Friday 24 August 2012

"Create horrific Bushman’s sales traps in one week – catch helpless prospects like a Bushman”

“Create horrific Bushman’s sales traps in one week – catch helpless prospects like a Bushman” : by Jason Li 2012 ©

 
We all know Bushmen are superb at catching animals...

Once they find an animal to target...

It rarely gets away...

The Bushman’s trap always gets rewarded.

How good is a Bushman’s sales trap that works?

It works so well it’s amazing I’m giving this away my idea for free. So don’t forget to share it with your business friends and students of marketing and sales.

Here’s the low-down.

In this modern age, there are different ways to convert a target prospective customer into a paying customer. (You can put your weapons down for a second.)

But first, it takes some creativity. Just follow the following practical guide and we can move to getting your business running a sales trap beautifully like a Bushman – are you ready to take the trial?

Monday – Build a better mousetrap

If you can, do some research on mouse traps. There are plenty of resources like Wikipedia, Google images and YouTube.

Have a look at lots of different designs and the way they are meant to trap rodents. Go one step further and try to understand why the mechanics work in such a way for popular traps.

Get your creative juices going to see if you can invent a new type of mouse trap.

Tuesday – Burmese monkey trap hand in coconut – for nuts

In some countries monkeys are trapped in different ways. One way is the Burmese monkey trap.

The tracker locates the monkey, then finds a coconut, drills a small hole and fills it with nuts, attaches it to a rope, then leaves the scene and waits for the monkey.

The monkey smells the nuts and puts its paws in the hole to try to reach the nuts. Now the hole is small so it really has to put its whole paw in to reach the nuts. Once the paw is holding the nuts, the rope is pulled to trap the monkey as it cannot get the paw out of the coconut.

Again, look at some resources to think about the mechanics of this, and see where you can improve on this.

Wednesday – You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink it

Just as the famous saying goes, it does happen with prospects. You can show them your products, lead them down a sales presentation, but not get the order.

Think about your business, you must have spent a lot of time or money to lead a horse to water (the prospect) but the conversion to order is not as great as you would like (you can’t make it drink it).

So right now, look at your sales process and see how it compares to the way the mouse trap and Burmese monkey paw in coconut trap work.

So thinking like a Bushman:

·         Does your trap really entice the right target?

·         Is your trap juicy enough for your target to actively take interest – good enough cheese?

·         Will your trap cause your target to forget all logic and danger signals to take action?

·         Being fair, what works, what isn’t working, what can you change with your resources?

Thursday – Take your Bushman trial, create your sales trap

You are now going to start working on a brand new sales trap for your customer, and you have all the resources in the world.

Start to think outside the box for this. Here are some examples:

Let’s say you are selling cars. Find out the 3 main reasons that people are on your forecourt or problems they had with their old car. When you have that information use it to build a trap. Let’s say you find that customers wanted to save on fuel, or have a car that holds value and is nice looking. Before you even get to a test drive, have some leaflets in the show room based on these reasons that customers are not happy with their existing car with a nice twist showing how your car overcomes these issues.

If fuel is the main factor for prospects, record your car on a road trip say from Birmingham to London and how much fuel is used. Show the customer in the show room a video of how the car just keeps on going on the same tank of fuel. Then at the end count out the amount of savings when compared to other cars on this trip. You could even get happy customers to film in their cars and get them to compare to their previous cars.

Friday – Build your new Bushman sales trap

Time to put it into action, take the first step, write the first words of your new sales script or call the designer about your new leaflet.

All you have to do is take the first step(s) to making it happen. Aim to have the first sales trap done by the end of today, no matter how small the test and how small the trap is.

Saturday – Testing, testing, 1-, 2-, 3-

Time to try it out.

Remember the days when you first started your business journey and were testing the market? Yep. Well this exercise should be much easier as you have so much more knowledge since those early days; when you sat there watching the telephone to ring. (Even today I still jump in disbelief when a new prospect rings me out of the blue.)

So get out there, do a test run and look for any mechanics to the trap that need adjusting.

Keep remembering: the Bushman uses a lot of different methods to pull in the target and guide them using the targets intrigue and interest further into the trap until they reach the point of no return. Continue to look at ways to tweak how your trap is of great interest to prospects.

Sunday - Prospects sell themselves

The ultimate Bushman sales trap is when the prospect is interested and is guided to the close by themselves. Basically when prospects overcome their own objections and sell themselves to place an order.

Congratulations, when you have achieved this you have built a true Bushman's sales trap.

Have you never seen a Bushman’s sales trap written anywhere else? – then share it right now. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

 
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Friday 17 August 2012

Unique Selling Point (USP): Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II

Unique Selling Point (USP): Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II: by Jason Li 2012 ©

Queen Elizabeth II has been in rule for 60 years (in itself a unique selling point!)...

During this time many celebrities and aristocrats have gained popularity...

But it is Her Majesty the Queen who is still the main recognisable brand of the UK...

Soon you’ll discover it’s down to her unique selling points (USPS) that competitors cannot match...

And as you read this you will feel ready to share your love for the Queen too.

What are the celebrities and aristocrats main unique selling points?

Think back over  last 60 years. We’ve had huge celebrities in the UK such as David Beckham, the Spice Girls, Beatles, Daley Thompson, Ewan McGregor, Stephen Hawkins, Hugh Grant, Sean Connery, Banksy, Kevin Keegan, Victoria Pendleton, Bradley Wiggins, Tom Daley and so on.

These are worldwide names with great appeal and fan base. In fact, some of these names dominate their category and are instantly recognisable brands. Sponsors throw millions at them because of their appeal to endorse their products.

So what unique selling points allow celebrities to be loved and recognisable?

1.       Fame Game

If it’s down to the fame game, then no-one batters the media like the Kardashians or Katie Price or David Beckham.

Near enough on a daily basis you will see an article of certain celebrities tweeting or being photographed. It’s impossible to get other news sometimes. You’ll just be peppered by news on certain celebrities. In fact, these days’ newspapers like the Daily Mail and Huffington Post actively feature celebrity gossip articles as they are so popular and it gains huge readership.

The Queen in reality cannot get this type of reaction. Yes a statement or a picture may be released regarding The Queen, but in reality, the journalists know that daily celebrity news gets more interest.

2.       Star in a film or sports event etc.

Many celebs star in events or tournaments which can dominate the press again.

Think of football. Beckham won the Treble with Manchester United and during that season would have been in the press regularly during the football season.

When you are starring in something popular and make society happy, you become incredibly popular.

Take Simon Cowell, since he has starred in X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent he has become a nationwide name. Telling people they cannot sing and watching people beg for his approval is a unique selling point that no-one else commands on earth.

3.       Give fans something to follow

Celebrities are usually born out of something that viewers or listeners can follow.

Take cycling for example. I didn’t know who Bradley Wiggins was a year ago. But I do now as they media followed him every day during the Tour de France.

Then they talked about him leading up to the Olympics. During the Olympics he was interviewed and followed relentlessly, and after when he was the champion the media wanted to show the world how he has been celebrating.

The media gives the masses a chance to follow somebody, to get to know them and make them a hero; or at least famous in a very intense way.

What are the chances of The Queen starring on an MTV programme? Minimal. And therein lies another opportunity for celebrities to have a unique selling point that The Queen cannot compete with.

So how does The Queen remain the most popular brand in the Royal Family, and what are her unique selling points?

1.       Head of State

She may not take part in sport, but she officiates and heads some of the most important events that affect our lives.

When a new party is elected to run the country, The Queen gives the nod. Imagine having that much power that it comes down to one person deciding the fate of a country.

2.       The Royal Family

She is the head of possibly the most recognisable and popular family in the world - even more than The Simpsons.

When the Princess of Diana was alive, it was because The Queen approved for Charles to marry her. The same has happened again with Prince William marrying Kate. Just by association, The Queen is closely linked with two very popular ladies.

Additionally, Prince Charles, William and Henry are also very popular. But The Queen is the most popular of all The Royals, and the most recognised.

If the other family members do anything that gets a lot of media attention in the press, it helps keep the interest in The Royal Family high. This in itself usually leads to more interest in The Queen.

3.       Wealth

The Queen owns some really famous and newsworthy assets that always gets into the press and is associated with her. Her assets can get press attention without her having to tweet herself to gain attention.

You have Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Crown Jewels as examples. Have you ever noticed The Queen’s collections are often mentioned in the press, such as her rare faberges eggs collection? Again, just by association to these she will be mentioned in the press.

4.       Feel Proud

Noticed how British athletes cried at the Olympics after they received their gold medals and sang ‘God Save the Queen.’

In fact, before many national games and tournaments ‘God Save the Queen’ is played and sang by the nation.

Which other famous person or brand has their own song played at important events and sung by the masses? This really is truly a unique selling proposition that she has all to herself. The Queen’s song makes you feel proud and signifies an important event.

That kinda makes The Queen important too.

5.       60 years and no mistakes

Yes, re-read that again.

60 years as the Head of State, and no terrible mistakes.

When you consider the number of ministers that make mistakes and resign, or stars caught in the press doing something deemed as wrong, or aristocrats and Royal Family members making bloopers – The Queen simply does not make mistakes.

To go so long and basically be perfect in her role, The Queen is the most trust-worthy brand in the world: bar-none.

Ultimately the above five USPs mean The Queen has without doubt the most unique selling propositions out of all the famous people in the UK.

Your unique selling proposition

What are the take-aways for your USPs?

It’s better to have more than one USP that is really important to people.

And as you’ve seen above, The Queen has USPs that really are unique that makes her more popular and important than any other famous person in the UK. People just cannot copy her.

If you like this exercise on USPs, then please share with others. You might have other ideas on this and can share them here for other readers.

Visit: http://www.royal.gov.uk/hmthequeen/hmthequeen.aspx - for official information.


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Friday 10 August 2012

Free business tips: Ready to create a stampede?

Free business tips: Ready to create a stampede? : by Jason Li 2012 ©



Free business tips, we all love them...

I do. I like to read ideas that can help me...

And I pay for ideas that work too.

In fact, there are some products I’ve bought...

Just after finding the free version provided great value...

I would never have seen value without learning about them from their free business tip.

Take the great sales gurus Gitomer and Brian Tracey; I initially read a few articles they wrote, and watched YouTube videos for free to know what value they could bring to me. Since taking the free information and actively trying some of the ideas I have found they worked really well; and so I went on to buy products from them.


Picture taken from www.Telegraph.co.uk.



Iceberg theory: Sample business tips will prevent losing prospects interests

How many prospective customers do you speak to? Or if you hire sales people then how many do your sales people speak to, or your whole business including website, leaflet ads, newspaper ads, word-of-mouth – how many do you speak to? It could be hundreds per month. As you may realise, there are so many ways new prospects are interacting with your business without you as the owner knowing about it.

Another problem is how many of these prospects are interested or would be happy to start using your products and services and haven’t: “Because of just one thing....”?

It is usually because of that “one thing” that prospects don’t turn into customers, they walk away; and you won’t know why because no-one in your business spoke to them about your offer - so how could you know? They saw your ad and were keen to buy - apart from just one thing. “Oh come on, give a business a chance,” I hear you say.

At this point you didn’t even know they were ‘in your shop’, so-to-speak. In fact, the sales process started when they saw your ad or heard about you from a friend, not in your shop or your forecourt or on the phone. Selling started before any human interaction.

Imagine an iceberg, and think of a huge one as you will like this. The actual people you speak to are possibly only 1 – 3% of the conversion of a direct mail or newspaper ad campaign. That means up to 99% of your target market you rolled out your marketing promotions campaign to did not personally speak to your business. But in fact, your business did speak at them, when they read your ads or listened to a pitch by a friend who recommended you.

1.       So the prospects you did not speak to in person are the rest of the iceberg.

2.       Your potential revenue are prospects that your business has spoken at so they know you exist: but not yet truly convinced and engaged in person.

Offer sample business tips to your iceberg

Not everyone likes to buy on the first chance meeting, even if you are a known brand. I’ve been there myself. I knew about Golf cars since I was a kid as my dad is a car fanatic who loves What Car magazine and Top Gear. He always said buy Golf for good fuel economy, then remind me a few weeks later how Golf’s are great for safety and so on. But my I never bought a Golf for years. And then I got a free test drive (all test drives are free) while at the garage, and I liked it.

You see, I was interested, but was never ready to make the leap. Your prospects are maybe the same, they’re kind of ready to do business, but also kind of not as inertia (can’t be bothered to change due to hassle etc) stops people doing things.

‘So what you can do is break down the big change to a very tiny little minimal change by using a way for prospect to try a sample business experience from you and start to get prospects used to using your products and services.’

Online business tips

I have covered before in this blog the availability of using website resources to generate and move prospects through the sales funnel. (See Start Here for new ideas.) In the age of the internet, it is worth finding a way to allow prospects to visit your website to learn more about your business.

Once I see an ad or hear about a good experience by a friend, I instantly check the business out on the internet. If your website is good, then you can move me through the sales funnel. This is without even speaking to me directly or me knowing anything about your business apart from either hearing a recommendation or a seeing something somewhere on a poster or a leaflet.

So now your content on the website has to use marketing strategy to engage me to desire what you can offer and move me to bridge the gap, from some interest and doing nothing, to maybe making contact or start saving towards buying what you can offer. Your website has to capture and look after your iceberg of prospects.

Download business tips


Allow prospective customers to download special reports or samples from your website. It does not have to be the product itself. 

A good download business tip is to create vouchers to encourage prospects to visit your store or call in. You could go a step further and ask prospects to email in and you can email back a voucher or code for them to use. It helps people who can’t be bothered or teetering on the edge of doing something, known in marketing as the Tipping Point.

In fact, get your whole iceberg into your establishment with a voucher: that would be fun!

In summary:

·         If prospects see your ads or you get recommended by a friend, the selling process has started.

·         Anyone that is aware of your business is in your iceberg.

·         Prospects may be interested but just one thing can stop them buying – and you may lose that prospect.

·         So use a website and the free business tips above to engage and tip the prospect into an action to try a sample of your products and services – the decision is easier and less risky for prospects – so more prospects will come out of the woodwork and volunteer to try.

·         The ones that like the sample will go on to buy the full fat version – which means more revenue for you.

·         Try it this week. And please share this article if you believe these free business tips are helpful.

So don’t miss out on prospective customers who have become aware of your business and not taken it further. The ideas above should stimulate a way for you to develop a way to get more people in your iceberg to speak to you. It’s a new coded language, I know.




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Sunday 5 August 2012

Why London Bridge is England’s worst tourist attraction

Why London Bridge is England’s worst tourist attraction: by Jason Li 2012 ©

DID YOU KNOW THE FIRST LONDON BRIDGE was erected around AD80 in the Southwark area?

And London Bridge is the MOST FAMOUS bridge in the world.

It was possibly made by the invading Romans, before the Saxons took over.

The bridge used to be made out of wood, not concrete like today.

Today it just looks plain, boring, and in a way it needs to be rescued... here’s why.

History of the greatest bridge in the world: London Bridge

In 1014, the Great Danes invaded Britain. They hurled spears and pulled the Bridge down, hence “London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.”

The next bridge was made of stone and had a road 20 feet wide with town houses on to pay the rent, 20 arches, plus a drawbridge. The bridge lasted 600 years and would possibly be the best looking bridge in the world at that point. In fact, it would still be the best looking bridge in the world today: a major tourist attraction, a world wonder.

Picture of old London Bridge - taken from this excellent blog: http://bldgblog.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/wed-all-be-living-in-dams.html.

But again greed destroyed it as Queen Eleanor would not put all the money collected from tolls on the bridge into the upkeep and it fell into disrepair, leading to five arches of the bridge falling into the Thames again.

There was a Stone Gate House on one end where heads of traitors were put on poles, including the great Oliver Cromwell in the 17th Century.

A new London Bridge was built in 1831 when the old bridge suffered from the great freeze. It was now built out of granite. However, measurements found the bridge had sunk 12 inches so a new bridge had to be made.

On the 17th of March 1973 Queen Elizabeth 2nd opened the new concrete bridge which still exists today.

Information summarised from this great resource: http://oldlondonbridge.com/index.shtml


Why did I try to stop someone seeing London Bridge?

I was walking down Tooley Street, just at More London when a girl says: “Sorry, I’m looking for London Bridge?” in a European accent.

So I told her it was in the opposite direction. But, I advised she could see Tower Bridge if she walked along the gap alongside Ernst and Young as it was just two minutes away.

However she refused. She insisted on seeing London Bridge. She said she had come to London to see London Bridge.

Now, my knowledge of history when I was at Nursery school only extended to ‘London Bridge is falling down,’ I admit I did not know of Tower Bridge as a child. But I wanted to help a tourist see something spectacular like Tower Bridge so she could go home and say England is a great place to visit. But no, she did not want to see Tower Bridge - she did not know what Tower Bridge was - she knew of London Bridge.

What could I do? I tried to tell her to start at Tower Bridge and take the Thames path to London Bridge; it’s just two minutes away and I even pointed out how London Bridge is just a plain bridge. She was not having it. SHE CAME TO ENGLAND TO SEE LONDON BRIDGE.

And so I pointed her the way to London Bridge, and said at least from there you can see Tower Bridge and walk back.

What do you see at London Bridge today?

When you get on the bridge, you see... a concrete bridge and a tarmac road, just like any bridge anywhere in the world. The bridge itself is just so plain, so not fascinating that it really is just a functional bridge. Any bridge that crosses a stream in the woods has more character.

If there were no famous landmarks around and I did not know it was London Bridge, I would not even look twice at it. It really is that plain.

To save London Bridge from total disappointment when you get there, the good thing is that you can see other landmarks that are fascinating.

Even its younger sister Tower Bridge is a beauty to look at: while you are standing on London Bridge.

You’ll find the government always decorates Tower Bridge (see the Olympic 2012 rings), and it is the bridge that cameras always focus on by television broadcasters – as they ignore plain old London Bridge.

 Tower Bridge gets the official Olympic spotlight.

London Bridge just gets the GB colours like every other public place on the Thames.

 In fact, I once took a river boat ride and the tour guide said a few things about London Bridge as we passed under and people took pictures. But you could see the disappointment as they realised they were taking pictures of just a bridge. Then when the boat passed under London Bridge and you could see Tower Bridge, people got really excited and all the cameras were going crazy. Moreover, the boat stopped momentarily just in front of Tower Bridge for tourists to take plenty of gratuitous shots.

I do feel sorry for London Bridge, as big brother is the most famous bridge in the world. So how can the government turn London Bridge into a world wonder, the de facto tourist spot for engineers and photographers to visit?

The London Bridge Legacy

Why not have a historical timeline on the wall for tourists to look at while they walk across London Bridge, with pictures and illustrations.

On the outside of the bridge, why not decorate London Bridge so that it looks like it did when there were shops and the Stone Gate House so you can get a nostalgic feel of what it was like way back when. On the other outside wall, it could look like when it was built at another time period, say when it was just a wooden bridge 2000 years ago.

How about putting a few replica town houses on the Bridge for tourists to look out of? They don’t have to be the full version because the pavement is only so wide. In fact, there must be a way to extend out the bridge to create more walking space and the replica town houses.

I understand there will be security, health and safety, stepping on planners toes politics issues to consider, but hey, people say British are great innovators so the government should be able to find a solution to this.

Do you think London Bridge could be a better tourist attraction?

If you agree, why not share this article.

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