SBX 26: Effortless Selling, How To Sell To Today’s Consumer

Selling just isn’t what it used to be.  Many business owners miss the good old days of straight forward selling, where you give your canned sales pitch, the customer counters, you give them a small discount and a pat on the back……and boom!  Deal closed!

It doesn’t work like that anymore.  Today’s consumer comes through your doors already knowing about your business, what your selling, how much it costs, along with the pricing of your 5 competitors.  They’ve done their research long before they ever contacted you and have a clear idea of what they want and what they want to pay for it.

How do you learn how to sell to this type of consumer?

Easy.  You listen to this episode!  Today we have a very special guest on the show, John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing.  John is probably the most well known small business consultant in the country, offering down-to-earth marketing advice that any owner can implement.  He’s an author, speaker, and podcaster who knows his stuff when it comes to all things small business.

Create something people want to share -John Jantsch (Tweet)

John has a new book coming out in a few weeks called Duct Tape Selling, think like a marketer-sell like a superstar.  We were lucky enough to get an advanced copy and to sit down with John for a power-packed 30 and dig into the meat and potatoes of the book.

Selling to today’s consumer is less about trying to “sell” to them but rather creating so much value that they just want to buy from you.  In this way, every sales pitch becomes a consultation… effortless, pressure-less, and source of fun rather than fear.

In this episode, you will learn how today’s best business owners discard the traditional sales tricks and use their personal brand and platform to create sales on a level their competition can’t touch.  Online or offline biz?  This is an episode for you.

Listen and Learn…

• Why traditional sales tactics don’t work on today’s informed consumer (and what the heck to do instead.  John’s insights here are gold.  Gold, we tell ya!)
• Why marketing and sales need to become friends, and the reason you need both to sell like a superstar
• How creating valuable content for your audience will not only attract customers but turn you into an expert
• How today’s sales superstars are working on their personal brands instead of rehearsing sales scripts
• What is a platform and how do you build one to supercharge your sales
• How to leverage the internet and technology to leverage your selling
• Create a killer blog for your business even if you don’t have a clue what to write about
• Listening to your customer = the new black (despite what Netflix would have you believe)

Action Steps from this episode:

1. Adopt a new mentality about selling. Your job isn’t to beat people with tactics. Your job is to discover how you can better help people. Listening is the best thing for all of us and John drops some very real insights on exactly how to do that. But it all starts with a new mindset.

2. Sit down and write out the answers to the 20 questions your customers are asking. A great place to get these answers are in your text messages and inbox. HUGE nugget from John there. And now, as you publish these answers, be it in a document, a PDF, audio, ANY technological resource you feel comfortable with — And share these new assets of yours with people that listen.

3. Put this content out on a platform that you can commit to. Develop the habit of showing up on this platform even on days you don’t feel like it. Like john says, the muscles are developed over time. Driven by a discipline to be useful to your customer, you can sell without feeling like you’re selling.

Links and Resources:

1. You can pre-order John’s latest book, “Duct Tape Selling” here on Amazon.  If you pre-order, John is offer is great a second book for free and even more if you order multiple copies.  Check out the offers here.
2. Like OUR podcast on small biz? Well, you’ll like John’s too. Check it out over at The Duct Tape Marketing Podcast

3. A great article over at the Duct Tape Marketing blog that sums up marketing in a neat little hourglass shaped infographic showing you the entire sales funnel in 7 steps.  It goes deeper than the traditional sales funnel.

4. How To Truly Listen, a great TED talk on listening from Evelyn Glennie

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