Stanford University research suggests that it takes 9 to 12 positive impressions before the average decision-maker will make a purchasing decision. However, the high cost of in-person selling, makes it difficult to impossible to achieve the number of contacts needed to succeed by employing sales meetings alone. Therefore, sales and service industry professionals who are serious about consistently developing new business, must use a number of effective communications tools to achieve the impressions needed to produce consistent sales success.
Some of the methods sales professionals can use to create positive impressions, are emails, faxes, direct mail flyers, sales letters, telephone calls and trade shows. You see, dollar- for-dollar nothing provides a better return than a direct mail campaign correlated with in-person visits and teleselling activates. Think about it. A sales letter is the most powerful selling tool you can use to make a positive impression, with the exception of an in-person sales call. For a fraction of the cost of visiting a decision-maker, you can make several of the contacts that are needed to produce a buying decision.
For less than the price of a cup of coffee, well-written sales letters and flyers can deliver your sales massage perfectly every time. They will never call in sick. They will never complain. And they never quit on you. Simply put, a powerful sales letter or a well designed direct-mail flyer is like having a little automatic, money-making robot working for you, tirelessly...day and night. But, here's the rub…very few sales or service industry professionals have the writing skills or design talent needed to produce the hard hitting and profit generating direct-mail impressions needed to assist in produce a steady stream of sales.
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VIRDEN THORNTON is the founder and President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. an Ohio consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training, personal coaching, advisory services and publishing. Clients have included Sears Optical, Eastman Kodak, IBM, Service Linen Supply, Bank One, Jefferson Wells International, and Wal-Mart to name a few. Virden is the author of the "best selling” Building & Closing the Sale, Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success and Close That Sale, a video/audio tape series published by Crisp Publications a division of Thompson Learning. He has also authored a client acclaimed Self-Directed Learning series of sales, coaching, telemarketing, and personal productivity manuals. To obtain a substantial discount on two of Virden's latest books, 101 Sales Myths or Organizing For Sales Success, go to: http://www.TheSellingEdge.com.