Author: 2017_pj787j

You hear all the time that people don’t want to be sold, that traditional advertising is dead and you need to approach clients in a different way.
But how do you do that?
Here is a small list that will help you attract clients and sell more.
1. Use the word YOU often. People want to know what your product or service can do for them.
2. Answer these questions: What is this about? Why should I care? What’s in it for me and what do I have to do? People might not word these questions, but they will be thinking about it.
3. Increase your credibility by showing passion, expressiveness and accessibility.
4. Generate emotion. Have in mind that people tend to buy with the heart and justify with the mind. Go for emotion first, features later.
5. Vary the way you present. Remember that some people are visual, some auditory, some kinesthetic. Use text, pictures, props.
6. Become a storyteller. People love stories, stories are engaging and can generate powerful emotions. You can tell stories with pictures, analogies and words.
7. Don’t use too much information. People only want the amount of information they can use. Less is more. Too much information will only overwhelm people and the confused mind doesn’t take action. More words do not equal more impact.
8. Be transparent. Let your personality show.
9. Don’t be boring. Boring is really bad for business.
10. Be honest and be someone people can trust.

Sales will follow.

by Shahar Boyayan
We had a great labor day weekend! We attended a storytelling festival here in Utah. It was an amazing event attended by thousands of people. Families would be together some times with members of 4 generations, all laughing or crying with the same stories.

The power of stories in our lives is greater than we think.
Stories put the audience in a world of sensory impressions where it combines reality with the story. We feel like we lived trough the experience even if we only heard it.
When we listen to the storyteller, we get a subliminal message that he/she cares for the audience. One can say that stories equal caring.

We as business owners and leaders need to master storytelling and we need to acquire the ability to tell stories and motivate people to act.

You can tell stories with your voice, picture, packages etc.

Here are a few points to consider:

You may use stories from any source as long as you can tie them into the world of your prospect.

* Your story needs to have a point or it will be a waste of time.

* Make the story personal and add passion to it.

*Contrast what your prospect’s life was like before your service and their life after.

* Present specific, tangible benefits.

* Diagnose the pain

* Highlight the gain.

One simple way to tell a story with pictures is the before and after pictures you see in weight loss programs.

By looking at the contrast of the before and after, the story is told, it is personal, since you see the picture of the person, it shows the pain before and the gain after the product was used.

I always like to give the example of a great story told in a package using the packages of Vosges Chocolates.

In every package the company call you to use your 5 senses when trying their chocolate. You should take a look at one, because it is a very good example of business storytelling and how it can engage consumers.

Twitter forecasts that by December 09 it will have over 50 million users. Google took 10 years to have 50 million people a day using its search engine and Facebook took 19 months.
Why people adopt tools like Twitter in such a fast and passionate way?

Many reasons there but one main reason is that tools like Twitter allow people to have a mass 2 way communication and this is very powerful for people and for businesses.
It is the one to many and many to one era.
Instant feedback is another powerful reason.
We can also say that many people look for leaders to help them live a better life and Twitter allows them to listen and meet other people.

The possibility to meet people is another big reason. Kind of the same reason you would go to a party. To have fun, meet people and learn more about them.
Here is where most businesses fail not only when using Twitter but other social media tools.
They meet someone and the next second they are either trying to sell you something or offering something for fre@.
People are not interested at this moment in getting things from you, they just want to know you better and maybe start a new relationship.

Do you invite friends to a barbecue and right when they get there you try to sell them Tupperware?
Same common sense goes here.
Sales will happen later when they get to know you better and the trust level is higher.
All you really have to do is let people know you better. At least a little better than they know your competition.
Did you know that 63% of people on Twitter follow people that have a nice smile?

Do you approach a guy with a sad face at a barbecue?
One frequent question we get is: But what do I do there on Twitter?
Perry Belcher, a heavy Twitter user says that 30% of the time, you should tweet about things that would make people’s life better, 10% you would compliment people. (that is something we all need more of), 20% try to make people laugh and 40% of the time you would provide good content. When you provide content you can add some soft sales calls.
I believe that is a good mix.
You should try Twitter. Twitter can be a great marketing tool in your business.

We all feel comfortable doing the things we are used to do but you need to remember that in this new economy, just trying to do more of what you have been doing thinking that will do the trick is not an option. It is like running faster on the same path trying to get to a destination when the destination is in a different place.