Stop Selling Start Positioning How Marketing Pros Thrive in the Best and Worst of Times
Stop Selling Start Positioning How Marketing Pros Thrive in the Best and Worst of Times
If you are like me, you have taken a zillion sales seminars ... learned all the “secret techniques” ... listened to all the motivational tapes of top salespeople (like Tom Hopkins) ... rehearsed your phone script with a mirror in front of you, and the bottomline is “You still hate sales”!
I have been a highly successful business owner for 21 years and have NEVER gotten any business through “selling.” Where I *have* gotten ALL my business is through “marketing” and “positioning.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Positioning = Marketing, Attracting Customers
Selling = Convincing, Overcoming Customer Resistance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Positioning” is about creating a market presence ... positioning yourself in your prospects’ mind as the “expert” and the “preeminent leader” in your industry or field ... so that good, qualified, eager customers *seek* you out for your products or services.
What are the essential steps to successfully “position” your business?
1. KNOW YOUR *BEST* MARKETS ... based on your experience, skills, expertise, interests and passions.
2. MARKET FROM A PLACE OF UNIQUENESS ... eg., a “unique” success formula, a patented product, a proprietary process or “better than average” results. Without uniqueness, your offering is a mere commodity.
3. MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE TO YOUR MOST LIKELY TARGETS. There are many, many ways to make yourself visible - both online and offline. It is beyond the scope of this article to address any strategy in depth. Let’s, however, briefly look at some of the most common ways:
=>> Writing articles, books, reports, booklets, ezines, etc. FREE or “inexpensive” works best.
=>> Gaining credibility and “celebrity status” through publicity. PR is worth its weight in gold.
=>> Speaking to associations or special interest groups in your market
=>> Expanding your target markets through cross promotions and endorsements
=>> Serve as an officer of a professional organization or special interest group
Down times are perfect opportunities for investing more time in making yourself visible to the marketplace. Those businesses who “position” themselves thrive in both good times and bad.
********************************
COACH’S ACTION ITEM:
********************************
Identify the top 3 ways you make your business more visible, more unique, more attractive to your best markets. Create an action plan or work with a coach to follow-through on those strategies ... starting TODAY.
Stop Selling Start Positioning How Marketing Pros Thrive in the Best and Worst of Times - To learn more about this author, visit Denise Corcoran's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
I disagree with conventional thinking that the #1 fear in America is public speaking. I personally “love” to speak in public. The #1 fear in my book - as it is in most business owners’ books - is “selling. Hard-core, grubby, “get ready for rejection” traditional selling.
If you are like me, you have taken a zillion sales seminars ... learned all the “secret techniques” ... listened to all the motivational tapes of top salespeople (like Tom Hopkins) ... rehearsed your phone script with a mirror in front of you, and the bottomline is “You still hate sales”!
I have been a highly successful business owner for 21 years and have NEVER gotten any business through “selling.” Where I *have* gotten ALL my business is through “marketing” and “positioning.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Positioning = Marketing, Attracting Customers
Selling = Convincing, Overcoming Customer Resistance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Positioning” is about creating a market presence ... positioning yourself in your prospects’ mind as the “expert” and the “preeminent leader” in your industry or field ... so that good, qualified, eager customers *seek* you out for your products or services.
What are the essential steps to successfully “position” your business?
1. KNOW YOUR *BEST* MARKETS ... based on your experience, skills, expertise, interests and passions.
2. MARKET FROM A PLACE OF UNIQUENESS ... eg., a “unique” success formula, a patented product, a proprietary process or “better than average” results. Without uniqueness, your offering is a mere commodity.
3. MAKE YOURSELF VISIBLE TO YOUR MOST LIKELY TARGETS. There are many, many ways to make yourself visible - both online and offline. It is beyond the scope of this article to address any strategy in depth. Let’s, however, briefly look at some of the most common ways:
=>> Writing articles, books, reports, booklets, ezines, etc. FREE or “inexpensive” works best.
=>> Gaining credibility and “celebrity status” through publicity. PR is worth its weight in gold.
=>> Speaking to associations or special interest groups in your market
=>> Expanding your target markets through cross promotions and endorsements
=>> Serve as an officer of a professional organization or special interest group
Down times are perfect opportunities for investing more time in making yourself visible to the marketplace. Those businesses who “position” themselves thrive in both good times and bad.
********************************
COACH’S ACTION ITEM:
********************************
Identify the top 3 ways you make your business more visible, more unique, more attractive to your best markets. Create an action plan or work with a coach to follow-through on those strategies ... starting TODAY.
Stop Selling Start Positioning How Marketing Pros Thrive in the Best and Worst of Times - To learn more about this author, visit Denise Corcoran's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
|||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
|||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
|||
George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Denise's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | ||
|
||
|
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
 |
 Free SEO Report Managing Generations Become a Better Closer! Eneterprise Readiness Your Annualized Bus Dev Plan |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2008
Top SEO Posts of the Year | |
 |
Top 50 Marketing Blogs
Top Marketing Blogs of 2010 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||