The following is a guest blog by Ann Convery. Ann is offering an amazing free telecall tomorrow:

April 30, 2012 Leave a comment

Don’t Talk About The Features Of Your Service — They Scare Away Your Prospects

By Ann Convery

So this is the deal…. let me tell you about Joanne. She’s one of the smartest people I know when it comes to grabbing people’s attention. She was a business strategist and a good copywriter, and she knew her stuff backwards and forwards. If she got into a private discussion with you she’d solve your problems like that. But when she got in front of a prospect, and there was a whiff of a sale in the air, (little laugh) she started babbling, and it was driving her nuts. She was watching people walk away. And she was at the point of abandoning her business, in fact her husband was pushing her to let it go, and find a job. And here=s how we turned it around for Joanne and this is the same thing that will turn it around for you.

Because Joanne was a great coach, she was a great teacher. And I know a lot of you are good teachers. And teachers tend to stay teach way before they should – like, talk about how great the features of their service or programs are to people they’ve just met.

And Joanne was scared of being salesy, so she retreated into her comfort zone, teaching. She’d say, I’m not only an MBA, I’m a certified NLP practitioner, so when I coach with people I’m able to get into what’s blocking them immediately, and remove the blocks so they go much faster. In fact we do that on the first session. And because I do laser-coaching on unconscious blocks, , my clients get a global vision of their business in the first session, blah blah blah blah blah blah… these are features.

Here Joanne was telling everyone she met how much she could give them, and there is nothing that turns off a prospect faster than features. And the biggest mistake people make is that they use adjectives to make their features sound really cool. Too many adjectives — can actually kill a sale. Joanne ended up several times in tears in the ladies’ room at networking events.

And she realized that all her emails were stuffed with features, which is why she had such a poor open rate. So we actually put a sign on her desk and in her purse that said “No Features.” The only thing she talked about was results. She said, “Clients come to me when their backs are against the wall. Like Tom. By the time he called me, they’d turned off his light bill and he hadn’t had a client in three months. 60 days later, he had 4 new clients, 6 good prospects, and his monthly income had gone from 0 to 16,000.”

She realized what most of us just don’t realize about features—and it sounds stupid, but they’re an addiction, and they’re dangerous. They’re so comfortable, especially for teachers. And they’re like a huge brick wall between you and the clients who really want to work with you. Why are they so dangerous? They’re dangerous because block feeling. 

When you talk about features, you’re asking your clients to think. And they do. But they don’t feel. And if your audience doesn’t feel, nothing happens. No sale happens, no signing happens. Nothing moves. And that’s why it’s so mysterious, that’s why it’s so painful, and that’s why you can’t put your finger on it. People keep asking you – “What do you do?” How do you do that?

And so you tell them. And it’s like handing chocolate to a chocoholic; the addiction kicks in.

“Ooooh, this feels so good, I’m talking about my best features. I’m talking about those degrees I worked so hard to get.” And they disappear. Your audience disappears. Features are such an innocent, tragic mistake that can keep you from thousands of dollars that are just outside your door, they’re waiting. And you’re turning them off.

And it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to suffer and neither does your income. Just take the features out of your conversation, and out of most of your copy. And talk about your results instead.

Copyright © Ann Convery 2012

 
 

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Crafting A Successful PR Pitch

January 7, 2012 Leave a comment

The primary focus of a public relations campaign needs to be meeting the media’s needs.  If you don’t accomplish that, you’re missing the mark.  Meet the media’s needs and you’ll meet yours.  As I’ve stated in other articles, leading with statistics can be an effective approach.  Let’s say you’re a health care worker that deals with chronic pain.  Or you produce a supplement that helps relieve pain; you can lead with the fact that chronic pain affects approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population and three-fifths of adults 65 or older.  Find some studies and statistics that you can quote that illustrate that the story you’re pitching does indeed affect a large number of people.

Numbers and statistics help give a PR pitch gravitas.  Also never forget that the media is interested in their own type of statistics; they’re interested in the number of viewers, readers or listeners that will be interested in this story.  So the more you can assure them that this is a story that not only affects, but will also interest a large target market, the better your chances of landing a story.  Once you’ve used your statistics to narrow down your specific pitch, you can then take a reverse course and broaden your pitch.  For example if you use statistics to show how pain affects older Americans, after making that point, you can then add a sentence stating that this type of pain does not only strike seniors, but a wide range of people, from professional athletes and weekend jocks to those who suffer with fibromyalgia and arthritis, who deal with bouts of acute and chronic pain.

Use statistics to give your pitches credibility.  For example, if you’re pitching a story about complementary medicine, look online for stats regarding how popular alternative and complementary medicine has become.  Then, depending on the specific angle of the story you’re pitching, you can use those statistics to illustrate why your story idea is both important and timely.  Now use those statistics in your press releases and pitches.

After making a specific pitch, close with other topics and angles that you can address.  Include a short (very short) bio listing your expertise and qualifications and that you can also address such topics as (fill in the blank).  That way if your particular pitch doesn’t work for an editor or producer, they can see that there are other topics that you can address.

Using statistics, numbers and figures can help anchor a pitch and a story, but don’t rely on stats alone; the main part of your pitch needs to be compelling and newsworthy.  So, when launching a media relations campaign, keep the media’s needs in mind; first develop your pitch and then look for stats that help give your story idea credence.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Learning the PR Mindset

December 20, 2011 Leave a comment

Launching and sustaining a public relations campaign is an ongoing process.  In the PR world, you are continually refining and modifying your approach, pitches, story ideas, and media lists.  If a basic pitch is working, you want to stay with it for a bit.  One mistake I’ve seen companies make is that they try to continually send out new pitches and releases simply for the sake of getting new information out to the media. This mindset of continually writing press releases that aren’t newsworthy in order to keep new information flowing, is a dangerous one.   Yes you want to offer the media new angles, pitches and media hooks, but you don’t want to send out new information unless it’s truly warranted.

Monitor how your media pitches and press releases are being received.  If a pitch you sent out six weeks ago is gaining traction and garnering media coverage, stay with that story.  Work it; develop it; use the media coverage you’re now landing to garner more media coverage.  Don’t shift your focus simply because your calendar says it’s time for a new media release.  Truth is that media relations is more of an art than a science (which drives most left brainers crazy).  If you try to simply set up a mechanical or statistical PR gameplan and allow that to dictate the campaign, you’re in trouble

As with the media itself an effective public relations campaign is fluid.  It is both proactive and reactive. If a national story breaks and you can tie your story to it, you need to be able to react, move quickly and change your approach.  If, on the other hand, a pitch is working and gaining traction, you want to stay with it, work it and keep it moving.  Media relations can be difficult for those who need to follow a specific course set-in-stone approach.  It is an ever changing, continually evolving practice.

Begin by creating a list of objectives that you want to achieve before launching a media relations campaign.  Now come up with a list of story angles and media pitches that you can use.   When it comes to PR brainstorming, your goal is to create a list of the most important story ideas including: new business concepts, the unique value you offer, important information you can give, and anecdotal stories.  Part of that process is to give some thought to how and why you can be presented as an expert in your overall field.

Initially you want to come up with your story ideas and media pitches, followed by your target media lists.  Create specific objectives, but allow the campaign the ability to shift and change course.  Developing an effective PR strategy is not unlike creating an effective sports gameplan.  You develop a strategy and draw up specific plays, but you also allow yourself the ability to act and react depending on what comes at you. There is an intuitive aspect to the PR process that has to allow for action and reaction.  You want to set up a specific target and gameplan, but you need to be able to shift and alter your plan as needed.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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Media Training Secrets for Business Success

December 16, 2011 Leave a comment

When I began in the public relations world over twenty years ago (that’s daunting), I quickly realized that landing an interview or a story for a client was only a part of the process.  Early on that first part of the process was my primary focus.  My job was to garner media coverage for my clients on TV, print or radio (this was actually pre social media days) and that was that.  Well I soon learned there was a huge difference between simply landing an interview and having the client give the media a successful interview.

Clients need to be prepared to speak to the media.  Although the best interviews seem like conversations, in fact they are not.  Both the interviewer and the interviewee have an agenda.  The interviewer wants to interest his or her target audience; the interviewee wants to get his or her message across, which should include a call to action.  Interviews work when the questions and answers flow and the agendas don’t clash.  But this is easier said than done.  After having producers and editors give me some tough but needed feedback about clients who were either boring or were too pushy, I realized that in order to achieve real PR success, media training was needed.

That’s when I brought on Ann Convery.  Ann has served as our media trainer since then.  She is now an international speaker, seminar leader, trainer and author who has prepared clients for interviews on Oprah, CNN, 60 Minutes, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, as well as hundreds of local, regional and trade-oriented media outlets.  Ann’s gift is to teach clients how to distill their message and speak to the media in a way that meets the media’s needs but also meets the client’s needs.

For a PR or media relations campaign to be successful, landing interviews and media coverage is not enough.  Clients need to be able to deliver their message in a clear, succulent, informative and entertaining manner.  Easier said than done, but it is a skill that can be learned.   For years Ann has prepared our clients to do just that, deliver effective and successful media interviews.

But her real genius was her ability to connect the dots and realize that the ability to effectively communicate with the media could be just as powerful and effective when communicating in the business world.  Using her media training skills and techniques, she developed Speak Your Business in 30 Seconds or Less.  Speak Your Business is a system that shows you how to find very specific words and numbers – found only in your business – so that you are effortlessly speaking and writing directly to the hidden, hungry “buying” brain in your prospects, every time.  Utilizing these tools, many of Ann’s clients have generated up to thousands of dollars in business within months with her Signature Series program, “You’re So Brilliant. Why Don’t They Buy?”

The bottom line is if you’re going to launch a public relations campaign for you and your business, you first need to master the art of effectively communicating.  Just last month a client who assured me he had been media trained and was set to do interviews, came off looking like a deer in the headlights when we landed him a spot on a TV news program.   Believe me, media training is a skill that will serve you well.   More importantly, as Ann teaches, these communication tools and skills work whether you’re talking to the media, delivering a speech, networking or making a phone call to a prospect.

For more information visit:   www.annconvery.com     

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

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From Guest Blogger, Ann Convery: Here Comes the Bride, er, Sale

December 2, 2011 Leave a comment

Heads up:  Be sure to read the P.S. !

Jeannie was a corporate coach who expertly guided managers into creating contented, committed employees.

Her clients adored her.

But Jeannie was miserable…and broke.

Why?

Jeannie hated sales.

“I love talking to people, I love teaching, but I hate the selling part,” she said, with a shudder.

When you hate the “selling part”…

1. You will linger in the friendly, feel-good get-to-know-you phase.

2. You will not move the process forward.

3. You may be getting other needs met through your business,

such as being liked and getting approval.

4. You may develop a warm, close relationship with your prospect,

so you’re mystified when they don’t buy.

5. You may sabotage your own attempts to get new clients.

 

And you will baffle your prospects, who could use your superb service, because you never make them a clear offer.

 

Jeannie’s Big Mistake:

She thought of “the selling part” as a single, lone event occurring all by itself.

It’s not.

If you think of the selling part as “that awful thing you have to go through,” like a root canal, it will never occur to you to set up the sale.

When you set up to sell, 50%, sometimes 75%, of your work is already done.

Selling is a lot like dating.

When you go on a first date, is your first question, “So, what do we name the kids?”

I think not.

Closing a sale is like walking down the aisle.

It’s the result of small, careful steps of preparation.

You prepare your prospect to have that selling conversation with you by:

Having a tantalizing opening conversation that makes them want to hear more

Sending a follow-up report or quiz with a gripping title that you offer them before that first conversation is ove

You may also snail-mail them  your report, to impress them

  • You have a website loaded with content that speaks to their pressing needs and challenges
  • You make a follow-up call asking what they thought of the report
  • You have a short follow-up conversation to discuss their biggest goals and challenges
  • You offer an invitation to spend an hour going deeper into their goals and challenges, and your offer
  • If applicable, you send a questionnaire that they can fill out before they speak with you again

This is setting up to sell.

It’s romancing your prospect.

Jeannie added a few extra twists to this process:

 

  • She had an intern send out her report, and  set up the follow-up call, so she looked like a bigger company.
  • She made sure her report nailed the emotional pain her prospects felt – in detail.
  • She had her intern set up the sales conversation, 10 days later. (Use the time lag for big-ticket items only.)
  • She had her intern mail them another freebie – a “Management Bible”, before the call.
  • She had the intern email a questionnaire, instructing the client to return it in 48 hours of the sales conversation.

The subliminal message to her prospects was:

1. I have to wait 10 days?  Her time is valuable.

2. She has a staff.  She must be doing well.

3. She knows our problem cold.

4. This is not going to be cheap.

By the time Jeannie called her prospects to have the selling conversation, she knew as much about them as they did about her.

She was extremely well prepared to discuss their challenges and goals.

Probing deeper into their problems was easy,  since she already knew what their biggest problems were                                                  

Prospects viewed her with more respect, which helped her keep her boundaries and conduct the BD Session like a pro.

Stating her fees was much easier, since they had been psychologically prepared to consider a serious investment.

She followed a sales script, deliberately guiding them through every step they needed to go through to become her client.

And…

She closed 3 new big-ticket clients in 65 days.

Why?

She had set up to sell.

She had romanced her clients.

She had gone from the first date to walking down the aisle with her new clients.

There are many other ways to set up a sale, stay tuned.

But when you realize selling is part of a deliberate process, selling becomes just another step along the way.

Try it.  It works!

Ann

P.S. … Just a heads up that I am going to be opening up a 4 month Platinum VIP Coaching Program in the next few days.

We only have spots for 5 people so when you see the email let me know if you want me to help you.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2011

 

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Package Magic: How to Redefine and Grow your Business

December 2, 2010 Leave a comment

Joe was selling a product that was moving pretty well for $297.

Then he realized people had a lot of questions about the product and wanted more information.

So he packaged it, with a 6-week call-in Q&A series, a forum, and for those really committed souls, some personal time with him.

He then sold the two packages, made three times the money, and created a huge community.

How?

The Magic of Packages!

9 Reasons to Offer Packages:

  1. You can showcase your expertise in different areas as you add little “bonuses.”  This lets your clients see you in a new light, with a wider range of expertise.
  2. If you don’t have time, you can add bonuses from a colleague – just as valuable.
  3. There is continuity of your brand and expertise within a package – the client goes from one product or service to the next, and experiences you in different ways.
  4. You can test a new product or service by including a sampler in your package – not the whole deal.  If you get a great response, you know what to market next.
  5. You can price your offers differently – and higher, because there is more perceived value.
  6. You can create a much more urgent call to action – i.e., if you offer the first 20 buyers special time with you, on top of everything else they’re getting, the perceived value is huge and creates urgency.  (Without urgency people will not act.)
  7. You can add a juicy bonus that often will be perceived as more valuable than your main  product.  People often buy a package to get the bonus.
  8. You can effortlessly add an upsell – “Would you like fries with that?”especially if you’ve created your upsell just a little bit higher in price but much higher in perceived in value.

    “For $19.95 more, you get all this plus an interview with Mr. X, where he shares the 5 top secrets to doubling your business in 18 months, plus a 10-page check list of everything you need to know about Y, plus 5 short videos showing you exactly how to Z.”

    Tip:  Front-load your slightly-higher-priced product, to make it the “no-brainer” choice.

  9. People who buy packages self-select themselves, making them easier to market to.  You know your low-end, middle, and high-end buyers.  You know what to offer them next.
  10. Bonus reason: You can offer a package before you create it, to test the waters and see if it will be a hot seller or a wet fuse.   Less time, less work.

Remember:

Packages take away the fear of selling, because it’s so much easier to offer a package.

And it’s easier to offer something people actually want.

Right now – packages are an easy way to generate more business over the holidays.

So…package your service or product and let me know the results.

Copyright © Ann Convery 2010

Filed under business, Business Strategy, Marketing, sales, Sell YOur Product Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How To Get People To Buy Your Product or Service

August 11, 2010 2 Comments

So you’re done.  Your product is finished.  It’s ready to go.  The design and packaging are complete and the website is up and running.  Or… you’ve opened your store; the grand opening day has arrived.  The streamers are up.  Everything is complete.  Well, almost everything.  All you need is customers.    But, no worries, they’re coming, just give it a minute or two.  All you have to do is wait.  You keep your eye on the door, check your email, stare at the phone.  If you stare long enough it is bound to ring.   Silence.  You begin to hold your breath threatening the universe; you won’t exhale until at least one client calls.  Maybe a wrong number, at this point that would be nice.  Besides, you saw the film, you know the drill – if you build it they will come.  Right?

Okay, exhale now.  Maybe it’s time to rethink things.  It could be that creating the product, making the film, publishing the book, opening the store, or (fill in the blank) is just one step in the process.  Think of it as one chapter and one chapter does not a book make. So, now what?

How about driving traffic to your site, or bringing customers to your store?  That would probably make life a bit more comfortable and sleeping a bit easier.  But, how do you do that?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but happily, there is an answer.

1st) Figure out who your target market is.  Who are you selling to?

2nd) Find out where your target market finds its information,

3rd)  Create a marketing budget to reach your market,

4th) Study the myriad ways you can use your marketing budget. Is advertising an approach that will work?  Direct marketing? Public Relations? Blogging? Social Media?

5th)  Develop a realistic marketing gameplan.  For example create a marketing mix that includes traditional PR, social media, and article marketing.  That’s a formula that will give you the most bang for your buck, reach your target market and drive customers and or clients to you.

Now you not only have your product or service, but you have a realistic, workable marketing gameplan.  Now you can launch your business, land customers, make money – and actually sleep at night.

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2010

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Why “Selling” Never Works

March 23, 2009 1 Comment

Forget about selling when entering the PR world.  The media’s not interested in being sold; it’s interested in finding new, unique and compelling stories – that meet their specific needs.  That is something most companies and, to be honest, PR firms, generally forget.  Actually that’s something I have to remind myself on a daily basis.  When I worked as a journalist or as a magazine editor, it was always obvious that what I wanted was a good story.  When a company or PR rep would call and pitch me an idea, they (at times) had interesting stories, but generally not stories that interested my readers.  So, nine-times-out-of-ten, my response would be a (hopefully polite) no.

 

It’s not enough that the story you’re pitching is interesting, it has to fit the needs of the publication or TV show, or radio segment that you’re targeting.  That’s where the brainstorming comes in.  You have to think like an editor or a producer in order to find the story that works.  And once you’ve found your primary story, you need to drill down and come up with more targeted story ideas.  For example if you’re pitching a product, your primary story will most likely be around the product and how it helps your customer.  But it has to be told with a narrative, as a story, not as a hard sell.  Once you’ve figured that out, you then have to uncover you’re other stories.  Is there a human interest angle, is there an entrepreneurial angle, what other story ideas can you come up with to meet the needs of the various media outlets?   Your stories hold the key to your success, so focus on finding them and presenting them to the media in the most interesting way possible – and forget about the selling.      

 

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2009

 

 

Filed under advertising, advertising vs. public relations, business, doctor pr, Medical PR, PR Campaign Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why Fear-based Selling Is A Bad Bet

January 8, 2009 Leave a comment

You know how annoying it is to go into a store and have a salesperson stick to you like glue and continually try to sell you?  And you know how that experience is even worse if the salesperson tries to convince you that you need to buy because if you don’t something horrible could happen?  Yep.  No one wants to be sold, particularly with a fear-based pitch.  We want to purchase something that we feel comfortable buying; something that is going to help make our lives easier, better or more interesting.  The trouble is that many businesses and experts still feel that they have to sell fear and sell it big time; they’re advertising, marketing and public relationsis all based on trying to scare the hell out of you.

Now instead of the preverbal used car salesman, we have the Internet sales pitch.  The endless emails telling us how we have to order whatever it is they’re selling “now” or we’re going to regret it. Selling through fear can be effective.  It’s been done since marketing existed.  Sometimes it’s a part of the package.  When you think of it, when we buy car insurance, we’re betting that we’ll have an accident and paying the insurance company a monthly premium so that they’ll be there, check in hand, when we eventually do.  But unlike insurance most other purchases don’t so readily fall into that fear category, yet they’re generally sold to us as though they do. 

The fear sales pitch is made to give us a sense of urgency, when there really is none.  But now-a-days, more and more people see through and are turned off by that type of pitch.  So if you’re not selling urgency through fear, what then?  Use the biggest motivator there is – TRUST.  But, unlike fear, here you have to be able to back it up.  If you are going to make this shift, you can’t sell smoke and mirrors.  Your product or service really does have to be top of the line.  You actually do have to give your customer value.   If you’ve worked to make your product or service the best it can be, and you’re still using fear-based marketing, shift your approach and see what happens.  People will want to work with you, not out of fear, but because they trust you, because you offer a top-of-the-line product, you solve a problem for them, you’re reliable.  Here they not only buy from you, but they actually feel good about the process.  It’s trust that builds a loyal customer base.  It’s not something you sell, but a promise that you deliver.

 

Copyright © Anthony Mora 2009

For further information visit:
www.AnthonyMora.com

 

 

Filed under Public Relations, Media Relations, Media, Entrepreneur PR, small business Public Relations, PR for publishers, advertising vs. public relations, business, doctor pr, media relations for publishers, public relations expert, public relations specialist, pr for green companies, green pr, Edelman, Medical PR Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

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