Name (required):

  E-mail address (optional):

Type your message here:
>Hi Sam, > >What you wrote is valid without invalidating what I >wrote. I didn’t have the space in about 2 pages of >text (the size of many of my posts) to put in a longer >explanation. The thread—my explanations—went on longer >than I anticipated as I tried to include enough >information to cover the subject. Plus the products, >Sims & I were focusing on, are quite well known. Sims >would just need to educate prospects about the >advantage of selling those, instead of another product >line. > >(2 document pages are somewhat easy to read in a >monitor screen & easy to print on both sides of paper >sheets.) > >Educating prospects is valuable, but it’s also >expensive. Long sales copy—or other >presentations—requires some expense to produce & >deliver. For many small businesses, it’s necessary >because many big competitors, especially discount >retailers, sell things their target markets know >about. So, discounters tend to use pictures with >product names & prices; it’s not what I consider >educational sales copy. Big discounters don’t pay much >of a percentage of their total revenues, if anything, >for sales copy writing, sales staff or sales training > >Based on what Clayton Christensen wrote, this makes it >necessary for small businesses to innovate. Big >companies can’t afford to sell new market innovations >because of the low demand & profit. Demand may be low >because prospects don’t know a product/service exists >or companies don’t know who will use a product/service >or how they’ll use it. It’s hard to inspire demand in >a nonexistent target market. > >Plus, to expand on what I wrote in the post you >replied to, some prospects don’t want to hear about >things they THINK they know about. Those, who realize >(admit) they don’t know something, may figure learning >about ANOTHER product/service isn’t worthwhile. They >tend to think they survived without it already, so >it’s not necessary. > >So, some prospects won’t be educated anymore. No >matter how limited or screwed up their beliefs are, >they won’t accept anything more. It’s why I used the >example of the smoking Bingo player who thinks it’s >not possible to play Bingo for 4 hours without >smoking. That’s STUPID! I did it when I was 17 years >old. & I even won $100. I quit playing after that >because for me Bingo is boring (despite winning once). > >I survived for more than 46 years without smoking. But >some refuse to try it. Or they can claim they quit any >time. They know they can because they’ve quit a few >times already. 8^{ > >People keep doing what hasn’t killed them because >they’re still alive to do it. So, education isn’t >always accepted, until it’s too late. > >Persistence is very important in selling, but so is >moving on to help those who want to be helped. It’s >why I figure a marketer/sales professional needs to >determine when extra effort would be wasted. If >somebody thinks s/he knows enough about a >product/service & thinks owning it isn’t imperative, >it’s time to move on. Maybe s/he’ll buy in the future, >but applying extra effort (high pressure as some call >it) now, means there’s less time & energy left to >serve those who want to be served. > >Persisting in trying to sell to the same prospects >(maybe those who are outgrowing their need & need >something else) can mean not finding & serving new >prospects who may not know how they’d use a >product/service result. But a problem is: This entails >educating suspects, some of whom are sure they know >how to use a product/service result (even if they’re >wrong) > >In these cases, we (marketers) need the education so >we’ll know which “students” can use what we “teach.” I >know teachers tend to “appear” when they’re needed, >but students don’t always look for teachers until they >learn enough to know they don’t know enough. > >In “Innovation & Entrepreneurship,” Peter Drucker >reported cases of “unexpected successes.” Businesses >resisted their real target markets. People & >organizations found they needed products, but since >these target markets weren’t in the businesses’ plans, >sales reps & executives didn’t want to sell to them. >Because the TARGET MARKETS persisted, they were >adopted. > >Drucker wrote, “The greatest danger for the new >venture is to ‘know better’ than the customer what the >product or service should be, how it should be bought >& what it should be used for. Above all, the new >venture needs willingness to see the unexpected >success as an opportunity rather than as an affront to >its expertise. & it needs to accept the elementary >axiom of marketing: Businesses are not paid to reform >customers. They are paid to satisfy customers.” > >He also reported cases of established companies (with >reputations to uphold) trying to quash new uses by >unexpected target markets. > >While we’re educating, we should be open to education >from “students” who seem to have nothing to teach us. >(I figured out some things teachers didn’t realize, >some even admitted it.) If we’re too set on educating >(“reforming”), we probably won’t be ready to learn & >be reformed. > >If I misunderstood what you wrote, please let me know. >I think you’re already comfortable indicating what I >haven’t fully explained. > >I’m still learning & I hope I’m humble to be reformed. > >Thank you for the chance to explain this. Some would >just read it & not bother. > >Dennis S. Vogel >thrivingbusiness@email.com >You can get what you want if help enough others get >what they want. But this only works if you can >convince them they want it. You won’t sell anything to >everybody. >You can easily learn to sell more often by reading my >free marketing information. You’ll find it when you >use this forum, plus this link. >http://www.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.