Do You Show Up and Throw Up?

Do you show up and throw up?  If someone asks you what you do, is your response long winded?  Are people leaving the conversation before you can ask them the same question in return?  Our "marketing piece" is literally an airline-grade barf bag with a Sales Safety Information card inside of it!  It is remarkable, meaning people actually remark!  We were recently in Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and we were handing out barf bags.  Later in the trip, someone overheard our company name, Sales by 5, and said "Oh yeah, the barf bag guys!"  So for all of you without a barf bag, check out our Sales Safety Card tips below.  And if you're dying for a Sales by 5 barf bag, shoot us an email and we'll pop one in the mail to you.  If we run out, we'll get one to you as soon as we are restocked.

Sales Safety Information

1.       10 seconds: This is how long it should take you to peak someone’s interest on what you can do for them.

2.       Listen twice as often as you speak

3.       Numeric precision on your communications messages greatly increases your credibility and the difference you portray. Example: We return your calls in less than 5 minutes.

4.       Clarity in your marketing messages (5^th grade reading level) increases your odds of selling by 70%.

5.       Focus in your marketing messages to one thing increases your odds of selling by 60%. Eliminate the irrelevant.

6.       Your image matters, so do the features, but your overt benefit and the real reason to believe you can deliver that benefit matters the most.

7.       If you have dramatic difference from your competition, you have 370% greater odds of success and profitability. Source: Harvard Business Review. Not sure if you have dramatic difference?

8.       Salt and Pepper: If you were helping a restaurant get more customers, you would not advertise that you have free salt and pepper. Is your company selling salt and pepper to your industry?

9.       Does everyone in your organization know what to say when asked what you do? These sound bites should be artwork on your walls!

10.   Does your business card give the recipient the benefit received when working with you?

If this got your attention and you'd like to apply it to your company, check out our Eureka! Winning Ways program.

Comments

[Bill Howe]

Really liked this blog. Some of the metrics you are quoting are powerful, but I haven't seen them before.

I do a fair amount of work in the Marketing and Sales space and would like to leverage this info and need to be able to substantiate the numbers. Would you be willing to share the sources for each? For example, which HBR article?

Thanks,
Bill Howe

[salesby5]

Hi Bill,

The 10 seconds versus 30 seconds is a find by Sales by 5 in our training and testing. We have found that most sales people do not have a hook no matter how long they talk. The rules of dating apply!

The data we have on here is from over 2,000 academic studies from our team at Eureka! Ranch. Sales by 5 teaches this data and how to apply it to every message, ad, internal and external communication. We teach and coach marketing firms while helping their clients sell more with less effort by 5pm. The Dramatic Difference data is from HBR. My membership with HBR lets me search and I will get back to you on the issue date. Most marketers have not seen this data or have used it in practice. I have been using it for 7 years now and it shocks many in the business that should know it. We need universities to teach this versus what worked in marketing in 1988! We get marketing interns that we educate on how to market before and after they graduate!

[Greg Burkett]

I find that Erik has a very intuitive insite to the art of selling and marketing that is leading edge and cuts right to the point. I have used the information provided and required my sales and marketing team to read the information provided. Kudos and many thanks to Sales by 5 and Erik.

[John Low]

I was introduced to your blog through Verne Harnish’s newsletter. My role in our company is expanding to include a lot more time consulting with clients. With that in mind, I find the content on your blog very helpful and inspiring. I am also a Seth Godin fan. I thought your barf bag was a great combination of valuable content in a remarkable package.

[Steven Watts]

5th Grade Reading Level Marketing increases odds of selling by 70 percent.

Interesting. Intuitively we probably know that--if I can't explain to you why I'm worth your time in two sentences (10 seconds), is it really worth the bother?

Good quotes.

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[flirting tips tricks]

I always try to keep it to a minimum. Unless people specifically ask for a more lengthy explanation, I usually keep it to no more than 4 sentences, which may even be too long. I'm not a very long winded person, though.

[Francis]

Very impressive post. I can appreciate the amount of effort that went into it. You have a very good feel for getting the right information out to the people. I am also very impressed with the website as a whole. Keep up the good work