2rara0's ‘3 Ways to Grab an Early Poco ofthe $500 Blon Opportunity in Mobile Marketing Entrepreneur hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 MARKETING Breaking Through Your Customers' Defense Barriers Before you get down to the business of selling, you must establish rapport with your prospects. This sales expert can show you how. Tom Hopkins When you initially meet a potential client, the first thing you must do is establish rapport. The faster you can make this happen, the more sales you'll make. It's as simple as that. Now, if you're new to sales, or just new to my teachings, some of what I'm about to say may seem a little awkward at first. That's OK-it's because it's not natural to you...yet. The goal of all my training is to help you internalize critical sales skills to the point where they just flow out of you when you need them to. You'll get so you don't even have to think about how to act and what to say, because it's become a natural part of you. 12raran's hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 {Woo Grab an Early ice lhe $50 Bon Opprtuntyn Mobile Mareig The only way to accomplish this is through practice. | teach a learning strategy I call P.D.R-practice, drill and rehearse. The more you do those three things, the faster these proven strategies will become ingrained in you. So let's get started. Let's say a new customer has just called you or entered your place of business. The steps to rapport-building are pretty much the same in both instances. The first thing you do is smile. This may sound trite, but look around you. How many people do you know who naturally smile when they meet someone new? If the answer is a lot, you're working with a great team! It's important to smile even on the phone-people can sense it in your voice. If you're not naturally a very smiley person, practice in front of a mirror. Don't laugh! This is critical to your ability to sell products. You must be able to see your smile in your eyes. That means it's genuine. If you're not genuine, your prospects will spot it a mile away and write you off as a stereotypical salesperson. Their defenses will go up, and you'll have to work hard to break them down. If you're meeting in person, make eye contact. Don't stare them down, but make comfortable eye contact. Then introduce yourself, ask for their name, and ask for permission to use their name. What | mean by that is, if a woman introduces herself to you as Jane Thompson, say, "It's nice to meet you, Ms. Thompson. May | call you 292raran's hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 {Woo Grab an Early ice lhe $50 Bon Opprtuntyn Mobile Mareig Jane?" This simple courtesy demonstrates professionalism on your part. Now you need to use her name. Repeat it to yourself four times-silently, so you don't forget it. With everything else you'll have on your mind-qualifying your prospect, presenting your product properly and closing the sale- it's easy to forget the name of the person you're dealing with. Repeating it to yourself will help plant it firmly in your mind. Try to match the speed and volume of your speech to theirs for the first 90 seconds. Then, if you naturally speak either faster or slower, you can gently move into your typical style. Here's a warning, though: If the potential client speaks very slowly, don't allow yourself to speak too quickly. They may not follow what you're saying, and while they're trying to catch up mentally, they're missing the next point you make. Next, search for common ground. Why are the two of you talking with each other right now? What similarities are you discovering? Does this person live close by? Are they about your age? Do they work for a company you're familiar with? Find something you share in common and say something relevant-this helps the client see you as someone "just like them." This is crucial to the selling process because people are more likely to buy from someone like them than from someone they don't relate to. a92raran's hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 23 Was to Grab an Ey Poco ho $50 Bion Opparniyin Mobile Marna Next, give the person a sincere compliment. It might be a compliment on their foresight in calling your company. It might be something about an item of clothing or Jewelry they're wearing. "Your purse really caught my eye. It's a great color." Maybe you notice the logo on the man's shirt, something from a golf course or a sports team. Comment on it. But beware of saying anything for or against any sport or sports team until you know where your prospect stands because for some people, their feelings about sports teams are as strong as their feelings about religion and politics-two subjects you'll want to avoid unless they're part of your business. This next step might be difficult, especially if you're new to the business, but you have to act relaxed. If you're nervous and your customers sense it, they'll get nervous, too, even though they might not know why. They'll pick up on your vibe and become wary of everything you say and do. Once you've reached this point, it's time to get down to business: Too much rapport-building can be a waste of time-both yours and theirs. Move on to business with a simple statement such as, "Jane, let me thank you for the time we're about to share. | hope we can consider this meeting somewhat exploratory, meaning my job is to analyze your needs and show you how we at (name of your business) can help you." Now you can begin asking questions relevant to your product or service to determine if it's right for them. 492raran's hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 ‘3 Ways to Grab an Early Poco ofthe $500 Blon Opportunity in Mobile Marketing MOBILE MARKETING 3 Ways to Grab an Early Piece of the $500 Billion Opportunity in Mobile Marketing Alex Campbell Contributor Co-Founder And Chief Innovation Officer, Vibes FEBRUARY 27, 2015 More than $500 billion in sales and nearly 20 percent of all in- store retail sales are now influenced by mobile content -- and in 2016, that number is expected to jump to more than 50 percent, according to a study by Deloitte. This means that right now, almost half of a brand's customers will soon be proverbially “up for grabs” to anyone with an effective mobile marketing strategy. What's more is that although consumers are spending just as much time on their mobile phones as they are watching TV, advertisers are spending only 4 percent of their advertising budgets on mobile (compared with 66 percent on TV). This means that advertisers are missing out on an incredible opportunity. Brands who so choose can effectively own the mobile marketing channel and a direct ink to both their customers and all of their competitors’ customers. 592raran's hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 23 Was to Grab an Ey Poco ho $50 Bion Opparniyin Mobile Marna Related: 5 Ways to Maximize Your Mobile Marketing Strategy Even though it's easier than ever for consumers to buy things through mobile devices and even with all of these staggering statistics, many companies have yet to take notice of the opportunity that mobile gives them. Companies that embrace mobile marketing will have the upper hand on their competitors. The time to act is now. Starbucks, for example, has reaped the benefits of having an effective mobile strategy. Opting to go on the offensive while its competitors were not focused on mobile, Starbucks began capitalizing on its mobile-focused customer base. As a result, it gained upwards of 6 million transactions per week ~- all by simply making it easier and more enjoyable to shop at Starbucks. Thanks to its investments, customers can now pay through their phones, never needing to take out their wallet to conduct a transaction. Starbucks anticipated the mobile opportunity long before its competition did and this proactive approach has given the company the equivalent of an added $30 million in business per year. If Deloitte's predictions are correct, nearly half of your brand's customers will be willing and ready for mobile brand engagement. To capitalize on the opportunity at your fingertips, here are a few tips you can employ as you think about your mobile game plan: os2raran's hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 {Woo Grab an Early ice lhe $50 Bon Opprtuntyn Mobile Mareig 4. Guard your mobile-influenced customers To kick-start your mobile marketing program, start by paying close attention to your current customers. You can do this by utilizing technology (such as Vibes’ mobile customer- relationship-management platform Catapult) that tracks and monitors mobile customers and subscribers, so every customer interaction is personalized and relevant. You can also pinpoint the times that your customers are using mobile in their purchase process and begin providing them with relevant content. Related: 4 Tips for Passing Google's New Mobile-Friendly Test Observe what people on their phones are looking for. Make sure your brand is providing it to them. Start off with basics such as using push notification engagement or reminders about near-expiring coupons through your app when customers enter or are near your business. You can also leverage relevant, location- triggered messaging to target personalized content specific to the mobile-influenced audience. 2. Aggressively pursue your competitors’ mobile-influenced customers Ifyou aren't leveraging the power of location-based notifications, it's time to get started. If you are, you should be using it to give your competitor’s customers an offer they can't refuse by linking a mobile advertisement that appears only for your competitors’ shoppers. Amazon is doing this today, and 12raran's hipshwwerteprencur comarticla242367 {Woo Grab an Early ice lhe $50 Bon Opprtuntyn Mobile Mareig so should you, Take it a step further and only target your competitors’ highest value customers. By leveraging a combination of targeted mobile advertising and a dynamic mobile wallet, you can find shoppers who should be your high-value customers. Once you have found and identified them, deliver mobile-web and mobile-wallet content to entice them to switch brands. Thanks to the inherent trackability of both mobile web and mobile wallet, you can watch them make the switch in real time. 3. Become a mobile giant Take things up a notch by coming at things from both ends. You can create a multi-channel campaign across email and SMS, for example, or solicit customers through personalized advertisements. You can also take your mobile content to the next level by crafting engaging mobile-wallet experiences, personalized for each customer. The key is to balance taking care of your own customers with taking advantage of opportunities to gain market share from your competitors. You can certainly choose to do nothing and completely opt out of having a mobile marketing strategy. However, you may find that you will need to implement a mobile marketing strategy in the future and it will end up costing you more. There’s a huge mobile opportunity for marketers and there’s never been a better (or more important) time than now to make sure your brand is accelerating its investment in mobile. Related: 10 Tweaks That Instantly Increase Mobile a92raran's hipuhwwareprencur comarticla242367 ‘3 Ways to Grab an Early Poco ofthe $500 Blon Opportunity in Mobile Marketing Conversion Rates 99