What to do when your customer says “NO!”

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
It’s sad, but it’s going to happen to you today: a prospect
is going to say no to your offer. That, however, is NOT
important. What is, is knowing what to do when it
happens. That’s what separates the men from the
boys; the business people who will profit from those
who won’t!

1) Prepare for the decline

People who succeed in business do not expect
every single prospect to purchase what they’re
selling immediately, effortlessly.  No way!

Instead, they anticipate that while some will
buy, many will not. Their job is to anticipate those
declines and to prepare in advance what to do
when they get them.

2) Write down every potential objection you
will hear. Then answer them.

The worst possible way to handle an objection
is spontaneously, on the fly. To render the best
reply, you must consider the best reply, crafting,
improving it as you go.

Face it: some people are going to decline
your offer. You should be prepared to respond
immediately when it happens. This means
brainstorming all possible objections… and
coming up with the best, most telling responses.
Your use of these responses must be swift and
sure. There’s no time for improvisation when your
sale hangs in the balance!

3) Ask customers why they’ve declined your
offer.

Successful business people, people who get
rich from business, are never daunted by
hearing “No!” from a customer.  They see this
response, however adamant,  as nothing but a
milestone on the way to making that sale.

Successful marketers know that any “no” means
“tell me more”, not “go away, get lost.”

4) Ask why

The first step upon hearing the customer decline
your offer… is to ask why.

Treat “why” as an essential tool in making the sale.
The minute your prospect starts telling you why…
you are on your way to a certain sale because the
very act of answering this question means the prospect
is willing to work with  you to reverse the very answer
they’ve just given you! Thus asking “why” is essential
to getting to yes.

5) Listen carefully

While your customer is explaining why she declined
your offer, LISTEN. The natural tendency is to barge
ahead, overwhelming the customer. This is a mistake.
Instead, ask the customer why she declined; then give
her the time and courtesy to listen to her response
without any interruption whatsoever.

6) Make sure the customer understands your original
offer.
By asking the customer why she has declined  your
offer, you may discover that she doesn’t really understand
what you are offering. If she doesn’t, present the offer again,
making sure the customer understands absolutely
everything you are offering and its substantial value and
utility.

7) When  your initial offer is not enough

If you have presented your offer clearly… if you feel
the customer understands it but is still not willing to
bite, it’s time to IMPROVE YOUR OFFER!

Now hear this: before you ask a single customer for
a sale, you must brainstorm every single thing you
can offer prospects to induce them to buy.

You must NEVER try to improvise an offer when
you are speaking to a customer. Instead, you should
have at your finger tips the extra goodies you can offer
a customer, goodies that will make the sale without breaking
the bank!

“Ms. Prospect, I see you want to get our widget… and
I want you to have it. I’m going to improve my original
offer to make sure you get it! Let me show you what
you can get if you purchase today!”

 When money — or lack thereof –is the problem

Be prepared to hear from customers over and
over again that money is the problem. This may or
may not be true. Your job is to be prepared either way.

Ask your customers if they would purchase your
product if they had the money. If they say yes, then
your job becomes improving the offer until the
customer understands it would be foolish not to
buy. Improving the offer may well induce the customer
to ‘fess up and buy… or risk losing the terrific offer
you have made. Improve the offer and in a minute or
two people who have just told you they’re broke will
magically “find” the funds. With improved offers, this
happens time after time!

Note: make it clear to your prospect exactly what
this improved offer contains. Also, be sure the
customer understands that this is a limited-time
offer and that it cannot and will not be repeated.
Make sure the customers understands; this is
essential in ensuring acceptance of this offer!

9) When lack of money really is the problem

Of course, some people — particularly in our difficult
economic days — really are broke. They need a different
approach. For this situation, too, you should have
planned in advance. Can you offer

* improved payment terms
* readily available credit resources (like
those at www.paypal.com)
* details on how to secure a pre-paid credit
card, etc.

In short are you ready to be helpful when your
interested, but cash challenged, customer is
ready to act? That’s mandatory… if you want this
sale!

Turning a no into a yes is what determines your
business success!

Let me be blunt: you cannot achieve maximum
business success and the profits that go with it
unless and until  you can turn no into yes. Therefore,
mastering the steps in this article is essential to
your maximum well being.

Thus, start today. Never let a prospect go until
you have exhausted every approach to securing
his business. Treat this as a great game, a game
constantly testing your skills and ingenuity; one
with the greatest possible benefits to both your
customer and yourself. For you, hearing the word
no only focuses and concentrates your efforts.
After all, YOU are prepared for this moment. You
know what to do and when to it. You are more
determined to make this sale than the prospect is
to decline it.  As a result, this is not just a sale
you will wish for; it is a sale you will get!

How to research and write the cleanest, clearest, most persuasive blog copy on earth — fast, too!

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant

Millions of people worldwide are waking up to the fact that they are going to have a blog — no ifs, ands, or buts. That a blog — a personal marketing and communications device — is no longer a luxury. If you expect to stay on the cutting edge of the ‘net, you’re going to be a blog publisher, or else.

If you’ve accepted this fact, you’re on the right road. If you haven’t, you’re already a dinosaur… but let’s, for purposes of today’s discussion, suppose that you have decided to produce a blog… and want the results to be superb, meaning to create a blog that’s timely, well-written, persuasive and that delivers the cash, too.

Here are some key recommendations to produce this necessary result:

1) The most effective blogs are published on a regular, announced schedule, not just when you feel like it.

This point should need no discussion… but it does. One of the major problems I see in my work with blog publishers (I write their articles for them) is that these folks still see the business of blogging as something casual, episodic, to be done when and if they have the time.

Whoa!

That’s completely wrong. Blogs, like every other periodical on earth, must have a regular date and time they will be written and released This gives your readers something solid to hold on to, to look forward to. You want your readers to know that you are a person of deadlines and schedules; someone they can rely on.

Stop thinking of your blog as something you can do whenever you feel like it, catch as catch can. Is this how you want your customers, your readers to see you? Not if you value their business.

2) Resolve to say Something Important in every issue of your blog.

When you see most blogs, you have to wonder why their “publishers” ever got out of bed to do them. Trivia! Drivel! Published so that their publishers can say they have a blog… rather than to say something timely! Significant! Motivating!

Now hear this: if you’re one of these myopic blogsters, you’re sabotaging your success. Blogs work because they deliver useful information that informs, persuades, excites and enthuses your readers… just the way all great publishers have from the very first day of the very first publisher.

Publishers present stories that lift up the readers…. and do everything in their power to create, develop, and maintain the crucial link between publisher and reader, creating prosperity for both.

3) Create the all-important blog article idea file.

Visit my office in Cambridge, Massachusetts ,and you see an assembly line for the creation of intellectual property. The first crucial link in this production process is the article idea file. It’s a must.

Start with a pair of good scissors and the most important newspaper in your area. Supplement this material with the most important newspaper(s) in your country. Add other specialty publications to this list, publications which follow developments in your given field.

Go through these publications regularly and cut out articles that contain information of value and interest to your readers. Make sure every one of these articles is dated… then file for future use. As you become more and more proficient at your essential blog business, you will realize the crucial significance of this article “compost heap”… and you will make it a key part of your day to add to it by wielding your scissors and cutting out the crucial story ideas and information you need.

4) Each Monday, brainstorm the articles you will need for the week.

Post your draft titles and the date you intend to do them. Remember, your blog should have a format; your articles should fit into this format. My articles, for instance, (including this one) are 3 single-spaced pages in length, about 1,500 words. A lively, timely article of this length and substance anchors your blog and gives it “heft”, the feeling of importance and “must read” value.

5) Do a subject search in the major search engines.

To gather necessary background information and to see what others may have said on the topic, use the search engines assiduously. This is vital. Search engines not only post critical information on any given topic, but tell you when this information was posted. In tracking a developing story, such data are vital.

6) Always, always, always search Wikipedia (founded 2001).

Frankly, for blog publishers and researchers of every kind, Wikipedia takes the cake. As a very active blog content writer, I can confirm that I visit it every single day, and not once either. You will, too — if you want your articles to be informative, grounded by fact and not just your opinions.

7) Write your article copy.

Articles,as noted above, should be of a particular length and format, just like various departments in other publications. These should be written in the second person (“you”).

Paragraphs should be limited to 6-8 lines for easy readability; line length should be limited to 10-14 words, again for easy reading. If you bury your readers under a mountain of intimidating text, they will repay your efforts by.. skipping the arduous task you have assigned them.

 Edit, proofread, post.

Your blog copy production line should chugging along nicely at this point. Now’s the time to polish with the finishing touches that transform a good article into a great one.

Read your article aloud. This will help you determine whether your sentences are balanced, or not; your construction difficult to comprehend, or mellifluous.

Make sure you have checked your spelling and any facts of which you’re uncertain. Proofreading is a must for your credibility and the value of what you’ve written and will present to the world.

To conclude the production process, post the article on your website and in your blog. You are not merely a blog publisher, you are, better, a publisher, part of the great tradition. Enjoy a moment of joyful reverie, but only a minute. After all, your next deadline already looms, and you must and shall be ready.