Chapter Four
By MarkBowser
The next morning, Jack went to meet Digger at Panera Bread. What a wonderful morning. Jack was pumped at the sale he had made yesterday afternoon.
At 7:15 AM, Jack walked into Panera Bread. As soon as he opened the door, he could smell the wonderful aroma of freshly brewed coffee and warm pastries. Oh, it smelled good.
Digger was sitting at a booth, waving at Jack. Jack walked over and sat down across from Digger. Jack immediately started speaking, "This stuff works. It really works. I closed a sale yesterday afternoon."
"This stuff does work," beamed a proud Digger. "Tell me all about the sale you made."
Digger listened intently as Jack excitedly told him about his successful experience of the day before. When he was finished, Digger said, "Great job. That is only the beginning. And, only the beginning of your education. I am going to go get us some breakfast. As I do, I want you to read this article by Mark Bowser." Digger handed Jack a newspaper and stood up to get inline.
Jack looked at the newspaper and began to read:
How are sales going? Do you have more prospects than you have time to call on today? Is your sales pipeline full, or are you hoping to bump into someone today who might possibly, just maybe, want to buy what you sell? Well, wherever you are on the spectrum, this column will share with you some simple ideas of expanding your list of prospects and customers.
Here is the key: Create value first! Simple, right? You don’t think so? Well, here is why it is so important. Creating value first lessens the resistance from the prospective customer. Ponder this. It is a way that you can prove to them how well you can serve them…before they buy. So, how do you do this? Quite simply. Give something of value away. Really! It is that simple. Give value to a lot of people, and a lot of people will be knocking on your door.
What do you have that you can give away? Maybe you can give away a free sample, a free newsletter, a free consultation, etc… Here is an example. My chiropractor sells very effectively by giving away a coupon for a free body scan. Do you know where he prints this coupon? On the back of his business card. Every time he gives out one of his business cards, he is also giving away a free body scan. What does the body scan do? It creates value. Why? Because the only people who will use the coupon are ones who are having some sort of physical challenge or pain, such as in their back. This makes them a prospect for my doctor instead of just a suspect. Then, he gives them value with the body scan, which helps him diagnose the issue that is causing them pain and gives him insight on how to solve their pain. Value first…leads to sales.
Let me give you another example. Let’s suppose you sell audio and DVD training programs. What if you gave away a free MP3 training program? How much would that cost you? Virtually nothing because you can create an MP3 from an existing product. Do you see where I am going with this? It costs you virtually nothing but…creates tremendous value for the prospective customer.
Maybe you run a local printing company. What if you offered 250 free business cards just to try out your business? That little investment may come back to you in droves.
Here is a way you could supercharge those ideas. What if you gave the coupon for a discount or a free MP3 training program to the Sales Manager at ABC Company and encouraged him/her to pass it out to all of his/her sales representatives? What if the chiropractor gave the coupon for a free body scan to the Human Resources Manager and encouraged him/her to give it to all the employees at ABC Company? The potential is endless.
As a Sales Trainer and Professional Speaker, I sometimes will give out free 45-minute preview seminars. It lets prospects test drive a seminar before they invest in a full seminar. I give them value by giving them ideas that they can use to be more prosperous. Does it work? Oh yea! For example, I booked multiple days of seminars with one client using this technique.
As an author, I give away free books. It is an important part of our selling strategy. The free books let the reader test drive my writing. If they enjoy it and benefit from it, guess what? They buy one of the other books. And the cycle goes on and on and on!
So, what are you waiting for? Put down that newspaper and go out and create some value today.
As Jack put down the article, Digger was arriving with their breakfast. "It looks like you are deep in thought," said Digger.
"I am just thinking about that article. On how... I can create value first."
"That is the key," smiled Digger. "Create a lot of value first... and you will never need to worry about keeping your sales pipeline full."