   |
             
|
 | ||
|
The EMBA Marketeer Issue 23, October 1999 Y2K LOOMS EVER CLOSER
With less than 3 months to go, the challenge for the year 2000 is upon us. EMBA has done its best to prepare by upgrading all of our computer hardware and software and our telecommunications support. We have asked our various vendors and resources to do what they can to prepare themselves so that when business resumes on January 3, 2000 any glitches will be minimal. EMBA has met the challenge and we are ready to continue to grow and serve our clients in the coming decade. On the speaking front, we have several programs scheduled this quarter on both "Fearless Prospecting - Cold Calling Made Easier", and "High Impact Marketing on a Shoestring Budget." If you might be interested in either of these, or any of our other presentations for your company or organization, please contact us. If you gathered 100 experienced managers together and asked for their advice, they probably wouldn't say much about "competing values models" or "temporal rhythms." Instead, this is what you'd hear. "Don't be afraid of the phrase, 'I don't know.'" If you don't know the answer, don't try to bluff. If you're at fault, take the blame. If you're wrong, apologize. A wise person once said, "If you always tell the truth, you never have to remember anything." "Never gossip." If someone wants to gossip with you, politely say you're not interested. This corporate adage rings true: When someone gossips, two careers are hurt--the person being talked about, and the person doing the talking. "No task is beneath you." Don't think you are above anything. Be the good example and pitch in--especially if the job is one that nobody wants to do. "Share the credit whenever possible." Managers who spread credit around look much stronger than those who take all the credit themselves. "Ask for help." If you think you're in over your head, you are. Before it gets out of hand, ask someone for help--most people enjoy giving a hand. Besides saving yourself from embarrassment, you'll make a friend and an ally. "Keep your salary to yourself." Discussing salary is a no-win proposition. Either you'll be upset because someone is making more than you, or someone will be upset with you. "Let it go." What shouldn't happen often does: You weren't given the project you wanted, you were passed over for the promotion you deserved. Be gracious and diplomatic...and move on. Harboring a grudge won't advance your career. "When you're right, don't gloat." The only time you should ever use the phrase "I told you so" is if someone says to you: "You were right. I really could succeed at that project."
Every presentation has an audience, be it one or hundreds, and every audience has a pre-conceived orientation toward what you are about to present. One of the key elements of successful presentations is that they are aimed directly at the mind-set of the audience. Therefore, prior to designing the presentation, sit back and analyze the audience. Ask yourself two questions:
For example, if their attitude is positive and their interest is high, your presentation, unless it has many hidden negatives, is likely to be well-received before you even start. You're like the keynote speech at the political convention (if anyone's listening). In this case, don't bore them with statistics or lengthy proofs of your conclusions. Go heavy on color, light on detail. Glorify in the achievement, the sales success, the improved productivity figures, whatever. Take their enthusiasm and build it. However, if their attitude is neutral and their interest is high, you must take the opposite approach and prove every point. This situation is common in sales when your presentation is one of many from competing firms. You must show in logical detail why your point, your product, your budget, your idea, is the best that your audience is going to hear. When attitudes are negative, but interest is high, you have a potentially hostile audience. It's like advocating strip mining to a group of conservationists. The first thing you must do is acknowledge their biases and the "cons" to your argument right up front. Do so by putting your words in the first person by saying, "If I were in your shoes, I'd feel...". Next, if you can, play the reformed sinner. Tell your audience you once felt just as they do, but that you have studied the situation and feel that your proposal or ideas have real merit. These tactics cannot help but raise their attitudes toward you, and thus toward your subject. Now, suppose the attitude of your audience is positive, but their interest is low. Examples might be the annual charity drive or enrolling 22-year-olds in the pension plan. The answer is simple: Touch their hearts! Make your appeal as emotional as you can. Get them to feel the enthusiasm you have for your subject and the effect it will have on them. If the attitude is neutral and the interest low, you're probably giving a presentation where the participants are required to attend, like a monthly safety meeting. It can be very disheartening. First, tell them you know how they feel. Then, put on a show? Give them entertainment first and some will be awakened to the value of your subject. Finally, the ultimate situation for disaster, the audience that isn't interested and has a negative attitude. In this case, see if you can get out of the presentation, delegating it to someone as a "learning experience". If you can't do that, ask the group to identify, with you, some common concerns. Then direct all your comments toward those concerns, continually reminding them that all of you are working together to make the meeting productive. The final word: No audience should be approached in a vacuum. Do your homework, including talking in advance to those who will be attending. Once you get a feel for their interest and attitude toward you and your subject, concentrate on targeting your delivery for maximum effect. No two audiences, and ,therefore, no two presentations are the same. ...By Carter Johnson: Buying Time Seminars 630-910-1927 In Holland, annual per capital consumption of black licorice is about 4.5 pounds. A group of Illinois college students who are sprucing up 100 miles of the Mississippi River as part of a school project collected 275 tires, 259 barrels, 30 refrigerators, 85 propane tanks, 59 herbicide and pesticide containers, and 359 bags of trash. Brazil nuts grow in a 4 to 6 pound pod that falling from its perch some eight stories above the forest floor can kill a human. Everglades National Park has seen a 93% drop in bird populations since the 1930s. Baseball players have long realized that their wooden bats have a "sweet spot" where they hit the ball best, but research has discovered that it is really a "sweet zone" 5.9 to 7 inches from the end of the bat. In 1997 the Coast Guard spent nearly $400 million on rescues. In 1998 in the U.S. alone, more than 3-4 trillion E-mails sped across the Internet compared with 107 billion pieces of first class U.S. mail. SALES FORCE BOOSTERS
Hold your next sales meeting in the hall. You probably solve most issues there anyway. All personnel must be able to turn on a computer, type a letter, and print it out. If not, they don't go home until they can. Every sales rep should have with them at all times the home phone numbers of main contacts of their top 10 accounts. Establish "extra credit" for special projects. Create a list of 10 new business ventures of product/service ideas. The "takers" are your next managers. Keep outside sales people in touch with corporate planning direction. Independence of sales is important, and breed detachment from goals and vision of the company. All calls to you from a sales rep should be returned within 60 minutes. Fire any sales person whose sales have not increased their territory by at least 5% in the last 15 months. Eliminate regular weekly meetings for sales staff. If you need to gather your flock for a count, you're lacking trust in your group, and it shows. Let 'em sell or let 'em go. Create a "customer evaluate us" form and pass it out by next Monday. Personally contact any customer that was doing business with your company a year ago and is not today. Mandate a 3 week sabbatical every 2 years for sales managers. No phone calls allowed. No exceptions. Create a "Nobel Prize" for the top two or three ideas of the year. Offer a $300 yearly health club membership, and a continuing education allowance of $200. Make it a "Use it or Lose it" policy. And they have to explain why they don't use it. Every sales rep must know their top 3 competitors' corporate names, plant locations, and the sales reps they compete against. Hold sales meetings in tight quarters. Closeness encourages interaction. Bring a novice to your business for a day to ask "why" to everything you do. Have a "Pitch-it party" once a year. Throw out any excess papers, files, junk, furniture, and left-overs. Donate it or burn it and take pictures for the newspaper.
Many salespeople commit a common sin: They work hard to put together a slam-dunk sales presentation for a potential client, and then derail themselves by not paying attention to the "little" details. These details can often make or break a presentation: The salesperson who has to constantly stop and refer to notes comes across as being inexperienced. Also, it gives the impression that you don't know your product. With the many kinds of presentation software available, more salespeople are relying on slides. Know the order of your slides inside and out to avoid surprises. Otherwise you look unprepared. Whatever you do, don't dart your eyes across the room. It gives the impression of nervousness; don't move from person to person in a clockwise fashion It looks too mechanical -- too fake; and don't look at the floor. It looks as if you have to think too hard about what you're trying to say. EMBA = INCREASED SALES AND PROFITS THROUGH EFFECTIVE MARKETING & BUSINESS ASSISTANCE Your success is our goal. From small to large - from simple to complex - EMBA is here to provide your business with the 3M's: Marketing, Marketing Research and Management Assistance. Our team of professionals has been on your side of the desk and understands the daily problems, pressures and tough decisions facing you and your organization. We Can Help! Let us be your marketing partner. Call, fax or write for a no cost, no obligation consultation. Our Services are Cost Effective And We Get Results! FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK Our new computers are running at peak efficiency...with all the "bugs" worked out, and we are able to serve our clients in an even more efficient and timely manner. With summer vacations over, it is time to take a good look at your business. Is it growing? If not, why not? Give us a call and we will help you get back on track!
SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER Elliott M. Black & Associates, Inc.
Marketing, Marketing Research and Management 2511 Windsor Lane Northbrook, Illinois 60062 (847) 272-2884 Fax: (847) 272-3551 Email: info@EMBAInc.com |
|