The Apocalypse Now - Advertising on House Flies

Post from: Marketing For Event People - Catering, Wedding & Live Event Businesses

I thought Disney eggs went too far … but no, now we’re gluing advertisements to living things. I’d say it was brilliant if it weren’t so cruel. Yes - I smash house flies … but whoring them out with banner ads … I dunno.

Houseflies as salespeople. If advertising couldn’t be more intrusive then filling a convention center with flies.

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Barry Friedman Interview

Post from: Marketing For Event People - Catering, Wedding & Live Event Businesses

After last week’s video about turning dead leads into new opportunities I got a comment from Barry Friedman of the Raspyni Brothers. We traded a few emails and Barry was kind enough to record an interview with me … and you can listen to it right here.

In this 15 minute audio, Barry shares some really great ideas on how to build relationships with your clients.

As the saying goes, “people prefer to do business with people they know like and trust.”

In this brief interview, Barry shares how he keeps The Raspyni Brothers on the A List of top corporate event planners. He also shares:

• What free, easy to use time management tool he uses to help him stay on top of a very busy schedule while traveling all over the world.
• Why becoming a trusted business partner is essential.
• How to make your client look like a genius to their clients.
• A simple strategy for standing out and building relationships after a sale falls off.

It’s a quick interview - listen to it twice. There are some real gems in here.

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If you’re in the corporate event industry, you probably already know who the Raspyni Brothers are. They’ve appeared on major television shows and have done over 1000 corporate events for many of the Fortune 500. I’m a BIG FAN.

Take a peak at this promo video and you’ll see why they’re the top choice for planners who want a funny, visual, smart and corporate friendly act that will surprise and delight.

Website.

You know how I’m always screaming about having a good website? The Raspyni Brothers should be your role model. Their site is clean, well designed, fun and professional. It’s easy to get all your questions answered here. Check The Raspyni Brothers.

Raspyni Agent Friendly Website (no contact info) If your services are sold by a third-party, do yourself a favor and create a website that your clients can send their clients to.

Survey

Barry mentioned his double use of surveys that not only give him valuable feedback for his own team - he also shares participant feedback with his clients …. who can pass it on to their clients … and look like champs. Check out their survey.

Conclusion

Don’t think that just because you do a great job for clients that all you have to do is send out a Holiday card once a year and you’ll keep them coming back for more.  Even if you do an amazing job you still have to market yourself.

Is your business as amazing as the Raspyni Brother’s act? Even these super talented guys - who consistently get standing ovations -  know that marketing and sales is vital to their success.

Create a smart marketing system and take action!

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Couldn’t you just scream? You chase after a potential new client with all your heart. You build up a great rapport with the prospective client - spent hours working on a proposal and everything looked just ducky - then BAM!

“We’ve decided to go with another company, but thanks.”

WHAT? Huh?

You’re outraged. You’re frustrated.

You try to negotiate; you try to outsell the competition, but still - NO SALE.

What do you do now? Do you rip up that lead and pound your head into the desk?

Please realize that the dead lead in your hand can be worth a ton of money to you - even if they don’t buy your services ever.

If you are throwing away your dead leads like most people would …. Please, I urge you to watch the video I posted up today.

It will show you the secret of the Send Off Strategy - a very simple, low-cost, low-cost way to transform dead leads into dollars.

What if you could take all your dead sales leads and turn them into a source of new clients with only the click of a mouse?  Here’s how you can turn that stack of not interested sales leads into a tidy pile of new accounts. It’s a simple strategy but one that pays off nicely.

When you’re a service professional you do everything you can to keep your business relationships alive.  To keep accounts pumping cash into your business you must always the looking for ways to provide value to others.

But sometimes business relationships end. Some die of natural causes; the client goes out of business, moves out of town or no longer needs your type of services. Others die a horrible death; they owe you money, you’ve gone to court and no matter what you’ll never do business with them again.

But there’s another type of relationship that lingers between the living account and the dead account - I call them zombie relationships - the undead.

With zombie relationships nothing happens. They’re not in the market for your services anytime soon but the relationship isn’t an acrimonious one. The last time you spoke to each other the client turned your offer down - but that’s all.

It’s important for you to bury the dead. You can’t afford to keep chasing leads that are not going to turn into sales. I’ve seen too many professional services providers waste countless hours trying to get blood out of a stone - instead of pursuing new opportunities.

Why do smart professionals waste their time like that? Many times it has to do with the comfort level of speaking to friendly prospects who never say “yes” instead of risking our egos and approaching strangers who might reject us. I regularly audit sales leads for my clients to make sure they aren’t wasting precious resources on leads that lead nowhere.

After you’ve determined that you’ve given a lead your very best but they’re just not going to buy its time to say goodbye. But before you shovel the dirt on them it’s only right to say a few words. Here are some words you can say that can create value from dead leads.

For example, let’s say you’re a caterer and you have spent considerable time in pursuing business from a bride to be. Even though you had built up a rapport and trust and even though the prospective client really liked what you had to offer - for some reason she went to your competition. (Maybe her mother-in-law forced her to use someone else or the yacht she rented only allowed her to use their exclusive caterer.)

Do you just rip that lead up and throw it in the garbage? I hope not. With all the talk about recycling I hope you consider recycling that lead. How?

First, the caterer must realize that the bride to be is still a valuable consumer to a number of event professionals. Secondly, the bride to be can still refer business to you.

Wouldn’t that bride be tickled pink to receive a valuable discount from one or more of your event industry associates? What if the caterer sent out a legitimately exciting discount coupon that offered an exceptional package for limos, photography, flowers and invitations. It would build tremendous goodwill with the bride and could potentially result in referral commissions from the other providers.

Next you could motivate the bride to be to refer business to you directly by giving her a remarkable incentive to do so. What if our caterer kept in touch with the bride and sent a sincere thank you along with a tangible expression of gratitude in the form of an irresistible offer?

Here’s how that might look, but let’s use a wedding DJ as an example this time.

A wedding DJ named Tony doesn’t get the gig for Donna’s wedding.  Not because Tony wears too much cologne and smells like Bloomingdale’s exhaust vents - no - Donna ended up getting married on that yacht that only permits their own guys to perform. Instead of Tony throwing away all the time and energy he put into developing a relationship with Donna, here’s the e-mail he could send…

Dear Donna,

Congratulations on your wedding!  The weather was perfect on Saturday and I was thinking of how useful the Hudson must have looked from that gorgeous yacht.  I bet it was a great evening.

Thanks so much for giving us a call back in May to discuss your wedding plans.  I’m really thankful for the time that you and Scott spent at my office and I know that my pal Jimmy at the limo company took good care of you.

To thank you for giving me the opportunity to discuss your wedding with you I’d like to give you $50. If you book any of our services with us by December 31 of next year I’ll take $50 off of our regular fee. Please just use this code XYZ when you call to book your event and you’ll save $50!

Now odds are you won’t be getting married again by December 31!  So I’d like to extend this offer to any of your friends and family that may be planning a special occasion.  Just tell them to use code XYZ and I’ll take $50 off - and I’ll send you a check for $50 just for the referral!

Best wishes,

Tony

Now isn’t that a simple strategy?  As long as Tony treated Donna with care and professionalism back when she was a live lead, chances are she’ll appreciate the offer.  You are setting her up to be a champion to her friends and family by allowing her to offer value to them.

You may want to follow up with a separate e-mail for a coupon code that she can forward to friends.

I used this tactic in my business and believe me it works. If you end up getting one expert client because you took the time to thank your prospects and offer them some more value before you discarded them, is it worth it?

I challenge you to dig through your database this week and come up with a fantastic going away present for it your soon to be dead leads. The last time I checked sending an e-mail out didn’t cost a whole bunch of money. It’s just a matter of getting it done.

I could spend hours sharing sales strategies and marketing tactics with you but if you don’t take action on them it’s a waste of your time. Too many service professionals have lots of big ideas but unfortunately they lack the organizational discipline and know how to successfully execute on them.

When I worked with coaching and consulting clients might help them create sales strategies that day can easily execute. And then I make sure the client does the work that’s required. It’s sort of like being a personal trainer.

You know you should go for that walk or better yet that jog - but you don’t. You know you should be eating healthy - but you don’t.

It’s not just a matter of knowing what to do - it’s getting things done that produces results. I’ll be sharing more information about how I helped service professionals like you break through all the excuses and obstacles to create and execute on marketing plans that generate all the clients they’ll ever need.

You don’t have to be satisfied with your current marketing results. If you are not booked solid with highly profitable new projects and clients and you are still using the marketing strategies that got you here - nothing is going to change. You’re going to continue to struggle.

I look forward to working with many of you on a one-to-one basis in helping you create the business future of your dreams.

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Want to get your website ranked in the number one spot on Google when people are searching for a business like yours? It’s not impossible - it just takes the right strategy … and lots of work. Here’s how any event professional can dramatically improve their ranking using free tools.

Please feel free to leave a comment or question below. Want to try something really cool?

Call and leave your comments and questions on my voicemail. Any hour of the day - don’t worry about the time. It goes straight to into an MP3 file - and I will be able to use your voicemailed questions and comments on my next broadcast. Cool, right?

Call and leave your question, anytime at 646-961-3649, Questions about marketing your business on the web, sales strategies, how to get more clients using mail, phone and other tools. Please give it a shot: 646-961-3649

In video number one I give you the basic overview of the series. Note you can make these videos BIG by clicking on the icon that looks like a screen when the video is playing.

Part 1

You CAN Get Your Event Biz to Rank #1 on Google …

Your next video is right below!

Part 2

Why Your Competition in Beating You, and What You Can Do About It!

Your next video is right below …

Part 3

Where To Get The Links You Need to Rise to The TOP

Don’t go away … it’s getting juicier! More below!

Part 4

Free Links Here! A Tried & True Way to Get Traffic and Links

Part 5

Is Your Website in Shape? Here’s How To Find Out Fast!

MORE TO COME!!!

I have a load more of free information to give you on how to get more clients using the web plus some good old fashioned tools and strategies.

What do you think so far? Please, please leave a comment. If you like what you’re getting, please help me by promoting this page on Twitter, Facebook, your blog … sound fair?

And leave me that voicemail at 646-961-3649 - I will use your comments and questions to give you exactly what you need to grow your business.

Q&A videos will come out later this week.

-Brian

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Getting leads from your website without spending any more money is a pretty good bargain, wouldn’t you say?

You went to the trouble and expense of getting a website - so why isn’t it generating dozens of qualified leads every week?

If a Tree Falls in the Forest …

If qualified buyers can’t find your site, it’s like it doesn’t exist. You have to get people to visit your site before it can start selling for you.

I’ve consulted and coached a number of catering business owners and they know how important the right ingredients are to a wonderful meal. But so many business owners forget to add four critical ingredients to their web marketing. Without these ingredients your website is just a waste of electrons.

AIDA. Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

Attention! You have to have strategies in place the will drive eyeballs to your website. If you build it, they will not come, unless you have traffic attraction tactics in place. What are you doing to get those local buyers to your site?

Interest. I have seen some terrible websites out there. If you’re a photographer you can’t afford to have an ugly website. An accountant can have an ugly site - but not someone in the creative industries. Is your website design scaring away buyers?

Desire. Does your website create a strong urge in the buyer to pick up the phone and call you right away? Do you use sound psychological principles of persuasion - or did you let your website designer just put up something pretty? Your site has to sell.

Action! Does your website make an irresistible offer that compels people to connect with you right this very minute? It is so tempting for a buyer to click the back-button and leave your site. They may bookmark it but forget all about it - they may really like what they see and decide to keep looking anyway. You must get visitors to take action.

But it all starts with attention. Your site can’t generate leads until it generates traffic and you won’t get much qualified traffic if people can’t find you. Right?

A few weeks back I invited folks to get together and swap links to each other’s sites. The idea here is that more links (popularity) and better links (quality) will drive your site to the top of the search engines.

Just about 40 brave souls emailed me and agreed to swap emails and links with each other. It was a challenge for some, it was frustrating for others but in the end most of us did pretty well.

Here’s some of the feedback so far, with names and businesses withheld for privacy sake …

“Just wanted to tell you that you have moved me from nowhere to the first page on Google. What’s next?”

“I just checked… I went from the middle of page 14 to the bottom of page 1.”

“I just did and I’ve moved from “unfindable” on a basic search (so far down) to PAGE 2!!!!”

“I moved to the top of Google and Bing - and at the bottom of first page of Yahoo.” “I Googled (my category) and I’m nowhere to be found.  Am I doing something wrong?”

“Working for me too.  We moved from page 3 to page 1 for (our category). Bing and Yahoo still not picking up results though.”

A mixed bag of results… some skyrocketed to number 1 and others didn’t move.

Now, why did some do well and others not so well?

1. On Page Factors - your site is not set up correctly. Your content is not being indexed by the search engines because of some fundamental mistakes.
2. Off Page Factors - some markets are less competitive than others. If there are few sites competing with you for your keywords it’s easy to place on page one with only a handful of backlinks. In more competitive markets you need to do more.

I’ll show you what to do next to get your site ranked higher and keep it that way. (You may be on page 1 today and vanish unless you follow these instructions).

Next week I’m going to do a free podcast and answer all of your questions on Search Engine Marketing for Event Professional.

Since I have a large number of international readers, a teleconference is tough to schedule. I always end up leaving some folks out - so I will record the podcast and answer all of your tough questions on how to get more leads from your website.

Please use comment button below and send me some topics or questions you’d like to have me cover. As soon as the MP3 recording is done I will send it out via email to everyone. Sound good?

I know the folks who did the link project have some great questions and comments they want me to share with you. Just take a moment and send me a few thoughts now.

What do you need help with the most? Where are you getting stuck?

I look forward to helping us all make more money in the home stretch of 2009. Speak to you soon!

PS. In April I offered a free 30 minute coaching session and a whole bunch of people approached me for business coaching. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who wanted to sign up - but in order to provide real support to my existing clients I had to turn people away.

Well, good news.

I am opening up a few coaching slots this month. This will be a very limited number of slots.  I am not opening the door wide - so if you are accepted for a free introductory coaching session that means I will have room for you.

If you are overwhelmed by marketing and sales and you need personal guidance to create and execute a smart plan of action, this may be what you need.

Some people don’t know what they should be doing or how to do it. Others know what they should do - but they’re just not doing it. My job will be to help you overcome procrastination, inertia, fear and confusion and get you booked solid fast.

If you’re interested please let me know right away. I’ll be making a formal announcement next week and if you want to get on the short list get in touch.

OK … so enter your question in the comment area below now!

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One of the biggest reasons why event business owners fail to reach their income goals is because they stink at selling and marketing. Some have a bad attitude towards these critical success components and do a poor job at promoting themselves. Others recognize how important it is to market and sell well but they never get around to doing it often enough. And some just have lousy advertising, pathetic websites and zero sales ability.

Then there are a few who get it. They may never “enjoy” selling and marketing their services but they have systems in place to make sure this business-critical function is executed effectively on a regular basis.

Do you have a bad attitude toward selling and marketing? I’ve worked with a number of business professionals who had a tremendous fear of selling. The very idea of picking up a telephone and calling a stranger and asking that stranger to do business put them into a panic. The truth is - promoting your business by telephone is one of the fastest ways to grow your business.

If you pick up the phone and call your past clients on a regular basis you will make more money. If you pick up the phone and call potential business allies (those people who can refer business to you) on a regular basis you will make more money. If you pick up the phone and call those people you met at the Chamber of Commerce whose business cards are stacked in your desk drawer - you will make more money. No doubt about it.

Whether you’re a business to business professional like a corporate event planner or any personal service provider like a wedding planner or photographer - the telephone can and will make you more money than wasting hours tweaking your website.

So why aren’t you making more calls? What’s holding you back? Is it a lack of leads - or is it a lack of confidence?

Selling by telephone makes a lot of people think of telemarketing and telemarketing has a justifiably bad reputation. But when I use the telephone to promote one of my businesses I never come across as pushy, annoying or inappropriate. I never sound like I’m reading a script (that’s because I’m not). And when I network, market and sell by phone I enjoy myself.

What’s the secret? Was I born with the personality of a “born salesman”? No! Believe me when I started out in business I was terrified of making cold calls - I stunk at it! I would procrastinate all day if possible to try and avoid making those calls. I’d waste time calling the same friendly people who always said no instead of taking a risk and calling strangers that might make me feel stupid.

But then one day I met my mentor who showed me exactly how to use the phone to make professional introductions and have quality conversations that would lead to strong business relationships and sales.

If you were able to pick up the phone today and start building profitable relationships without feeling uncomfortable and actually enjoying the process, would you do it?

What are your biggest problems when it comes to promoting yourself using the phone? I’d love to hear back from you.

Please take a moment and leave a comment … I hope you’re making a ton of money this week! If not … pick up the phone!

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Brian McGovern

Getting your website ranked on top of Google for a specific keyword requires two things; first, your website must be optimized for that keyword. Second, your website must have more inbound links than other sites that are optimized for that keyword.

A keyword is what your potential customer types into the search engine when they’re shopping for someone like you.  A photographer in Manhattan who wants to sell more weddings would want to have a website that was optimized for the keywords “wedding photographer New York City,” as well as variations like “NYC wedding photography.” If your site does not these keywords in text form it will be difficult to rank for them.

But not impossible - as long as you have inbound links. And I can prove it.

Go to Google and type in the words, “click here.” What usually comes up as the top organic search result? Adobe’s page where you can download Adobe Reader. Why? Because there are over 800,000 other web pages linking to it with the anchor text “click here.”

“Anchor Text” is the words you read that link you to a site. Google reads indexes 800,000 pages that say for a free copy of Adobe reader, click here. Google being a machine equates Adobe with the phrase “click here.”

So, here’s your job. Decide what ONE keyword phrase you want to rank highly for. I suggest you read my article on how to find the best keyword - but in short - make sure you include your most popular geographic descriptor.

Choose Your Keywords Wisely

“Wedding Photographer” gets 550,000 searches a month, while “wedding portrait” gets only 14,800 searches.  Don’t assume you know what people are looking for and how they search. Do your homework.

Choose Your Landing Page Carefully

Do you have a page that sells? Send the traffic there. If you want to book more corporate events - try to get your traffic to land on a page that talks about your corporate experience and not your home page that shows off the last 10 bar mitzvahs you did.

PROJECT CLOSED

I will compile your information into a spreadsheet that will be shared with the other event professionals who signed up for this project.  If you do not want your email shared with other people on this list, do not sign up … or sign up with an email address you set up for free at Yahoo or Gmail and submit that email. Just be sure to check it!

When you receive the spreadsheet from me - treat it like gold. If you’ve never tried to get links from other sites, you have no idea how much time this list will save you. To a smart marketer who takes advantage of this list - it is worth thousands of dollars. I’m not exaggerating.

Review The Spreadsheet.

Click on the links and check out these sites. You should try to link to as many of them as possible - because the more links you give, the more you’ll get.

You are NOT obligated to link back to anyone. If someone sends you a link and you don’t reciprocate - they will most likely think you’re a jerk and delete the link. But, you don’t have to reciprocate! If you believe the site that gave you a link is something you don’t want to be associated with - tell the other sites owner why you’re declining the offer.

How Do You Link to Other Sites?

We’ll get there! It’s really easy.

If you manage your own site just add a page titled “Resources” or ” Event Professionals.” Add links to the page and USE THE KEYWORDS AS ANCHORTEXT! This will really help the other site out (remember what “click me” did for Adobe).

If you don’t manage your own website - have your webmaster do it for you.

Or, just add the links as blog posts to your regular blog. You can just drop the links into a couple of posts. You don’t have to make it complicated! Just add the links!

What if you don’t have a blog?

Get one new, for free. Just sign up and blogging is as easy as sending an email. You type up a post, highlight a word, turn it into a hyperlink by clicking a button and hit publish. You’re done!

Where do you get a free blog? Try Blogger (owned by Google) or Wordpress. With Wordpress you can have the blog reside on your website (you need to install it -after that it’s real easy to use) or you can have it sit on their server at Wordpress.com. Very easy to use.

Don’t waste time - set up the blog NOW.

RESOURCES:

SEO Tools

Google Keyword Tool

Rank Checker

Free Blogs Hosted Blogs

Blogger

Wordpress.com

Free Blog Software - install on your site

Wordpress.org

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Why link to other websites?

First, it’s a very nice thing to do for your readers. Links help readers find great resources on the web and that makes your website more useful. So put links on your site to help your readers.

Well, yes and no. I mean it’s all very nice to put a link to a great party entertainment or a funny website if that’s the sort of thing you’d like to do. But there is a risk that you’ll distract your reader and they’ll never come back to your website again.

If your on the web just to be helpful and entertaining you can link randomly if you’d like!  But if you want to grow your business, link strategically.

The second reason to link out to other sites is that it makes your site more credible. The major search engines give more rank to sites that have more authority on a subject. Linking lends your site some authority.

Third, when you link to other sites other sites are more likely to link to you. And that’s a very good thing. The more sites that send links to your site - the more Google thinks - “Well, looks like this might be important!”  If lots of sites point to you as an authority your ranking will improve.

So, here’s a link worth following if you want to learn more about search engine optimization … SEO Book. Good advice. Enjoy!

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Brian McGovern

Good news … Summer is over and that means we’re heading into the busy season! The economy is no longer in a panic - I think you should see an uptick from last year … especially if you’ve been following my advice and your website is a well-tuned lead machine!

Now that your getting more and more sales leads - don’t drop the ball with poor telephone sales skills. It’s time to get in shape!

Phone Skills That Book More Events

I got this question from a marketing client of mine who founded of a new catering and event company after years of working for someone else.

“I’m finally getting leads from the website! This week I got more job inquiries than I ever did before. Now my problem is selling them once they call me. How do you handle an incoming call from a prospective client who is thinking about hiring you?” -  Thanks, L.T.

Here are a few tips I passed on to L.T. He reported back that he’s much more relaxed and so far he’s booked a $9,000 job using these ideas. I hope you have the same luck! First and foremost you want to build rapport quickly. You want the caller to get a good feeling about you and your business. No, this isn’t about “brown-nosing” or “sucking up” or “schmoozing.” It’s about attitude. Some thoughts to consider before you pick up that phone ….

Attitude of Gratitude. Be happy that somebody is giving you the opportunity to serve them in a way that allows you to use your gifts and talents and make a profit. Don’t act grateful … BE grateful.

Attitude of Service. Be ready to help the caller in whatever way you can - even if that means sending the caller to your competition.

Attitude of Enthusiasm. When I coached L.T. we recorded some of his phone conversations (you can record your side of the call without getting permission) and he was shocked. He was trying to sound like a “business professional.” He sounded as enthusiastic as a Department of Motor Vehicles employee on a Friday afternoon. Unless you only cater at funerals and bankruptcy hearings most customers are enthusiastic about the event they’re planning. They want to deal with a relaxed, confident and happy event professional.

The Most Important Person in the World.

Dale Carnegie taught us to “Make other people feel important - and do it sincerely.” How do you do that? Ask questions that you really want the answers to and listen carefully to the answers. When was the last time you spoke to someone who really cared about your opinion? Didn’t that make you feel great? Really try to understand what the client is saying - so few people do.

Care. Don’t ask about a client’s fishing trophy if you really don’t care. That’s cheap, insincere and transparent. My style of selling is strictly business - I don’t talk about sports, the weather or how nice your tie is. When I meet you as a prospective client I always get right down to business - not my business - your business.

Prepare. I go into every meeting prepared - I don’t ask questions that a professional should already know. If I’m trying to get a trade show account I know everything I can about the industry, the company, competition and their latest products. If I’m pursuing a sales incentive meeting I know the names and territories of the Sales Managers, the size of the sales force and the demographics of the attendees before I approach the buyer. Knowing what you’re talking about goes much further than unctuous glad-handing.

How do you prepare for an unexpected telephone inquiry?

Stop winging it!

Intake Form. Type up an intake form to capture all the information you’ll need … and include questions that your competition isn’t asking.

High Value Questions. Make a list of smart questions that increase your understanding and improve your professional image. List questions that make the client say, “Wow, I’m so glad you asked me that - I didn’t think of that!”

Major Sales Tip! Always ask the caller if they’ve ever hired or experienced a service like yours before. Then ask, “What did you like about it?” and “What didn’t you like about it.” Get the answers to these two questions and your callers will have told you exactly how to sell to them.

When L.T. asked a client what she didn’t like about a previous caterer, the client said she didn’t like the servers - they didn’t look professional. L.T. emailed over photos and testimonials about of his wait staff . He got the job!

Objections. Start keeping track of all the objections you get on the phone … and then prepare a presentation that preempts them. The best way to handle an objection is to structure your presentation so that they never become an issue - but be careful about preventing clients from voicing their legitimate concerns. L.T. thought that by saying to callers, “Our prices aren’t cheap - because we don’t do cheap work and our clients only want the best,” eliminated the price objection. It didn’t - it made the caller feel too embarrassed from sharing price concerns - and made L.T. sound like a jerk!

Sales Script. No, you never want to read a sales script to a caller and end up sounding like a phony telemarketer … but you do want to make sure you give the caller a great sounding presentation. Here’s how to write a great telephone sales script: Don’t write it - speak it. Record and transcribe yourself talking to clients. Listen to your recording with a colleague or coach and pick out the parts you feel do a great job selling your services. Transcribe those phrases - exactly as you spoke them - and create your “pitch.” It will sound like you - but your best you!

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Event business owners, does your website make customers want to buy - or does it make them cringe?

When does the sales process start - and when does it end? Often it’s over before it begins.

A prospective client either likes you or they don’t - and all the sales technique in the world won’t make a difference. If a prospect is attracted to your business and likes the way you make them feel they will forgive many of your drawbacks. After all, you may not have as big of a selection or as much as experience as that jerk they spoke to, but they’re going to do business with you anyway - because, well you’re not a jerk.

So when does an event buyer decide they like your business? Instantly. That could mean the first time they see your website, pick up your business card or hear a story about you from a friend.

Recently I stumbled over two examples of websites in the event services industry that I think any buyer would love. They immediately convey competence, emotion, fun and warmth. You have to take a look at these examples.

First up is from the Queen of Fuzz herself at AvantGarb.com. They make costumes for company and team mascots - so you’d expect a fun and well designed site - and you won’t be let down. I tripped over this site on LinkedIn the other day and ended up watching their video and looking at all the fun stuff they do. This site makes me want to buy a company mascot costume - I don’t even need one. Check it out here.

Next up is a very clever UK wedding magician, Simon Alexander. “What the heck is a wedding magician,” you ask? One look at Simon’s website and suddenly you’ll see why it makes so much sense to hire him for a wedding reception. The site shows him as an approachable, fun and sophisticated performer. But the video on his site absolutely sells it. I don’t want to spoil the fun for you - check it out here.

Photo: Dennis Orchard.

These two sites are wonderful examples of how to pre-sell with marketing materials. You’re sold on the business before you ever pick up the phone. Unless something goes horribly wrong on that call, they stand a very good chance of making the sale.

Is your site exciting enough to inspire others to talk about it and your company? Chances are, no. Believe me, I review dozens of sites each month for clients and most are crap.  Here’s what’s wrong with most event services websites:

• Outdated.  Many look like they were built in the days of dial-up modems and it shows. Clients won’t consciously reject your offer because your site is out of date - they’ll just “feel” skeptical. We’re in the event business - and that means “show business” - and buyers instantly judge the quality of your business from the way you show your wares. How old is your site’s design? It looks it!
• Boring. Most event people copy from other event websites who copied theirs from big, boring corporate websites.  They even copy big, boring mission statements. Don’t be boring!

Speaking of mission statements, if you have one on your website that you wrote because it sounded good and you need to fill up pages - get rid of it or change it. You want your mission statement to drive your business - not just to sound impressive.

This is part of a typical mission statement from an unnamed event site:

“To provide the most knowledgeable, professional, resourceful and dependable service in the industry …”

Do you care? Does it have personality? No! It’s buzz-word crap.

Now check out AvantGarb’s mission statement:

“Our goal is to be the physical marketing component for our “parent” company. We strive to deliver countless hugs, laughs and “ooohs!” We resolve to be energetic, rambunctious and effervescent!”

See the difference?

Never forget that marketing, selling and persuasion are driven by emotions - you can’t bore somebody into buying.

Now, go out there, be different and make a difference!

P.S .

Think your site is a great example of a site that sells? Send me a note and I’ll check it out and maybe write about it here!

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