Be Human to Jazz Up Your Sales

A few weeks ago I blogged about words being powerful. And this week I read an article on Yahoo called 10 Boilerplate Phrases that Kill Resumes. It says that adding a human voice to your resume will help you stand out and is better than the stodgy boilerplate phrases seen on every resume. The same notion holds true for marketing your business.

The business world seems to be more human to me today. Companies align themselves with causes and charities to be socially responsible and also to boost sales. Business language has taken on a more casual tone as email has replaced the formal business letter. And business dress is more casual - even my bank has casual Fridays.

Take a look at these phrases businesses use on promotional materials and ideas for how to make the phrases more human:

"Maximize employee productivity" could be "Get the most out of your people."

"Increase sales" could be "Double your sales in 60 days."

"We are known for our high quality" could be "We are fanatical about being the best we can."

"We will help you be more successful" could be "We love it when you are a winner."

How are you making your business more human?

Chick-fil-A has MOOJo

What is up with Chick-fil-A? Every time I go there it is packed! Doesn't matter what time of day or what day (except Sunday because they are closed on Sundays). The drive-thru is constantly lined up all the way around the restaurant and people are piled up inside eating. Burger King and Wendy's next door don't have lines. Their parking lots aren't full. It would be easier to go to Burger King or Wendy's and not fight the Chick-fil-A crowd.

So what is it about Chick-fil-A?

I think it's because they've found their MooJo! Despite the struggling economy Chick-fil-A enjoyed unprecedented growth in 2008 - up 12% over 2007. Since its inception in 1967 Chick-fil-A has had 41 consecutive years of system wide sales gains. Amazing!

How did they find their MooJo? Here's what I think:

• Consistent message. I know that Chick-fil-A is family oriented. The restaurant has done a good job of staying true to their core values and the biblical principles of the founder, S. Truett Cathy. All Chick-fil-A restaurants are closed on Sundays, without exception. They have Tuesday family nights where kids meals are half price and child entertainers perform (my kids beg to go). The "toys" in their kids meals are educational books about people of character.


• Catchy tagline. Their "Eat Mor Chikin" cows are part of an award winning advertising campaign. I know you've seen the billboards with the 3 dimensional cows and misspelled words. And my kids yell out, "Eat more chicken," between each verse when singing Happy Birthday!


• Great local marketing. Getting children to pull their parents into the restaurant is clever. When my kids reach their reading goal at school they receive a Chick-fil-A coupon for a free kids meal. When my kids completed their week at Vacation Bible School they received a coupon for a free kids meal. When I joined the PTA at my kids' school I received a coupon for a free adult meal. When our PTA needed a fundraiser they agreed to a family night where a percentage of proceeds would be donated to our school.

I think Chick-fil-A puts their MOOney where their mouth is. (Sorry for that one - couldn't resist!). They spend money in a way that stays consistent with their brand and their community involvement aligns with their core values. So I say, "Eat more chicken!"

Words are Powerful

I cringed this week when I witnessed 2 sales being snuffed out! In both cases, the sales could have been probable with a small change in words.

Here's what happened:

Snuff out #1. I was shopping for a Father's Day gift in a men's clothing store. After looking around for several minutes I had not found any medium sized shirts in the store. Puzzled, I asked the store clerk if they had any mediums.

• What she said: She looked up from writing and said very matter-of-factly, "EVERYTHING we have is OUT" and looked back down at what she was doing. I felt like I was in trouble for asking and left the store.
  


• What she should have said, "We have all of our merchandise out but let me show you where you can find the mediums."

Snuff out #2: I was sitting at the dance studio waiting on my daughter to finish her Hip-Hop class. I hear the phone ring and the dance studio receptionist answer the phone.

• What she said: "We don't have our Fall Schedule made up yet. If you call back in August we will have it and I can give you class times then."


• What she should have said: "We don't have our Fall Schedule made up yet. Give me your name and phone number (or email address) and we will notify you when the Fall Schedule is out so you can sign up."

In both cases, a small tweak of wording would have changed the outcome to be more favorable for the business involved. So, while I'm at it, here are a few other phrases that I try not to use because of the words:

• "No problem." Instead of using these words I say, "I will be glad to," or "Glad to do it." Or you can say, "It will be my pleasure," or "Glad to help." When we say, "No problem" all the listener hears is the word "problem" and the phrase insinuates the customer's request could be a problem.


• "Here's the problem..." Customers don't want to hear the problem (they know what it is). They want to hear the solution. Use words like "challenge" or "opportunity." These words imply action. You can say, "Our challenge here is ...blah, blah, blah, or "We have an opportunity to..."


• "To be honest with you." Sometimes this phrase pops out naturally, but I said this to a customer early in my career and his retort was, "Don't say that! Does that mean you aren't always being honest with me?"

If you want to read more about powerful words, read this article How Your Choice of Words or Phrases can Make or Break a Sale

Have you joined HARO?

A couple of months ago I blogged about jazzing up your sales with free publicity. If you are interested in getting connected with magazine writers, reporters, radio hosts and TV show hosts looking for expertise in different areas then I recommend HARO- Help a Reporter Out. You can sign up for free and every day you'll receive up to 3 emails, each with anywhere from 15-30 queries with reporters and writers looking for story ideas input. It's a great way for you to get free publicity.

Jazz Up Your Sales Using Social Networking

LinkedIn was the first social network I joined. I have had fun getting on Facebook and connecting with old friends. And I'm starting to get the hang of Twitter. Even Oprah is on Twitter!

You can't pick up a business magazine without reading articles about social networking. It's the "thing" right now and relatively uncharted territory with how it can be used for increasing business sales. Social networking gives you a chance to get to know someone passively. I'm getting to know Ashton Kutcher by following him on Twitter. We all know people want to do business with people they like and social networking provides a great forum to get to know people better.

So here are a few tips for jazzing up your sales using Facebook and Twitter:

• For starters - sign up! It's free.
• Complete your profile in a manner that reflects who you are, your business and what your business does.
• Include a link to your website.
• Include a photo that looks professional. It doesn't necessarily have to be a professionally taken photo.
• Update your Facebook status or "tweet" about activities that highlight your business or industry.
• Create your own group for your business that others can join. Use this group to communicate information to your customers.
• Join groups that your customers might join.
• Post photos of events your business participates in or sponsors.
• Respond to and post comments on other's Facebook pages.

Once you are all set up send me a friend request on Facebook! I'm Zan Whitehurst Jones. Or following me on Twitter http://twitter.com/ZanJones.

Don't Ignore People

If you have children you know the one thing they hate more than getting in trouble - and that's getting ignored. When you get discipline your children at least you are paying attention to them.

Customers hate being ignored, too. Unreturned phone calls, allowing customers to cut in line or no-showing for an appointment tell people you aren't paying attention to them.

Here are a few tips to jazz up your sales by not ignoring potential customers (did I just say that?):

• Always call people back. Even if you know why they are calling. Even if you don't want their business. Even if you don't have the answer to their problem. An unreturned phone makes people feel like they don't matter and gives them something to stew about. Even if you have to deliver bad news, call people back!
• If you can't help them, find someone who can. I recently walked into a store to buy a special type of frame. The store I was in didn't have it but told me where to find it. Then, to my amazement and delight, the store clerk picked up the phone, called the competing store, verified they had what I needed and asked them to hold it for me!
• Listen to complaints. You may be tired of hearing a common gripe but if you are hearing complaints it's time to take action. People who ignore YOU by not even taking the time to complain are really your worst enemy.
• Over communicate. You may be busting your chops to solve a customer's problem or get them what they need BUT the customer doesn't know it. Spare your customer all of the details but communicate that you are taking action on their behalf.

5 Scientifically Proven Ways to Jazz Up Your Sales

I recently read a great book about persuasion called Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive by Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin and Robert Cialdini. It's a fast read with short chapters (50 to be exact) that are packed with only the most pertinent information and backed with solid scientific studies. Of the 50 ways to be persuasive here are the top 5 for jazzing up the sales of your small business:

1. Offering more makes people buy less. A study of 800,000 workers by behavioral scientist Sheena Iyengar showed that when a higher number of employment benefit options were offered to people when hired, the people were more likely to not enroll in the benefit program AT ALL. Same with Proctor & Gamble. When P & G reduced the number of Head and Shoulders shampoo offerings from 26 to 15 sales jumped by 10% immediately. More choices confuse buyers - especially those who aren't sure which product to buy.



2. Personalization is persuasive. To quote the authors, "An ounce of personalization is worth a pound of persuasion." A study done by social scientist Randy Garner began as a study to test the power of 3M Corp's Post-It Notes. He sent a written survey to people with either a) a handwritten sticky note requesting completion, b) a similar handwritten message on the cover letter or c) the cover letter and survey alone. 75% of the Post-It Note surveys were returned vs. 47% and 36% of the other. Further studies revealed that the personal touch is what people recognized and that people feel the need to reciprocate that personal touch by responding to the request.



3. Show off without being labeled a "show off." Actors, authors and speakers use others to speak on their behalf. Actors and authors use agents and speakers have someone else introduce him/her to their audiences. Researcher Jeffrey Pfeffer conducted a study in which participants were asked to imagine themselves as book publishers. Participants rated the author "more favorably on nearly every dimension (especially likability) when the author's agent sang his praises as compared to when the author tooted his own horn." If it's not practical to have someone sing your praises - you can still do it subtly. Display diplomas, awards, certificates, photos with high profile people or glowing letters to potential clients. Hang them on the office wall and let them speak for themselves.



4. Give people a head start. This idea was my favorite because I'd never thought of it. Companies try to increase customer loyalty by offering incentive programs like frequent flyer miles, free cups of coffee, "club cards," etc. In a study of 300 people, loyalty cards were handed out at a local car wash. But there were 2 types of cards: one required 8 stamps to get a free car wash and the other required 10 stamps to get a car wash BUT 2 stamps were already affixed to the card. This meant that both cards required 8 car washes to earn the reward - but the second group seemed to have a head-start to completing the card with their 2 free stamps. This head-start group was twice as likely to complete the card to earn the free car wash and took less time to get to their 8th purchase. The conclusion: people will be more likely to stick with programs if you offer them evidence of how they've already made progress toward the goal.



5. Be careful with cultural differences and voicemail. In Western Europe, the U.K and here in the U.S. we tend to be individualistic, meaning we are most concerned with the preferences of the individual. Asia, South America, Africa and Eastern Europe are more collectivistic, meaning they are most concerned with the preferences of the group. Americans are more likely to leave a voicemail message cutting right to the point whereas Japanese might leave a longer message and be concerned more with the relationship with the recipient rather than conveying the information. Researchers surveying American and Japanese participants found that Americans hang up on 50% of answering machines and Japanese hang up 85% of the time. The Japanese found it "hard to speak because there are no responses." So before you screen calls, be aware that letting a call go to voicemail can hurt your sales - especially if the caller is from a collectivistic culture.

Let Others Jazz Up Your Sales

Think of the vendors and suppliers you employ in your business. Some examples are:

• Accountant
• Attorney
• IT company (people who fix your computer problems)
• Janitorial company
• Distributors
• Parts suppliers
• Website developer
• Shipping company
• Answering service or phone mail provider
• Office supply provider

All of the businesses above have customer bases of their own. If your vendors enjoy working FOR you they will be more likely to refer you to their customers as well. So keep this in mind when dealing with businesses that you employ:

• Treat your vendors like you would a customer
• Pay on time
• Thank them for the work they do
• Don't scream and yell when they mess up
• Remember them at the holidays
• Refer business to them