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3D Techniques of the Week

12/23/2013

Gday,

This is my third iteration of “Techniques of the Week” which is an ode to simple writing and

marketing techniques that can be used immediately with measurable results in the Before,

During, and After of your sales process.

Interested in past and future iterations? Then stay up-to-date by subscribing.

With that said, let’s be off…

The Before: Small favors for Big Favors?

Have you ever owed someone a favor, and when the time came for them to collect, they asked for something 10x bigger than the original favor?

You didn't want to, but you owed them so you did it anyway

The friend who wants to borrow your car for giving you a piece of gum that one time

This happens all the time between friends, businesses, and sometimes people you don’t even know (See people who give you something for “free” for a donation).

But why?

Because psychologically, a favor is a favor and the size usually doesn't really matter

This simple concept is particularly useful for the before of your sales process if you find a way to do your prospects a small favor and in return, they buy big from you.

These favors can range from industry to industry.

For Product-based industries, you can have something thrown in for free by having a deal that they buy one, and you give them something fun that they will enjoy for free.
For service industries, you can give a 2 for 1 so prospects pay for one service but can bring a friend so they can do it together.
For information based industries, you can give them a free Infoproduct (Don’t forget to display the price for it) for their email and if they want to subscribe.

Just remember any small favor will do.

* Small Favor for Big Favor – do the customer a favor (free gift). And they will be willing to give you a big favor for it.

The During: The Enemy

Every fan base has its rabble rousers and its casual observers. But sometimes you need an enemy to unite them.

Having an enemy is a great way to get your customers and fan base to band together and talk about your company, bring others into your business to face the threat, or buy more in case of an emergency. You have to be very careful with this technique, however, as picking the wrong enemy may cause an adverse reaction.

This enemy can be figurative or real.

A figurative enemy is does not exist physically. Such as the “Beating the Bad Economy” or “Overwhelming the No-Motivation Monster”. A real enemy is real and physical in nature. Such as “Protect your family from the Flu this Season” or “Stop Mold in its tracks”.

* Figurative or Real Enemy – Create a figurative or real enemy to band together your customer or fan base against it

The After: Custom Experience

Some people buy from you for the custom experience that you give.

Why not extend it with a Custom-to-Go and tailored experience?

Give them a free product that compliments them. Lotion for their particular skin

Give them a free service that will help them out with an individual problem. They come in for a massage and after, you give them a free tutorial on where to massage and stretch to help relieve their chronic problems.

If they come in without a goal in mind for your product, they give them a goal or action plan to work towards. Personal Trainer sets up a free photo-shoot for their client to look good for. It makes great advertising and is the perfect custom-to-go experience.

* Custom Experience – Wacky and uplifting experience; Custom to-go item; or goal to work towards that gives your client and customer an experience they will never forget.

3 simple techniques

You can use immediately to give your clients and customers the memorable experience they will always remember to produce easy and immediate results.

Did you have success with these techniques? Or do you have your own techniques you would like to share?

Then tell your story in the comments section below as we would love to hear it.

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Do you have "the Power of the List"?

12/14/2013

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Do you know the power of the list?

The list is what has made us the dominant species on this planet. Due to the fact that no other can plan and implement lists quite like we do.

With that in mind, remember everyone, from the most successful to the everyman, all use lists for everything, from everyday tasks such as laundry, groceries, and errands to important work such as schedules, plans, and reports.

The list is the fundamental building block of everything we do.

But are you using them effectively?

This question comes from the fact that most people if not all have never really thought hard about how they use the lists in their lives. Not knowing conceptually, the reasons they use the lists they do and understanding if it’s actually the best lists for them.

Now here is the rundown of how lists work and the many different ways you can customize them to your every need.

First off is the variables that change with each list and how they affect its purpose and effectiveness. Below is a table of a lists 4 different variables, their variations, and how they work.

Variables

Time - Short, medium, long, and undefined - this dimension is used to find how long your list will be used.

Short – is used over a span of one day or week (Groceries)
Medium – used over a month or longer (Study Guide)
Long – used over a year or longer (Year Schedule)
Undefined – unknown how long it will be used

Occurrence - Instantaneous, Revolving, and Once - this dimension dictates the setup of how events occur on your list

Once – This event occurs only once (Buying lists and outlines)
Instantaneous – this event occurs as you do it (Journal/Logging - Ex. Bank Statements)
Revolving – this event occurs every day, week, or longer (Workouts, Study, and Eating)

Importance – weak, moderate, and strong - This dimension is used to rank the importance of the events on your lists and the order they will be done. (Can be numbered, bolded, etc.)

Weak – an event with weak importance is done when your motivated to do it, you have the time, and is not essential for your goals (May never get done)
Moderate – an event with moderate importance needs to be done, but not immediately and can be important for your goals. (Convenience)
Strong – events with strong importance have deadlines that have to be adhered to and must be done to accomplish your goals. (Mandatory)

Control – Transferable and Fixed -this dimension says how much control you have over the placements and implementation of the events.

Transferable – this event is flexible (Workouts, study, and others in your control)
Fixed – this event is fixed to a time and is inflexible (Work, class, and others out of your control)

Now that you have the different variables that go into making lists. Here a few examples of how those variables work together to create different types of lists.

The Active List
The first example is a short list that uses all three occurrence, importance, and control dimensions together. It is called an Active List. This is due to its lively nature and constant updates to what you need to do.

Below is an example in a Word Document.

General To-Do

To do – Groceries (W)

Books to Read – Unleashing the Power of Consultative Selling (W)

Meetings – Doctor’s Appointment (Tu, 10am), Catch-up with former colleague (M, 1pm)

Business To-Do

Blog (Every Th) – List Article finished (Tu), Post (Th), Dissect Power of Habits (F)

Social Media – Post to 3 blogs (Tu), Respond to Comments (W)

Network – Copywriter seminar (W, 8pm), Mastermind Group (Th, 7pm)

School To-Do

Psychology 101 – Hw (W), Exam (F)

Geology 101 – Research Paper (M)

Algebra 101 – Exam Study (Tu), Tutor (W), Study Group (F)

With this list, you have activities in your life that you have to do each week but what you have to do changes, Blog– for example, is on the list because I update my blog on a weekly basis. As they change, they get bolded to signify that they have to be done today. The parenthesis letters are the due dates they need to be done by, (W) = Wednesday of this week and etc. And the“, #’s” are the exact times they need to be done or attended. So at the end of each day, you bold everything with a (W) as it’s the things you will have to do tomorrow.

This list is useful for keeping track of multiple activities that you do on a daily, weekly basis, that are updated constantly. It categorizes them in a way that helps you remember what you need to do in what subjects.

The Planner/Scheduler
A complementary of this list is the Schedule. This is a long-term list with fixed events, which occur instantaneous with time to create a linear path for you to follow throughout your day and week. This is any planner, scheduler, or other time based outline that shows what you plan to do.

You can even combine the Active list with the Schedule and write the activities that have no set time at the bottom of each day as a To-Do list. This can be done using different schedule templates and software such as business calendars that update on your computer, phone, and other media devices.

This type of list has a long term time dimension of a year and is useful in reminding you of events that are far away and unmemorable like renewing your subscriptions.

Habit List
Another useful list is the Habit list. It’s a list with an undefined time dimension, revolving events, with moderate to strong importance, and transferable control (meaning you have control of what time to do it during the day, but it has to be done to sustain the habit).

This list is used by listing things that you want to turn into habits and is used as a go-to reminder that you are making it a habit or not. The events on this list are revolving and do not get eliminated until you know for sure that the habit you want is instituted in your routine which can take a few days to many months.

Below is an example:

Habit list:

1.       Use phone schedule to eliminate written schedule

2.       Read 1 book a month

3.       Type an hour a day

4.       Study Chinese an hour a day

5.       Workout 4 times a week

This is useful in constant reminding you to do something that you want to turn into a habit and is even more effective when combined with a timer system through your phone or watch alarm.

The Memory Palace
The next list is called a Memory Palace. This list is a once-only list of things that are used for a onetime events. It is a short-term list   used once, and his list is a mental list and is rarely written down. This list works by associating everything on your list to a story. And to remember the individual items. You tell yourself the story.

For example, I have to buy some things from the store. I need toilet paper, body soap, and duct tape. I then make a story up about those items.

An example: I was Toilet Papering the neighbor’s house, and he ran out, throwing Duct Tape and Body Soap at me.

This quick little story is absurd and memorable enough to allow you to remember everything on your list. In fact, the more incredible and ridiculous the story, the more memorable the story becomes.

The Day Journal
The last list of the day is a day journal. This journal is an instantaneous list of logging the events that occur as you do them. In essence, you are writing everything you are doing by the hour and is objective to what is actually happening and not what you want to happen (compared to a planner).

Below is an example:

9 – Woke up

9:30 – breakfast and coffee (Spinach, eggs, and tomatoes with coffee)

10 – Started work on List Article

12 – Finished article

12:30 – Lunch (Brown Rice, spinach, salmon burger with green tea and honey

1:30 – Back to work and posted article

2 – Water cooler Break

Etc…

This list is the best way to find out the things that you do in a day, what causes them, and how you can identify good and bad behaviors that you want to change.

An example would be to see a pattern in your behavior such as going to eat some food down the street to get out of the office, but you are trying to lose weight. If you see this trend you may be able to identify that you are not actually hungry, but you just need a breath of fresh air. Identifying that you go out to eat as a habit, allows You replace this behavior with an exercise program, getting coffee or tea with friends or coworkers, or something else that aligns more with your goals and fulfills your needs.

There you have it. An in-depth look at the everyday list that everyone uses with 4 different variations to meet your needs. Amazing how something so routine can be honed and calibrated to accomplish your goals.

If you have a great list or were able to benefit from the lists provided to maximize your time, please share your list and experience, and tell your story.

3 Comments

Techniques of the Week For The Before, During, and After the Sale.

12/3/2013

9 Comments

Salutations,

This is my second iteration of “Techniques of the Week” which is an ode to simple writing and marketing techniques that can be used immediately with measurable results in the Before, During, and After of your sales process.

With that said, lets venture chronologically…

The Before: Would you like a cookie?

The “Would you like a cookie?” technique fits well with my last post on habits. As it is a way to turn prospects into habitual users of your product.

How is it done?

            Simply.

            Just give incentives for prospects to come in and receive something for free. This could be a free service or product, like a cookie. In your marketing, advertise your free cookie for prospects to come in with the advertising code, flyer, or however you track you ads. Once they come in, give them your 5 star service and the free cookie.

            What’s more?

            After you have given them the 5 Star Treatment and your free cookie. You offer them a second free cookie to come in again the next week.

            When they come in again the following week, do it again and involve their friends. And continue this until they come in again and again without any prompting by a free cookie.

            Accomplish this. And you, my friend, have won yourself a habitual customer.

* Would you like a cookie? – Wean the customer as a habitual customer… free “X”… do this, free “X”….. do this, free “X”….and finish off with 2x free “X”.

The During: The “Hey! How are ya.”

            The “Hey! How are ya,” is an effective technique for people During the sale who are interested in your products, but have been too busy, distracted, or just have completely forgotten. It’s a reminder to see if they are still interested and is short and sweet enough to get a response as it goes to them personally.

* The “Hey! How are Ya”.– I saw that you missed my last email, but I was wondering if you were still interested in “X”.

The After: The Charity Vote

This technique is used at many places after you shop. They ask:

Would you like to give a dollar for X and Y Charity Today?

            You say, “yes, why not?”

And it can now be yours. All you need is find a charity with a cause that you and the community that your business serves, supports. This will bring goodwill to your business and build the community around your products and services.

* Charity Vote – Buy “X” amount and “Y” amount will be given to charity

There you are. 3 simple techniques for the Before, During, and After of your Sales Process that you can use to build your business with a charitable community, and remind them to become habitual customers.

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3D Techniques of the Week

Do you have "the Power of the List"?

Techniques of the Week For The Before, During, and After the Sale.

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