Thanks for all of the great tips, I’ve already put your advice to work and it’s only been two days since watching the video! Tweet
On another subject, do any of your programs talk about promoting your business to friends, neighbors, family, etc. without coming off as pushy or smothering them with info?
The last thing I want is for a friend to see me coming and then duck around the corner because he thinks I might try to sell them.
I need to find the right balance in this area. Will you please point me to the right info product in your line up? Thanks again for all of your help and wisdom.
-Richard in Ohio
My response
Hi, Richard- Thanks for the great compliment! The issue of not pushing too hard is important for all the reasons you describe.
Ideally, we marketers want to establish a mindset among our prospects and customers that behavioral psychologists refer to as “top-of-mind awareness” or TOMA.
Caruso family, circa 1996, left to right: Penguin, Dave, Rob, Mickey, Joe, Michael
By the way, I’ve not been very successful at selling to my family members (above). They seem to like special arrangements where no money changes hands. Works for me! There are three good ways to help folks achieve TOMA. Tweet
Each has its strengths (S) and weaknesses (W):
1) Autoresponders are systematic, automatic emails that goes out to your list.
S: Dependable and targeted. W: It can be time consuming to set up the sequence; recipients may get irritated and opt out.
2) Social media platforms such as FB and LI are easy, affordable mechanisms for achieving TOMA.
S: Social media is an indirect form of marketing that is well tolerated, but make 80% of your posts social and only 20% business related.
W: It can be a challenge getting key customers and prospects to “friend” you online.
3) Electronic newsletters are the overall best solution to achieve TOMA.
S: Targeted and regular, quality newsletters make it almost impossible for someone to forget about your services because they’re being regularly reminded. Even if subscribers only read the Subject line, e-newsletters are doing a big part of their job.
Quality e-newsletters deliver great informational content and not just a sales pitch so they are not only tolerated, they are welcome!
W: It can be time-consuming to produce fresh content every on a regular basis unless you know some tricks. Also, people on your list will even quit a free e-newsletter, if you don’t consistently provide value.
Summary
If you’re assertively selling your products and services, it is likely that the occasional person will be offended. Sometimes that person will be a family member or friend. Monitor that person’s feedback and back off, if necessary.
What’s a better goal– to never, ever offend anyone when selling and make a little money or to occasionally make someone a little uncomfortable and make a lot of money? Choose one of these two options. Tweet
I hope this helps, Richard. Let me know if you’re interested in my teleclass on how to produce effective e-newsletters.
Meanwhile, listen to Selling More, Better, Faster, my audio CD on the subject. It comes with a nifty 30-page e-book!
A while back, I did something most business people never do.
I started giving away my products and services. And it’s the best thing I ever did for my consulting business.
Every Monday at 4:00 ET, I jump on a conference call to dispense advice on everything from Internet marketing to event planning. The call-in codes are below.
Many callers have booked me to speak at various conferences and fundraisers. I help them save time, increase attendance, promote their events, and get the most from their marketing efforts.
My seminar fundraiser program has so far raised over $150, 000 for Rotary, Chambers of Commerce, and other non-for profit organizations.
Some callers have yet to do business with me. They are prospects who often convert after being on the call.
You should consider giving away your products and services. If you cannot afford to give away any of your current products, think about developing a product that you can make available.
“Set the hook” by sample selling
Fisherman know that you have to “set the hook” when the fish nibbles at the bait. Setting the hook is that small jerky motion that pulls the hook through the fish gill. The hook is a reversed-barbed piece of metal that makes it difficult for the fish to escape once he takes the bait.
That’s what free information and free products do. I call it “sample selling” because its like giving folks a free sample of what you do so they become interested in spending money with you.
It’s an easy marketing strategy to implement and everyone wins.
Free call and great marketing advice
Michael Angelo Caruso
You can hear how I do this and get yourself some terrific marketing advice by being on the call this Monday, from 4 to 4:30 PM ET. And did I tell you that the call is free?
Use call-in number: 218-339-3600, access code: 686134#
What does your company give away to promote business?
Another fabulous Fourth of July weekend is upon us. Happy Fourth!
This year, we’ll blow up scads of fireworks and consume countless burgers and hot dogs–all commodity items that defy much serious expectations.
So when is a hot dog, not just a hot dog?
When it’s an event.
This is because of something called product differentiation.
Product–or service–differentiation can help consumers tell you apart from the competition. When people appreciate the difference they become interested in doing business with you.
George and Rich Shea
Yet, differentiation can be a challenge, especially when it comes to mundane products such as hot dogs. Brothers George and Rich Shea have brilliantly differentiated the Nathan’s brand of hot dogs by holding an annual hot dog eating contest.
The contest, started in 1961, is now televised on ESPN. Every year, publications such as the New York Times run articles that provided thousands of dollars in free advertising.
When is a hot dog not a hot dog? When it’s the featured product of a televised hot dog eating contest–every July 4. Brilliant!
Have a safe and relaxing holiday weekend!
Oh, and tell me, how do you differentiate your hot dog? With mustard? Catsup? Onions? Chili?
Many people complain that they don’t get any juice from their blogging activity.
The problem is usually related to one of two issues.
1) Not enough people are seeing the blog.
2) The blog topic isn’t interesting enough.
By “interesting,” I mean relevant and by “relevant,” I mean something that is in the news. Extra points, if the blog topic is related to what you’re marketing.
Never forget that the Internet works on keywords, so your blog has a better chance of being read if it contains the most popular keywords of that particular day. A good place to get your daily keywords is from news sites, such as www.CNN.com.
Here’s how this formula worked to a tee for me this week.
Peter Falk, TV’s Lt. Columbo, died late last week. I posted a blog about how Columbo’s famous “just one more thing” line became an effective selling tactic and pushed it out to my social media platforms.
Radio show morning host, Michael Patrick Shiels, a connection in my vast social media network, read the blog and had his producer contact me for an interview.
(By the way, another author/speaker in my city also had the idea to post about Columbo, but he incorrectly spelled the name “Colombo,” which no doubt reduced his number of original views. Spelling counts, people.)
You can hear the interview tomorrow morning, Tuesday, June 28 at 6:45 AM ET at MichiganTalkNetwork.com.
Of course, once the interview was booked, I reposted the same topic along with the new development to squeeze extra juice out of the topic. I might even create an “epilogue post” after the interview is completed.
Good luck with blogging and all your marketing efforts!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone can blog. Listen to Michael Angelo Caruso interview with Paula Parisot, a soccer mom and paid blogger. The 60-minute audio CD is titled, Blogging for Profit.
Peter Falk, who played one of television’s greatest characters, passed away last week, but not before giving salespeople one of the greatest closing techniques of all time. Tweet
Falk played Lt. Columbo, a bumbling police detective so unusual, he didn’t need a first name. Columbo was a true original, a slow-moving, hunched over man wearing a rumpled raincoat and carrying a stogie.
Columbo never seemed to know which way was up—until he solved the crime, usually by tricking the perpetrator into talking too much.
The TV detective used what we now refer to as “Doorknob Close.” His patented “close” was to turn around as he headed out the door and say something disarming like, “Just one more thing.” [Watch the 5:02 mark in the above video.]
The Doorknob Close, also known as the “Reverse Close,” works best when the detective/seller has given up and is literally saying “goodbye” to the perpetrator/prospect.
No seller ever plans to use the Doorknob Close, but it can be very useful because it contains the element of surprise. Here’s how it works.
Let’s say a sales presentation does not go well and the prospect has not been forthcoming regarding his reasons for not buying. Perhaps the prospect has ended the presentation by saying something such as, “I need more time to think about it.”
The salesperson thanks the prospect for his time and slowly walks to the door. The seller places her hand on the doorknob and then suddenly turns around and says, “Now that the presentation is over, may I just ask . . . why didn’t buy from me today?”
Peter Falk
The timing of this question makes it much more effective than if it’s asked earlier in the presentation because the prospect, thinking the presentation is over, begins to relax.
The Doorknob Close is powerful because it catches the prospect in an unguarded moment. The question, when posed from the doorway, almost always results in new information, which the seller can then use as an opportunity to reopen the discussion.
Caveat: Do not reward an honest answer by re-entering the room, taking your coat off and asking for another cup of coffee. The Doorknob close is an extra opportunity to close, but don’t try to force the prospect into immediately reversing his decision.
The Doorknob Close in Action
As with all the closes, there are many variations. One of my clients, a national retailer of automobile tires, uses what they refer to as a “second effort” to convert the sale as the prospect is walking out the door.
A person who is leaving the store without making a purchase may not return, so the employee tries to re-engage the prospect before he leaves the premises. This technique can be used on the telephone, too.
Thanks, Lt. Columbo!
The Doorknob Close has rescued countless sales through the years. Never give up on asking one more question and keeping dialog open. Sometimes that “one more thing” is the sale. RIP, Peter Falk and Lt. Columbo.
Every seller should know about 22 ways to close
Want to close more sales and make more money? Learn more sales closes from 22 Sales Closes That Work, a one-hour audio program and 30-page e-book that will help you improve your sales numbers almost overnight.
As with all of Michael Angelo Caruso’s offerings, this product comes with an unconditional money-back guarantee.
Internet marketers and business owners always ask me where they should be putting their marketing efforts. Of course, your company Web site is a critical place for you to spend time and money.
But what’s the second most important Web site for your business? I’ll give you a hint.
It’s not Linkedin. And it’s not your Linkedin business page, although you should have one.
It’s not your Facebook page. And it’s not your Facebook business page. You should have one of those, too.
The second most important Web site for your business is not YouTube.
It’s not even Google.
These are all valuable sites for marketing your products and services, but the one site that should be a part of every online business in 2009 is …
Here’s why in one sentence–Google crawls individual Tweets. Tweet this article.
You can post Facebook status updates all day and night, but Google will not see them. The same is true for your Linkedin status updates.
But, Google indexes your individual messages on Twitter and makes them available to people doing Web searches forever. Of course, you’ll be putting key words in your Tweets, but imagine what will happen when you’re putting your Web site address (or an abbreviated version of it) in 80% of your Tweets.
This is probably hard to imagine because Facebook and Linkedin don’t work like this. Twitter is more powerful than Facebook and Linkedin combined!
That’s why, if you aren’t using Twitter, you are missing out on the greatest opportunity for building relationships with your customers and prospects. You are missing out on the best free branding tool on the web.
And you are missing out on huge amounts of free traffic and increased sales!
There’s just no excuse for any business, large or small, to not be using Twitter, which has improved my reach immensely. I’m on Twitter at @MichaelACaruso
Learn more about using Twitter and other social media platforms from my four CD program–a home or work study course titled, Social Media for Work. For a limited time, I am including a free 30-page, social media e-book with all orders, so click today!
Best of luck on all your marketing efforts. I you want training or other types of help, let me know. Let’s get the word out!
Businesses all over the fruited plain are constantly trying to figure out the best keyword to use on their Web sites.
The best keyword for all of us, it turns out, is “research.”
Brother Dave on left
And search engine optimization (SEO), despite its complicated moniker, offers some very simple marketing lessons. I’m reminded of something my brother Dave Caruso taught me a while back when we were trying to improve the effectiveness of my Web site.
My site has always had a number of products and programs related to “self improvement.”
Dave, a great linear thinker and fantastic “systems” guy, did a few quick Google searches to compare how often people search “self help” vs. “self improvement.”
He found that the following variations gave these totals (results in millions):
Keyword search # of hits
self-help 89,700
self help 89, 600
self improvement 30,200
self-improvement 21,200
This was HUGE and I immediately wanted to change my site to take advantage of this discovery.
Then, Dave checked the number of hits for one more term: “personal improvement.” At the time, those key words showed 124,000,000–far more than the other key word phrases!
“Personal improvement” was the keyword phrase to optimize. Thanks, brother!
When doing SEO, make sure you do research to discover which key words and phrases will rank highly. You may be surprised!
Keyword research helps people find me, even if I’m in Royal Oak, Michigan. Which, um, I am. – Michael Angelo Caruso, Motivational speaker, Internet student
Good or bad, true or false, it’s always good to know what customers are thinking. Customer feedback is a gift. That’s why I love it when clients tell me what they think of my training programs.
Often, the client will prepare an executive summary for his boss and cc me, which is pretty cool.
Here’s what my client Frank, sent his boss and his team, after I did a sales training program for his team in southern California a while back:
August 30, 2010
To: Our Employees
From: Frank S.
Re: Sales Training with Caruso
Greetings,
Thank you to those of you who were able to attended sales training with Michael Angelo Caruso on August 14, 2010 at La Mirada. Based on the course evaluations, all who attended the training enjoyed it and learned some very helpful ideas.
Below are some key points discussed at the sales training. We need to practice and reinforce these habits with all PTO team members. These small acts of politeness and respect to our customers (and everyone you come into contact with) have already made a difference in helping us grow customer relationships and our sales.
1)Smile, say “hello”, and introduce yourself to every customer you come in contact with. Smiling releases endorphins, which will make you will feel better throughout the day.
2) Get the customer’s and name and “listen” to your customer very attentively. Many times, when customer is given the opportunity to explain the whole issue, you learn exactly what you need to close the sale. Ask more questions and then listen for other sales opportunities.
3) After a customer receives a product quote and says “Let me think about it”, respond “what specifically do you still have questions about?” Then remind the customer that we have the right product and we are ready to deliver it ASAP.
4) When appropriate, ask the customer about their weekend or family. Try to learn a little bit about the customer. Building customer relationships, builds loyalty.
5) After a sale is complete, shake the customer’s hand, give him your business card, and genuinely say “thanks for the business.” Then, close with “we look forward to seeing you next time!”
6) Call at least the top 5 largest invoices from the prior day and thank the customer for their business and make sure the sale was problem free. If they are not available, leave a “thank you” message on their voicemail.
7) Michael made a good point about teaching customers how to treat us. Our store employees are much more than just clerks. We will now refer to our counter personnel are now “Parts consultants.”
With everyone focused on these little things, we will continue to grow our company together. Thanks for your help!
Summary
Frank’s company has been a client of mine for over five years and I’m grateful. I find the above feedback immensely gratifying for two main reasons:
a) They like me, they really like me! (Apologies to the actress, Sally Field.)
b) These great people are now in a better place when it comes to improving sales and providing better customer service.
The moral of the story is to pay attention to what customers say after you’ve served them.
I know I do. Customer feedback is a gift. What’s your favorite way to receive feedback? Written? Verbal? On a blog or via Linkedin?
-Michael, MichaelAngeloCaruso.com in Royal Oak, Michigan
Want to get more from Twitter? Here’s a list of best practices that’ll help you maximize the awesome power of this great social media tool.
Twitter is not as difficult or as mysterious as it first seems. As Bob Dylan sings, “The times, they are a changin.’” Thanks to Twitter, now you are the newspaper. You are your own advertising company and public relations firm. Let’s get the word out!
Here are 5 cool ideas for using Twitter:
1. Talk about things central to your brand or personality. It helps if your tweets are relevant to what’s going on in the media. “Trending” topics almost always get more attention online.
2. Be funny. If you’re not funny, tweet messages from people who are funny. People like to share witticisms.
3. Post an original tweet about every two hours. Do not share information that’s been shared to death. Avoid clichés like the plague. You may also want to stay away from negative news.
4. Leave trails to your Web site. Use the first 70 characters of your Tweet to ask a question or pose a problem. Use the second 70 characters to answer the question or offer a solution. Often, but not always, the solution should contain a link to your Web site. Use tiny URLs that don’t use a lot of characters.
5. Get with the program. Follow those who follow you. Retweet messages from the cool kids. Recommend people on Follow Friday, by posting “#FF” and their Twitter names, e.g., @MichaelACaruso.
These are just a few ideas for sweet tweets. See how you can use these techniques and more by following me on Twitter at @MichaelACaruso.
You may know that I produce a bi-monthly newsletter, post three blogs a week, and maintain multiple accounts on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter.
I also conduct monthly teleseminars, post tons of video on my YouTube and Vimeo channels and have created over 75 information products.
People often ask me how I get it all done. Sometimes I wonder, too!
My favorite magic trick
One of my “tricks” involves repurposing content. It’s a useful technique for anyone who works as a leader or supervisor, salesperson, customer service rep or whatever.
When you repurpose your great content, your information becomes accessible to more people in more convenient ways. When your relevant content shows up in multiple places, YOU become more familiar, and people start thinking of you as an industry expert. Pretty cool!
Do you ever give presentations? Here are three easy ways to make your talk available in different modalities:
1) Record your live presentation with a digital recorder like those sold at Radio Shack. Then, import the sound file to a free audio editing program such as “Audacity” and burn audio CDs to giveaway or sell.
2) Record a three-minute highlight of your speech with a Flip video camera and post the clip on YouTube. Be sure to display your Web site on the “bottom third” of the screen to drive traffic to your Web site.
3) Publish an e-book version of your speech. Use voice recognition software to create a transcript or keystroke the speech into a Word doc (if you use a PC) and convert the document into a .pdf.
Oh, and congratulations! When you do #3, you’ll officially be a published author!
Churn out your own info products
For dozens of more tips on this subject and to generate a passive revenue stream for yourself, listen to my 60-minute audio CD, How to Create Info Products. It comes with a 30-page e-book, too!
Thanks for your interest in self-improvement. Now go repurpose some of your great content!
I very much enjoyed your Present Like a Pro DVD. 
Many people complain that they don’t get any juice from their blogging activity.
You may also want to stay away from negative news.
You may know that I produce a bi-monthly newsletter, post three blogs a week, and maintain multiple accounts on 
