Author Archives: Logan Rivenes

And Then The Marketers Show Up

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When marketing shows up, the party is ruined.

Marketing is your friend Karen.

Spam is the result of marketing. Nobody likes spam. 

There are countless examples of marketing ruining something great. 

Newspapers. Radio. Telephone. Television. Mail. Email. The Internet. Social Media. Podcasting. They will most likely ruin whatever comes next.

In each medium, the cause of frustration is having to wade through the marketing messages to get to something valuable. When using Google, the first three results tend to be from a corporate content marketing team. I am guilty as charged. 

It seems every great medium of communication has the early adopters, and then the Marketers show up. It is another place to spread their message.

I recently came across the term UnMarketing.

UnMarketing

In UnMarketing, the basic premise is to market to others as you would like to be marketed to. The same can be said for sales. Sell to others the way you would like to be sold to. 

It is like a marketers take on the old adage: “do unto others…”.

To cut through the noise, the competitive advantage may be to take the UnMarketing or UnSales approach. No doubt it is more difficult, takes longer, but the results might provide more engaged customers.

This path may not appease the quarterly results, but the numbers may become less volatile.

Let us consider UnMarketing and UnSelling as our approach to growing business.

Good luck and good UnSelling!

One Reason People Will Not Buy From You

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There are many reasons people will not buy from you. 

There’s also many reasons they would. 

I want to mention one reason people are not buying from you.

The reason is time.

Actually, this has nothing to do with you. 

It has everything to do with the fact that moving your solution through the approval process is difficult. It will take your prospect away from their current job. 

A job they already do not have enough time for. A boss might say: “should you really be focusing on this?”

In this one question, your initiative is dead.

This is the battle, as a sales professional, you have to overcome.

How do I overcome this?

I have found two ways that help.

  1. Spend more time in discovery
  2. Move on

The first, you need to ask questions. Dive into the real reason there is hesitation. This might be helping to re-identify the problem the prospect is facing. Help them understand the urgency of their problem. Only then can you provide the prospect a reason to advocate for your solution.

The second is more difficult. When the prospect says they really like your product, but continue to put you on the back burner, it might be time to part ways. Sometimes the difference between failure and success is knowing how quickly to move on. The company was not a good match at this time. Merely stay in contact.

The buying process is complicated. Sometimes, there are too many internal barriers. Your prospects company is preventing you from closing a deal in a reasonable amount of time.

Best to decide whether it is time to move on.

Good luck and good selling!

Thoughts About Winning Your First Customer

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Who is using your product?

Could you refer me to an existing customer?

The dreadful questions when you have no customers.

The point in the sales process where you think it’s over.

If I had a case study I could grow.

Currently, I am on my fourth round of getting the first customer to a new product. It does not seem to get easier.

The only difference this time is I have no brand recognition to get my foot in the door.

I want to present a few thoughts about winning your first customer.

Find The Cowboy

A cowboy is rogue. Excited about the unknown. Searching for the frontier.

This is the profile that’s perfect for using a new product. Research your industry to find those notorious for trying new products.

It is easy in tech because you can use a service like Product Hunt. Those wanting to be Product Hunters are perfect targets. They are all cowboys.

In other industries, you will want to find those on the fringes. The crazy ones. The Hipsters.

Move On

When you have no customers, one customer is 100% growth. Thus, the faster you get a customer, the faster you grow.

This is why you should move on from a slow moving prospect as soon as possible.

During the discovery stage, determine if the customer is comfortable being first.

This does not mean asking them, but finding out if they are going to need a referral. Will they be comfortable sitting in the front row?

If they ask who else is using your product, this is a cue they are uncomfortable being first.

Find those willing to sit in the front row.

Who Has The Problem

Find the niche where the problem you are solving hurts the most. This will generate the highest interest.

I sold a medical device that benefited smokers and diabetes patients. It made sense for me to target a market with a high level of smokers and diabetes patients. These were the individuals to benefit most from my solution.

This goes for any product.

What customers will benefit the most?

How Will Their Life Change

Change is risky. It is asking someone to go from something comfortable to something uncomfortable.

This is why it is your job to mitigate risk. Some customers want this in the form of a referral, but cowboys just need you to tell them a story. Understand their current situation and how it will change with the use of your product.

Change is difficult and uncertain. Mitigate risk.

Be Strategic

Find those who are well respected in the community. The key opinion leaders.

These individuals tend to be on the speaker circuit. They are industry writers. They are thought leaders.

Get the key opinion leader to try your product and delight them. They are then more likely to talk about you. Chances are to a large audience.

Focus on strategic individuals.

Over Deliver

Once you have the cowboy, the key opinion leader, and the individual who will benefit most from your solution, the next step is to over deliver. Delight them.

Get them to feel compelled to share your product. Share their experience.

This is the most difficult step. The step we fear most.

After all, this is the most powerful form of sales and marketing.

The referral.

A referral only works if your product is worth sharing.

Make your product worth sharing.

See it from the perspective of the prospect. Their current process may be working, and you are new and untrusted.

Why should they use you?

Sales or marketing, finding the initial target is not easy. Easy would be to present your product to existing customers. But remember, you don’t have any.

Whether entering a new city, new market, or new industry, people talk. Target the talkers with the most respect.

Then delight them.

Good luck and good selling!

Being Remarkable

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Remarkable does well regardless of the economy or rapid change.

Remarkable comes in many shapes.

If you are a remarkable employee, you are sought after.

If you are a remarkable Sales Professional, you are rewarded handsomely.

If you are a remarkable Marketer, you create a market.

Remarkable is creating something different, being different, having something worth sharing.

In an economy where attention is expensive, different stands out. Creating something different that’s worth sharing is key to growth. This is A Purple Cow. This is the basis of Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow.

I highly recommend giving the book a read. If nothing else, you might have a remarkable idea.

Good luck and good selling!