy to use and very effective.

You will need the following items to create your own 3X5 sales
tool. I found everything I needed at my local Staples and
everything cost me around $25.00.

* A box to store the index cards * Monthly 3″ by 5″ index tabs
* Daily (1-31) 3″ by 5″ index tabs * Alphabetical 3″ by 5″ index
tabs * A ton of white ruled 3″ by 5″ index cards * A bunch of
colored 3″ by 5″ index cards * A small case to carry cards in
your pocket

Once you have purchased the required supplies, you can organize
your 3X5. For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume that you are
assembling your 3X5 on January 1st. If this is the case you
would first organize your tabs in the order below (front to
back):

* January tab * Daily tabs 1-31 * February - December monthly
tabs * A-Z alphabetical tabs * Blank index cards - white and
your favorite color

All of your cards should now be in the file box and the first
thing you should see is the January tab.

Next, you should start creating cards for your leads. In the
beginning, this is going to take some time (assuming you have a
lot of leads). I use white cards for leads and colored cards for
my customers. You can do whichever you prefer, but I think it is
helpful to break down leads and customers.

The system works like this.

Let’s imagine it is January 1st. and you attend a networking
event where you meet a potential client. You get this lead’s
business card at the event and you want to contact him/her on
the 2nd., so when you get to your office, you staple the leads
business card to a white index card and drop it behind the “2″
tab and then go home for the day. After all, it is new years day
and you have been working hard to create your new sales system
and you attended a networking event.

So, you arrive at work on January 2nd. and open up your 3X5. The
first thing you should do is move the “1″ tab back behind the
February tab. You will always be rolling the system forward like
this, so that the first tab you see in the box represents the
most current month, then the most current day.

Now, you go to the tab for today (Jan 2nd.) and find the card
for the lead that you met at the networking event yesterday. You
call the lead and learn that he/she is out of town until January
6th. so you make a note which says, “1/2/05 - Mr. Lead is on
vacation till 1/6″. Now you drop the card behind the “6″ tab for
the month of January.

You will continue to roll this lead forward in the system,
making notes at each step, until the lead either turns into a
customer or asks you to leave them alone.

When the lead turns into a customer, I staple their business
card to a colored card and place it behind the appropriate
alphabetical tab. If their is another opportunity with this
client, I move the colored card back to the dated section and
move them through the process again.

Of course, as you add more people to your pipeline, you might
not get to contact everyone on the day you have them slotted
for. Just move them to the next day’s slot at the end of the
current day so you contact them tomorrow.

You will not want to carry around a huge metal box full of index
cards, which is why you want to have a small index card wallet
or box, so if you are going to be on the road or out of the
office, you can simply grab your cards for the day and go.

Not just for salespeople.

While the system is great for salespeople, it also is a great
tool for those of us who are focusing on networking. I actually
use three different colored cards and use white for leads, blue
for clients and red for my networking contacts (patriotic, I
know). On the red cards, I write either 7, 14, 30, 45, 60, etc
in the upper right hand corner of the index card to remind
myself how frequently I want to contact the person, so I simply
move the card forward based on the number on the card. If I want
to contact someone every seven days, I move the card ahead a
week after I make contact.

This really ties in well to Keith Ferrazzi’s book Never Eat
Alone, which recommends you regularly ping your network. By the
way, if you have not read the book, you should. You can get book
notes for free from the Never Eat Alone blog.

Options / Enhancements.

I have been considering adding daily tabs to each month so that
I can move people ahead to a any specific date (IE. August
11Th.) in the future.

You could also keep some sticky tabs handy so you can add a tab
to the top of any index card for the contacts birthday. If you
do this, you could just put an August tab on the card for every
contact whose birthday is in August so you could quickly compile
a birthday list each month. Again, this is probably overkill and
you could probably just add the contacts name to a calendar and
keep it separate, but what fun is that?

It’s summertime!

1. No one wants to be bothered.
2. It’s too hot.
3. It’s a beautiful day; everyone is out.
4. No one is thinking about work.
5. Prospects are getting ready to go on vacation.
6. Everyone is on vacation.
7. Prospects are just returning from their vacations
8. I’m preparing to go on vacation.
9. I’m on vacation.
10. I’ve just returned from vacation.
11. My assistant is on vacation.
12. Their assistant is on vacation.
13. No one is in on Mondays.
14. No one is in on Fridays.
15. Prospects are catching up midweek.
16. Prospects leave the office early.
17. Prospects go to the office late.
18. Prospects take long lunches.
19. No one makes appointments till after July 4th.
20. No one makes appointments till after Labor Day.

Print this list out. Send it to your competition. Then, get on the telephone!

Life and work continue, even in the summer! If it’s too hot, then your prospects will be in their nice, air-conditioned officeswhere you should be, too, making calls. If it is a beautiful day, some people may be out. The rest will not.

Everyone is not on vacation every day. If you happen to call someone who is on vacation, call them back when they return. If they are planning a vacation, schedule the meeting for when they return. If they have just returned from their vacation, schedule for a time when they say they will be caught up. If you are going on vacation, schedule for when you return.

Prospects are in the office on Mondays and Fridays, early and late. They are frequently at their desks during lunchespecially when you are calling the boss.

Prospects make appointments all summer long, just as they do in the fall, winter and spring. If a prospect asks you to call back after a holiday, suggest that you “pencil in a meeting for after the holiday.” Promise that you will call to confirm it. Do so!

Have a wonderful prospecting summer!

© 2005 Wendy Weiss

Wendy Weiss, “The Queen of Cold Calling & Selling Success,” is a sales trainer, author, and sales coach. Her recently released program, “Cold Calling College”, and/or her book, “Cold Calling for Women”, can be ordered by visiting http://www.wendyweiss.com Contact her at wendy@wendyweiss.com. Get Wendy’s free e-zine at www.wendyweiss.com

Auto sales training is definitely a constant need in any successful auto dealership, and one that you will find many dealerships not implementing properly because of lack of time. In today’s day and age, having a sharp and well trained staff is no longer a luxury; it’s an absolute necessity.

Car dealerships today are faced with the fact that the traditional auto sales training programs are “not cutting it.” These courses that they have been putting their staff through are not keeping pace with the technological advancements that are coming to the market on a daily basis. Think about it like this: One “X” brand dealership has a well trained staff; one that has a well organized auto sales training program which every single staff member completes. They train their staff the “steps-to-the-sale” and how to properly deal with prospects, customers and some advanced skills in relationship building.

Conversely, a competitor on the other side of the city realizes that they need to stay up with the advancements in technology that seem to take place daily. They have integrated their auto sales training program with a few external trainers, so now this staff is being trained in some amazing new ways. They all individually have their own web sites…a blog…and a PDA.

They are taught how to develop a relationship with their prospects and customers in a way that the dealership ultimately benefits from 10 fold. The sales staff, through the auto sales training program, is now able to engage and utilize technology; while the dealership management has leveraged the relationships of these staff members to ultimately grow the bottom line dramatically.

Which of these two dealerships would you want to be?

I think that the choice is clear, as well as imperative. You see, it is just impossible to be great, or even good, at multiple things…as there is just not enough time in a day. Dealers and the management teams are busy buying cars, selling cars and training their staff on how to buy and sell cars. Technology is flying by us at an incredible pace…and it is proven to be true; that the dealers that have totally engaged technology are the ones that have been able to leverage their time and resources in ways only once imagined.

One really quick example I would like to give regarding leverage is this: the Credit Union sale. Dealers go to Credit Unions all the time to “joint venture” a sale to the clients of the respective Credit Union. Why do they do this? The answer is quite simple. Credit Unions have fantastic relationships with their members, and by leveraging this relationship, dealers are now able to communicate and do business with an entirely new group of individuals that they may not have previously had access to. This is the power of leverage.

Now apply this to a well trained sales staff; a staff that has engaged technology to the fullest and is using this technology to develop their relationships with their prospects and customers.

Now, think about this, while your sales staff is developing better relationships with their prospects and customers…blogs, websites, pod casts, email marketing…the dealership is the ultimate benefactor. Conversely, if the dealership itself is the one that is attempting to do the direct marketing to these potential customers, it is merely seen as MARKETING.

I hope you all see the benefit of not only empowering your sales staff with a more efficient auto sales training program, but that you see how it is ultimately in the best interests of the dealership.

Visit http://www.mindsetforsales.com to learn how you can acquire the technology to stay ahead in this game!

Mortgage Loan Officer Training: 10 Helpful Tips That Can
Instantly Boost Your Income By $5,000 Per Month

Well here they are… 10 mortgage loan officer training tips to
improve efficiency and increase revenue. These tips have made me
hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years and I’m
confident they will do the same for you:

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #1: Only use a few
lenders Depending on your niche, all you really need is a few
good lenders. With a portfolio of about five lenders, you can
handle all credit grades and even special programs like stated,
no doc and 100% financing.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #2: Read your
lender’s guidelines to build an intimate knowledge of their
products and procedures - THIS IS A MUST!!! (And easy to do if
you only use a few lenders.) Don’t rely on lender reps to tell
you about their guidelines. They are human and can make mistakes
just like the rest of us.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #3: Send gifts to
your appraiser, title agents, and underwriters to gain favor.
This is a great way to build relationships with the people you
rely on to do business. Look for a reason to send these people a
thank you card along with a gift. This is another good reason to
use only a few good lenders.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #4: Define your
market What loans will you do and what loans will you not touch?
You can and will cause yourself undue heartache if you agree to
take a loan that is outside of your market. For instance, I
refused to even look at a loan unless the borrowers had a credit
score of 580 or higher. If an applicant has a credit score less
than 580, I referred them to my loan officer partner and split
the commissions.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #5: Specialize Find
a niche. Specialists always make more than generalists. Everyone
does purchase loans on single family houses. What if you became
the expert in your area on financing investment properties,
construction loans, or VA loans? With some work and dedication
you could become the mortgage lending “guru” for your niche and
monopolize your marketplace.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #6: Location,
location, location If you can: Keep a frig in your office, place
a copier close to your assistant’s desk, and have your computer
printer right next to your desk. This will save loads of time
walking around the office. It will also keep your assistants
focused. Sometimes it’s hard to walk through an office without
falling into several casual conversations that can lower your
team’s production.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #7: Get all
documentation up front I believe in getting every piece of
documentation I could possibly need right up front. That way if
a problem arises you have a greater chance of being able to fix
the problem on your own without bothering the borrowers.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #8: Only the
necessities Just because you collect extra documentation,
doesn’t mean you have to use it. Don’t submit extra paperwork to
your processor or to underwriting. It could open a can of worms
you don’t want opened. Only turn in exactly what’s need to fund
the loan - nothing more or less.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #9: Sandwich
technique At some point you’ll need to contact a borrower during
the loan process and ask for more information. When this
situation arises, try using the sandwich technique:

Re-establish rapport Make your request: “Oh by the way I
need___. When can you fax it to me?” Continue rapport building
dialog. Say goodbye and politely get off the phone

If you have a difficult borrower, this works like a charm to
diminish their anxiety level.

Mortgage Loan Officer Training Tip #10: Testimonials
Get testimonials from everyone. They are great marketing tools
for your business. Use them to target your client’s CPA, HR
manager at work, real estate agent and financial planner to
establish a referral relationship.

There you have it. Incorporate these ideas into your mortgage
business and see how they impact your bottom line.

By the way, if you would like to get another 13 mortgage loan
officer training tips that can instantly boost your income by
$5,000 per month, visit:

www.Mortgage-Leads-Generator.com/a/13tips.htm

Please feel free to reprint this article as long as the resource
box is left intact and all links are hyperlinked.

=====================================================

Hartley Pinn has recently created the “Mortgage Leads Generator”
Training Course to teach mortgage loan officers 10 proven
strategies for generating more than 71 mortgage
leads per day.

If you ask me how much Bobby will sell this month, there is only one way to tell. It isn’t by what Bobby wrote on his forecast sheet. However, with the right information, this is an equation I can get into. If we run the sales activity numbers, we can pretty accurately determine where Bobby will end up this month, quarter and year. As the numbers and ratios change so will the final results. This can be exciting, when we are interested in managing sales and our business through sales activities.

Sales activity numbers are an important indicator of success and failure. The problem associated with calculating sales activity is that many salespeople and sales managers don’t keep track of the vital numbers to make the analysis. The numbers aren’t that difficult to track but many people are afraid of what the numbers will reveal. There is a dark side to numbers when used to point out only the negatives.

Let’s go back to old early algebra scenarios. We ask Bobby how many sales contacts it will take him to reach 50,000 dollars in sales this month. We could calculate this out, if we knew how many contacts it takes Bobby to get an appointment. This will lead us to his average sale. If we know what these numbers are and apply them to the sales formula, we have our answer.

Improving Success Through Ratios

The great thing about numbers and ratios is they can tell us where Bobby needs help and support. We wouldn’t normally have this unless we have Bobby’s contact numbers to calculate his success ratios. If it takes Bobby 30 telephone contacts to get one appointment, the numbers tell us that Bobby is at a very low 30-1 ratio. If this was his baseball batting average, we wouldn’t want him on our team. Bobby would be in a terrible slump and in serious trouble. Now we can look at several things, his telephone script, and the quality and type of the contacts on his telephone list. Perhaps the timing of his telephone calls and the tone and rhythm of his voice needs work too.

The good news is that Bobby only needs a few hits to improve his ratios. All of a sudden Bobby is looking pretty good. It usually doesn’t take much to make this transformation. If we don’t have the numbers, we won’t know where we are and what our ratios can tell you.

What Is A Good Ratio For Your Sales Team?

Keeping track of your sales and contact numbers is an easy thing for some people and difficult for others. Those that know them have an advantage. ACT! is a great tabulator for this. If you examine your numbers and ratios, they will tell you where you need improvement and where you are awesome.

Steve Martinez is a Sales Management Growth Strategist and Founder of Selling Magic. His organization teaches businesses how to automate and customizing CRM solutions with the best practices of sales management for increased profits. http://www.sellingmagic.com

I sit down and look at my notebook. Then, I put myself into the ‘zone’.

That’s how I start to write web copy that sells.

Whether you agree with me or not, your web copy will determine whether your product’s going to sell online or not.

Simple reason. In an offline sales pitch or presentation, you get to interact with your prospect. You get to touch him. He gets to see you personally.

But not online. No, no, no. It all depends on the words on your site. See how powerful words are?

I’m not saying I’m a guru at web copy. There are many other copywriters who are far better than me. Many. But I’ve written my own web copy and it’s selling. And at the same time, I’ve been hired to write for others.

Keep on reading on how I write killer web copy and you can pick up any of the tips.

The first part to write a copy, you MUST be in the ‘zone’.

What the heck is the ‘zone’? The ‘zone’ is like… the mood. You see, writing a great copy is like an artist painting a beautiful picture. When you are in the ‘zone’, your hand can’t stop typing and your mind keeps on coming up with amazing ideas to write.

Like, I’m in the ‘zone’ when I write this article.

How to be in the ‘zone’? I’m not sure how you can achieve that, but for me, I put in a lot of passion to write a killer copy and I look into the future to see how this copy will sell like crazy.

That’s how I get into the ‘zone’.

Once you are in the zone, keep on writing. Don’t stop. Even though, you know you are writing wrong grammar or putting in weird ideas. Just keep on writing.

Then, after it’s finished, read it all over again. This time, you’ll pick up the mistakes and you’ll add in more ideas. Continue doing this until you are satisfied with your work. Finally, edit your work.

When you start your copy, your headline is one of the most important parts of the copy.

Some copy writers write tons of headlines before they start. For me, I’ll write about 5 headlines and read it over several times. Then, I’ll pick the best and fine tune it at least 5-10 times before I decide to use it.

One more part of writing copy; don’t feel bad ‘borrowing’ some ideas from successful copy you’ve seen.

Get a swipe file of the best copy you can find.

And the last thing you need to keep in mind when writing a killer copy is this:

“What’s the end result the reader will get if they buy from you?”

Your copy MUST sell hope and benefits to the reader if you want them to buy anything after reading your copy.

Now go write your killer copy.

All the best.

Warmest regards,

Patric ‘High-Speed Marketing’ Chan

Chief Marketing Strategist

Copyright 2004 Patric Chan

About The Author

Patric works with world-class internet marketing gurus to build successful online businesses. He is also the author of ‘How To Make More Money Easily’. Discover more insider secrets and the exact proven strategies to make money online: http://www.automateinternetmarketing.com

Whether you create and sell your own products, buy reselling rights or rebrand other people’s products, adding value with bonuses is a well-used tactic in affiliate marketing. Why? Because a good bonus is valid, honest, and truly does add value to any offer. Perhaps most importantly, it makes the customer think that NOT to purchase would be a very unwise decision.

The challenge is that almost every marketer is using bonuses, so customers are wearying of the hype. What you need to do is offer them bonuses that do add genuine value to your product, and off them at the right place and time, and in the right way.

Some examples of good bonuses are:

*your product is an ebook about how to buy a used car, and your bonus is a report on how to check to see if a vehicle has sustained damage.

*your product is software designed to simplify obtaining reciprocal links, and your bonus is a report about how to create search engine optimized website title, description and keywords.

A bonus with genuine value:

*can be put to use immediately and is directly related to your product.

*provides motivation that is a match for the motivation to sign up for the newsletter or buy your product, and serves to add to that motivation, not detract from it.

*can allow you to put a price on a product that others give away for free.

The right placement of a bonus is:

*immediately before your prospect makes the last click to complete a sale. This will eliminate any last minute hesitation and will reinforce what you are asking for your product.

A bonus works well if you will only be selling your product for a limited time:

*If you can tell people that if they order by July 15th 2006 they will get a discount or free bonuses, there will be a sense of urgency compelling the customer to buy now rather than risking missing the bonus.

Here are examples of appropriate free bonuses:

1. Physical Product
If you are selling a physical product, it’s easy to slip in a free sample or free gift. Anything with your logo, url and/or contact info reminds your customer to return to your website. Pens, mousepads, coffee cups, and refrigerator magnets all get used frequently.

2. Special Report
Information in a condensed form that relates to what you’re offering and would be very helpful for the customer makes a great bonus. If your product is information explaining how to do something, your bonus can be a detailed description of some aspect of that. A great bonus to add to Opt In Master Course would be a report outlining how to get the most out of your favorite traffic exchanges or safelists; or, how to write a good email advertisement.

Titles that are exciting and include numbers, such as “10 Killer Steps to Writing Email Ads that Sell”, are proven to be highly successful. An easy way to write your report is to write it in Microsoft Word, format it so it looks professional (using white space, highlights, and bulleted lists, for example), and then use Adobe Acrobat to save it as a PDF file for easy downloading. Be sure to promote your business, website, and relevant affiliate programs in there too - remember it may get passed around. If you would like to make your report available for rebranding, then use pdf995 instead of Adobe Acrobat. Rebranding rights encourage other marketers to pass it around. You can offer your report for free, and sell rebranding rights.

3. Resource List
Compile a list of your personally recommended resources, websites, books, and vendors that will help your list grow their lists and run a successful business. You can set this up as a PDF file as well, or create a password-protected area of your website that your list can access.

4. Checklist
Are there any checklists that would be a good tie-in to what you offer? That help people do what you’re teaching them to do, better or easier? A checklist of a daily traffic exchange surfing schedule, or weekly website promotion activities, would help your list members run their businesses more efficiently. A common question I receive is, do you really use ALL the resources in OMC? Your answer to that could be your checklist of what you use.

5. Collection of Articles
My favorite way to advertise my site and add valuable content is to write articles and post them to article directories and on my website. Your list of article directories, or a collection of your best 10 articles, would make a valuable bonus ebook.

6. Workbook
Since OMC includes marketing principles, strategies and tactics, put together a separate guide to help your list members do assignments, stay on track, and document their progress. A workbook is something people recognize and appreciate because it infers step by step guidance, with measurable results. This would be a step up from a checklist.

7. A Coaching Session With You
A consultation is a great bonus to offer, for several reasons. First, it helps you get to know your list members and their questions will
help you decide on the direction your website should take. Second, it’s a great opportunity to add backend sales to your free products. For example, if they appreciated the coaching you provided, they may be interested in buying an ebook that expands on this info.

Digital or Physical?

If you’re offering printed material as a bonus, don’t go nuts spending a ton of money making it look great. “Good” is okay! A simple printed-on-demand report from Cafe Press fits any budget and is fine. First you sign up for a Basic Shop for free. On the ” My CafePress” page, click on the “products” link under Shop Management. Next, click on the “add products” button at the top of the page. This will direct you to the product list where you can select the products available for you to choose from. The book is the last product in the list. The system will then walk you through each step of creating your book.

What’s most important is the cover — even if you only produce a digital report or audio product, having a graphic of it will help
increase your response and make you look more professional.

Give Your Wallet a Bonus This Month

So get some bonuses together, make note of your sales so far, and then add some bonuses and watch how your sales rise.

Be forewarned: Cafe Press is addictive. You can create your own store, create your own products, and it’s ridiculously fun and easy. You may find yourself spending more time there than you planned. Besides playing around with Cafe Press, Kathryn Beach also is queen of her domain at Affiliate Marketing Tips and would love to share her queendom with you.