Lately, in my work with individual clients, the issue of marketing TACTICS keeps coming up.
One client in particular is fond of taking free teleclasses with various marketing experts. She listens, she takes notes and then she sets out to implement these marketing tactics in promoting her business. The problem is, most of the marketing tactics she’s using are to promote MINOR SALES instead of the MAJOR SALE she is making.
Let me explain…. Neil Rackham’s book SPIN Selling, he breaks the sales that businesses make into TWO separate categories: Major Sales and Minor Sales. (I outline the basics of these two types of sales in my book, Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results.)
Basically, a Minor Sale is just that. It’s a low cost, low emotional investment type of a purchase. If you’re selling e-books then you are making a MINOR SALE. If however, you’re wanting to be hired as a consultant, well then that places you smack dab in the middle of the MAJOR SALE. A major sale is a high cost (emotional and/or financial) type of transaction. One of the characteristics of a Major Sale as defined by Rackham includes the possibility of continued interaction AFTER the sale is made.
My client, a consultant, is taking notes at these free seminars and wanting to implement these MINOR SALE marketing tactics to promote her MAJOR SALE consulting practice.
Which is what brought her to MY practice in the first place. She couldn’t understand why she was doing all the "right" things when it came to marketing her practice, yet wasn’t seeing results.
Remember, TRUST is a key factor in making the major sale. Your goal, if you’re making a Major Sale, must be to build trust with your potential clients.
Which is precisely the reason I ADORE self hosted blogs for independent professionals engaged in making Major Sales. Define your audience (your potential clients), establish what they need to know and then communicate it to them via your blog.
Steve Hilliar says
There is no doubt a big difference between a simple sale and a major sale. Neil Rackham has it 100% correct. It is a pity more real estate salespeople just don’t get it.
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