Red Zone Marketing's Blog

Networking Tips for the Holiday Season

The holiday season offers many networking opportunities for you to take advantage of. Maribeth shares 8 networking tips on Fox News Detroit to make the most of your next holiday party.

Those Who Can Speak Close More Sales

One of the very best speakers I've had the privilege to hear isn't necessarily someone you may have heard of. He doesn’t make his living earning speaking fees; in fact, he probably has never received a payment for speaking services. He speaks to get his message across and to facilitate sales for his company. He presents within his industry only, so—unless you're a financial advisor or a financial wholesaler—you may have never had the pleasure of listening to him. 

So what’s his secret?

I wrote about Christopher Mee’s ability to close sales through his speaking abilities in my book, The Connectors. I have observed that Mee is such an exceptional orator because of the way he manages to so eloquently connect with an audience. Whenever he speaks, he seems to carry the audience in the palm of his hands. I've seen him take an audience and literally lift them out of their seats, give inspiration and motivation, instill confidence, enlighten, give solutions, and, as a result, get people to want to do business with his company…over and over again.

His secret? Spend 70% of a sales presentation on the audience’s challenges, 20% on solutions, and 10% on a call to action, in that order—then you'll have a well-designed presentation that will engage. A presentation—even a sales presentation—should not be about the speaker, but rather, about the audience. Great speakers I have heard spend time getting agreement and interacting with the audience about the challenges they face until their prospective clients are eventually hungry for solutions. An impactful presentation connects, but it always closes on an action. And in the case of Mee, I’ve never seen someone spend so little time on the traditional act of closing a sale and be so prolific at actually closing sales.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Really Truly Don’t Have Time!

Every day I run across the “I don’t have time!!” objection to getting things done (sometimes it is me saying it). As you’re working to finish this year strong and planning for 2011, here is a quick excerpt from The Connectors that I always find grounding. Often it is the simple advice that makes the most sense!

Unless public relations is your specialty, the name Ivy Ledbetter Lee probably won't mean anything. In 1904, Lee and a partner launched a practice in the brand new field of public relations. In fact, Lee is considered by many as the father of modern public relations.

His clients included some of the best-known business titans of the day -- John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Charles M. Schwab, for example. In 1903, after serving as president of Carnegie Steel Company and then U.S. Steel Corporation, Schwab took the reins at Bethlehem Steel Corporation, the nation's then-second largest steel producer. On one occasion, Schwab spoke to Lee, who was serving as a PR consultant to the company, about how his managers might make more effective use of their time.

Almost immediately, Lee scribbled out a simple plan, suggested that Schwab put it into practice for a time, and then pay him for whatever the steel executive thought the advice was worth. The plan proved to be so effective that Schwab sent Lee a check in the amount of $25,000 -- the equivalent of perhaps a quarter of a million dollars today.

What sort of a plan was worth that much money? It consisted of four simple steps:

1)    Make a list of the most important things you have to do tomorrow
2)    Arrange them in the order of their importance (prioritize them)
3)    Next day, work on the most important task until it's completed:
4)    Tackle the other tasks in priority order.

Yes, it is ultra simplistic. But do we really need our time management being complex like just about everything else in our lives?

Guest Blog: New Kids on the Block

Guest Blog from Lena Rizkallah of Mosaic Consulting

The results of November’s tumultuous mid-term elections are in: for the third time in four years, a significant change has taken over Congress.  The Republicans took back the majority in the House while the Democrats maintained their lead in the Senate, albeit by a slim margin.  Overwhelmingly, the shift among voters resulted from the state of the economy, job losses and an uncertain future.

One thing is clear: the election results demonstrated what is most on the minds of Americans today, and that is the state of the economy.  It’s critical then to keep this in mind when meeting with your clients and prospects (because it’s clearly on their minds too).  They may be tired of talking about the slow economic recover and may be tired of hearing about it, but that’s because they’re ready to see results.  Are your clients and prospects still looking to you to help them as the economy continues to recover, or are they too looking to shift the balance in power and seek advice elsewhere?

It is in the best interests not only of the country but also for the future of our political leaders to make economic recovery the number one priority.  Not the repeal of the health care bill.  Not the pushing forward of a cap and trade bill.  Not a prolonged dissection of the Dodd-Frank Bill. And, seriously, the US can wait on whether to legalize marijuana or not.

That’s not to say that these issues are not relevant, and they certainly should be given their fair turn in debate in Congress.  But for now, let’s focus on the real issues at hand: setting policies into place that would lead to an economic recovery and long-term economic growth; creating incentives to encourage job creation; providing small business incentives; and for Pete’s sake, let’s make some decisions on where taxes are headed already!

President Obama has a tough road ahead of him.  Now that the Republicans are back in town, along with some Tea Partiers, it will be more challenging for him to push through his agenda.  In fact, the elections will probably cause him to scale back his ambitious agenda and result in a more conciliatory approach.  In his speech last Wednesday, President Obama indicated that he welcomes collaboration and bipartisanship to take shape in the next few years.  But judging from the squabbles of the past two years, it’s unclear whether either party will actually ‘play nice.’

Hopefully, with more clarity on income, investment and estate tax rates and a focus on the economy, Americans may finally leave the land of uncertainty and return to the land of prosperity.  It is important to address these concerns directly with your clients and prospects.  Be the one they can trust to get them back on track.  Lead them out of the current turmoil and you will have a wealth of happy clients--which could result in fantastic referrals and new clients too!

The 3 Elements of Infomercials Every Business Should Employ

 

 

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing 

Infomercials help brands sell over four billion dollars of products and services every year. While some members of the advertising industry view infomercials as second-rate campaigns, in general, they work. That’s why they are on all of the time! So whether you use the medium or not, following these 3 elements of what makes them so successful is smart business.
 

1.    Infomercials build a comprehensive and convincing case. Infomercials are designed to capture viewers' mindshare, inspire them to write down their phone number, dial it, and buy. And the only way that will happen is if the infomercial works as a complete stand-alone sales presentation. The goal is to build a comprehensive and convincing case for buying by giving viewers all of the information they need to make a purchasing decision. They explain every benefit, answer all objections; and then do it again.

2.    Infomercials present testimonials to eliminate objections. Infomercials prove the worthiness of a product by showing it in action and then presenting the results with real customers. The goal is to inspire action by taking all of your objections away.  But if you can’t use testimonials in your business, don’t worry. You can still verbally explain what others have said about your service and personal touch. For example: “The best way to describe what we do is by sharing what one of our clients said last week…”

3.    Infomercials provide strong and immediate calls to action. Infomercials make a very specific offer. They don’t give you lots of options or choices to customize; instead, they make the recommendation easy to understand. You essentially have only two choices: buy, or don’t buy.  And to get you to act right away, the offer is typically doubled, or accompanied by an additional free product.

Do you build a convincing case, eliminate objections and make a specific offer? If not, it may be a great time to test out the proven methods of infomercials. Why? Because they work!
 

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Mudslinging!

 

 

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing 

Attack ads in politics are successful because they are much more interesting to watch than regular boring TV commercials. It’s true! We are attracted to things that are interesting, different and even controversial (i.e. Reality TV). That’s precisely why we were just subjected to perhaps the highest level of negative political advertising in history.
 
If I told you that this video http://politi.co/aG48EV interview on mudslinging in campaigns received hundreds of thousands of views yesterday, would you check it out? Well, maybe to see what others thought was interesting. Do you think lots of people would watch a video that was boring and content heavy? It is unlikely. (Frankly this interview is downright “dirty fun!”)
 
Most people will say they despise negative political ads. They make us uncomfortable. Yet we can’t turn away … every time. And what we do see helps us form our opinions on candidates. In business, as in politics, having something that is even slightly interesting is critical. And although negativity may not work in business like it does in politics, doing something different does.

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Mud on my face on Election Day

 

 

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing 

Check out the video interview I did with a reporter at Politico.com (this site gets 3 million hits per day!) where we are literally throwing mud at each other discussing dirty politics. Sensitive types and clean freaks – this is NOT for you! Everyone else, please take a look if you want to see some “dirty” fun! 

In the video interview, Washington reporter Patrick Gavin of Politico.com and I are discussing how politicians have failed at connecting with their constituents. We’re talking about the ugly side of politics and the real life effects of mudslinging!

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