The Incredible Visible Man

Posted on July 8, 2010 by Les Lent

Last week in an article entitled “Whatcha Readin” I talked about the value of reading anything written to, for, about or by your target customer base. This can include; trade journals, blog posts, articles and magazines. Later in the article I mentioned ‘Kicking it up a notch’ by writing something for your customer base—something of value to them. This may seem like a lofty goal, but it isn’t, it does require planning and thought—that’s way so few people do it. Here are some ideas on where and how to start to become more VISIBLE to you prospects.

All the News You’re Fit to Print
Newsletters have been around for a long time, and they’ve never been easier to put out. If you decide to start an email newsletter make sure you become familiar with permission based marketing. Nobody wants to be spammed.

A few tips: publish them regularly, put out good content and give value first. Other than that a newsletter is YOURS! You can use it to market, provoke thought, provide value, introduce new products and treat your frequent fliers special. The list goes on and on.

One of my clients puts out an educational single page newsletter every month for their dealer reps. Short sweet and to the point. Targeted to a very specific audience and written to, about and for them. Very effective.

One limitation to newsletters is they are typically sent to people who already know you. That doesn’t make them any less valuable. They just don’t typically introduce you to new prospects.

On the Blogs of Others
So where to start? You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to get a ride. One place to start maybe by commenting on someone else’s blog.

Find a few reputable blogs you like written for the industry you sell to and start reading them. Read them regularly. Most blogs allow readers to comment on individual blog posts. When you read a post you feel you can add value to post a comment. At the risk of overstating the obvious make sure your comment is relevant, grammatically correct and adds value to the reader. One last bit of advice…make sure you’re not putting the original poster in a bad light.

Often there can be as much value in a chain of post comments as there is in the original post.

A Blog of Your Own
While we’re on the topic of Blogs, it seems the next logical step would be to start a blog of your own. One targeted to your prospects. Many of the same rules apply. Keep your posts relevant, valuable and again spelling counts.

Make sure you let people know about your blog. Put a link in your newsletter, your email signature line, and of course there’s all of the social media outlets.

Once you have a platform you may be able to supplement your content with quality content from other bloggers. Think in terms of a guest post. Reposting a good article to a broader audience is the essence of viral marketing.

Invite people to comment on your posts. Literally ask your readers for their thoughts, opinions and input about your posts. Engage your readers! I’ve seen this technique used very effectively to create dialog which later led to people doing business together.

Be patient. Most of the best blogs took awhile to gain some traction. That said the sooner you start the sooner you can start to gain momentum.

As with so many other things there’s no shortage of tips and advice on how to start an effective blog on the web.

Finally—Your Name in Print
We live in 2.0 world but print is not dead, and probably won’t be for a while yet. Once you’ve started to cut your teeth on blogs you may be able to get your name in print.

Many, if not all, industries have trade journals or magazines (trade associations are a good place to start looking). If you can can find any with a training or continuing education theme even better. These types of publications tend to have a longer shelf life and their publishers are always looking for quality content.

There are a few ways you can go about trying to get published. The first, and most direct approach, is to pick up the phone and call them. On the inside cover, or a few pages in, you should find the publications “Masthead”. This is a list of the publisher, editor, contributors, contact info etc. Many times there will be information on where and how to submit articles. Let them know you’re a fan of their publication, you’re a reader, you’re an advocate and you can add value to their readership. Ask if they’re interested in contributions. Understand this is process not an event. If you can’t get them on the phone try email. Point them to a place they can see a sample of your writing—like your blog or back issues of your newsletter.

If you’re not comfortable with such a direct approach you can start by writing a letter to the editor. Same deal as the blogs. The letter should reference an article in the journal, add value to the reader and again spelling counts. If it gets published then you may have a better shot at getting them on the phone.

So… What to Write?
You’re the expert. Write about something you wish all of your customers and prospects knew about the type of product or service you sell. Write something about trends in the industry, things to be aware of, things to look out for, top ten things to know before buying your type of product or service. Write about the best applications and uses of the type of product or service you sell. Notice I keep saying the ‘type’ of product you sell not your product. The idea behind getting published is not to find a forum to sell your stuff, but a venue to let people know you know your stuff. You’re the expert.

A Few Tips
This isn’t the place, and I’m not the guy, to try to teach someone how to write. That said here a few tips I’ve picked up that make the process a little easier.

  • Write about something you’re knowledgeable about.
  • Write about something you’re passionate about.
  • Schedule the time to write something, anything, everyday.
  • Write like you speak—if you’re not in the habit of saying “Hubris” don’t write it.
  • Edit ruthlessly & relentlessly.
  • Read your stuff—out loud.
  • Have someone you trust proof read your stuff.
  • Keep pen and paper handy to capture random ideas.
  • Read about writing—email me and I’ll send you a list of great books on the subject.
  • Hire an editor. You’d be surprised how affordable a good copy editor is on Craigslist.
  • Don’t use bullet points.

Have a newsletter, blog post or something else you’ve written. Let me know what you’re writing.

Posted in Sales, Sales Management | Leave a comment

Tribute to the Salesman

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Les Lent

The salesman represents the only element in modern business which we can go on improving indefinitely.

The salesman is the only factor in the production end of the business which can be improved almost without limit.

There is a technical limitation which sometimes determines how far we can go on improving our product, but there is no technical limitation to developing the minds, educating the souls, and improving the spirits of the salesmen. — M.O. Maughan 1929

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Whatcha Readin’?

Posted on July 2, 2010 by Les Lent

The Best Question a Boss Every Asked Me:

One of the best managers/coaches I’ve had in my professional career used to ask this question at the end of every manager meeting: “Whatcha readin’?” A quick series of responses around the table  as to what each of us was currently reading, or had recently read.  The first time he asked it, it caught a few folks off guard. Not sure what he was looking for, we gave answers from the latest “must read” business book to Sports Illustrated magazine. Each of us was asked to give a brief synopsis of what the book was about and what the appeal was for us.

His message was simple; Readers are Leaders. He wasn’t the first person to say it and I’m sure he won’t be the last. The conversations about what each of us was reading combined with why it was important to us and our personal take-aways from the book/article/magazine made for engaging conversation and group learning.  What he was looking for was for his managers to think like leaders and life-long learners. He wanted to have on his team people whose goals, among other things,  where to stay relevant and current!

Can’t find the time to read or read more? If you can name any of the contestants on American Idol or who the latest celebrities to get kicked off Dancing with the Stars, I bet I can find you some time. You’re a professional. Turn off the TV and turn on your brain to turn up your growth!  Schedule it!

Books for Sellers:
Regardless of a person’s chosen profession it’s always a good idea to sharpen your ax. I have found some of the best books on sales are short, sweet and to the point. Many of them are worth reading multiple times. One of my favorites is Smart Selling by Gerry Layo.

Do you want to be a better communicator? Do you want people to better understand the message that you’re sending whether it’s written or spoken? There are some great books about how to speak, write and communicate like a pro. A few which come to mind are Writing to Learn by William Zinsser,  Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White and Speak Like a CEO by Suzanne Bates.

Do you want to remain relevant and valuable to your prospects, customers and clients? Read anything written about or written by them. Some examples of these may be their trade journals, blog posts, newsletters and industry specific publications. Every industry has them and (to remain relevant to THEM) you should be reading them!  Anything written by, for, or about your prospects and customers is worthy of your attention. Want to really kick it up a notch?  WRITE something for your customer base to read—and make sure it is something about them and their business and not just about you and yours (but that’s for another article).

Books for Sales Managers:

One of my clients recently complained, “I can’t get people to read. They either do or don’t. They either will or won’t”. I don’t subscribe to this personally. I think you can coach people to read more — and with purpose. Here a few methods I’ve either used or have seen work:

Ask the question: “Whatcha reading?”  A great follow up question is “What’s it about?” Ask it regularly, listen to the answers without judging, and you’re bound to get some pretty good stuff.  At the very least, you will get some insight into the interests of your people—and that helps with your connection with them.

Give them something to read. A book you like is a good place to start. Give it to them freely and without expectation. At a recent first meeting I held with a new group of sales managers I kicked it off by giving each of them a copy of book I read and thoroughly enjoyed.  The book defined and laid out the type of leadership I was looking for out of the managers on my team. The book I am referring to is Seth Godin’s Tribes. Each monthly meeting came with a new book–typically a book that I had read and enjoyed—with a brief explanation as to what I liked about it. Before long I heard quotes and discussions around the topics or themes of the books I had given them. Over time I began to give more personal and individualized books based on what I knew about each member of my team. If I were going to give them one today it would be Seth Godin’s latest book Linchpin.

Give them a reading assignment. I worked with a manager who gave a photo copied chapter of a book, or sometimes a blog post, to everyone on the team two weeks prior to a meeting with a Post-It note ‘Please read and be prepared to discuss’ stuck on the front page. A word of caution; if you’re going to use this technique you need to do three things:

1.    Read it yourself.

2.    Make sure it doesn’t get pushed off the meeting agenda.

3.    Don’t (initially) tell your team what you thought.—Instead, ask their opinions.

Sounds simple but I’ve seen all of these things get missed—more than once.

Assign an entire book to the team to read. The book I’ve seen this done with the most has been Good to Great by Jim Collins. If you’ve read and picked apart this one already, try his recent book, How the Mighty Have Fallen. Either one can give you and your team some initiatives on which to work. Sound a bit low level or too granular?  Remember the goals here include team buy-in, behavioral change, mind expansion, and effective new execution.

A Few More Thoughts:
Some of the best business books I’ve read weren’t about business at all. They were books about people, historical events, and ideas. They were often books that made me think about things from a different perspective. A couple of my favorites include Tom Wheeler’s Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails and Sway by Ori Brafman. The former is an historical look at how the sender’s message can be so easily misunderstood by the recipient when sent electronically. The latter is an interesting look into why people make such irrational decisions.

Mark them up! Don’t be afraid to high-light, underline, circle and annotate the things in the book that resonate with you. Most of the books I’ve read have copious notes written in the margins. One of the coolest features of the Amazon Kindle (Amazon’s new e-reader) is the ability to write (type) notes, thoughts and ideas digitally in the books you’ve downloaded.

There’re more than a few books I’ve started and not finished. Sometimes I read them for specific purposes such as research or as reference material. There are very few books however, whether I’ve finished them or not, that haven’t given me at least one gem. Zig Ziglar said it best “It’s not what I get out of the book, but what the book gets out of me.”

Want to make an impression on a prospect customer or client? It’s been said one of the best ways to do that is to send something personal and memorable. Books can easily do both. Make it about them and be sure and hand write a note on the inside cover.

So— “What are you reading?” I’d love to know, so email me here with the title and author. For more solid suggestions for your reading list, shoot me an email with ‘Recommended Reading List’ in the subject line and we’ll send you a starter list.

Do it NOW…before you get voted off the island!



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