Starting the long cycle sales process

dude - you have GOT to get your hands on a copy of Michael Bosworth's "Solution Selling"...

You won't be selling to a person with this service offering, you'll be selling to a business - probably a committee of stakeholders...

Solution Selling (while i think the title is lame) is the best book on selling I've ever read - and I've read a lot...

Get the original - the one with the nine box model , etc.

It's a question based approach because let's face it, no on wakes up thinking "i really want an environmental survey software suite" - not unless they're sick in the head...

so while you see the need for them, they do not - so they are at the "latent pain" stage (totally oblivious to the need) & and if you try to sell to them before they see & acknowledge the pain you will fail...

You have to wake up the pain & the way you do that is with hope, but how do you do that??

Introducing the nine box model - series of questions for having them identify & quantifying the need/pain, identifying & quantifying the organizational impact & developing a vision of a solution that is biased towards your product or service...

Seriously dude - get the book yesterday...

Other than mastering that selling methodolgy, the only marketing you should be doing is lead generation - then move to sales...

For lead generation - you might get better results with offline marketing - such as a FedEx letter to set an appointment (swipe Bob Serling's letter from Million Dollar Licensing - the original)...

Your letter will get opened and read sent via FedEx overnight... Then just intro with a problem/benefit statement, follow it up with some proof & give a call to action - but also promise them you (or preferably your assistant) will contact them to set an appointment to disclose the details of how you will accomplish what you promised...

Notice that you do not tell them what how you will solve the problem in the letter - it is an entirely blind letter - meaning all you do is make promises and back it up with proof without revealing how you will deliver the results...

Take it from a guy who has done plenty of B2B marketing and sales - it's hard to beat this combination of proven tactics...

That's how i'd do it...

And of course don't ever neglect your personal network - if you've got an in with a business that can benefit from what you offer - get the introduction...

In his book "Marketing to the Affluent" Dr. Stanley identifies courage as the foundational characteristic of extraordinarily successful salespeople - so don;t let fear of asking for the referral stop you or fear of anything for that matter...

And another lead gen technique could be a display ad in a publication your target market reads offering a free report on the benefits of what you offer...

then a simple follow up phone call to ensure they got the information they desired & to see if they'd like to set an appointment to discuss how they can implement it in their biz & you're right back where you wanna be - asking Solution Selling questions to pre-qualified prospects...

I love the fact that you are selling something big - there is NOTHING more fun than the thrill of asking for a check so big that it makes your heart pound!!!

woo-whoo - God bless America - you got me all excited talking about this...

I love selling!! You should too

Best of luck - you can do this...

who dares wins & several other such motto's

PEACE i'm out

Other than direct sales, online marketing is a bit more difficult. Start off small; selling inexpensive products, with a series of followup purchases with planned increments of more expensive products. The strategy here is to build up a successful string of experiences with the customers and establishing strong, trusting relationships. For example, I start with building my niche lists with Clickbank products (or any nominally priced product to build lists of buyers). Using this method over a period of 8-12 months, some are ending up buying $30,000-$40,000+ Amazon products. I've never made it quite to a $50,000 order using this method, but did come close.

Thank you guys.

Very insightful stuff.

Thank you for the book recommendation, michaelhearne. I purchased it and 'Customer Centric Selling', Michael Bosworth's other classic it seems.

I have started reading Solution Selling and it really is very, very insightful.

Exactly what I wanted/needed!!