Your tools are commodities. Everyone can get access to them today. In fact, everyone does access the tools. The case, more often than not, is that they are underused, misused or irrelevant in most people’s business. The tools are a lot like sports equipment. There is a lot of hype to get someone to buy a workout machine, tennis racquet or bike. Visit the typical person in 6 months, and you find them as artifacts in de facto storage.

We live in an age of abundance. Tools are cheap and ubiquitous. If tools were the answer, then everyone would be wildly successful in their business. Such is not the case. There is typically a giant blind spot which makes success elusive. It has to do with strategy. Strategy is the enabler for making tools part of a system which makes money. Strategy comes from thinkers that can see the opportunities and deliver specific, relevant and timely systems to exploit those opportunities. Strategy comes from talent, not tools.

Putting the pieces together is much more of a challenge in an age of abundance. As tools continue to commoditize and approach in many cases, a zero price point, the real challenge lies in creating the processes which drive business results.

Social media does not make money for most businesses. Strategic lead nurturing does. Adwords is often expensive and wasteful. Relevant campaigns to connect and entice a clicker is what makes the return on investment.

From the outside, successful businesses and people look like they can be mimicked if we acquire the same accessories and tools they use. It is a grave misconception. Under the hood, they have refined an art form into a system. An actress makes her lines look easy. To be like her would mean to start the journey of countless iterations and working on the minutiae which separates mediocre from great performers. So it goes in today’s economy.

The truth is, talented people can take multiple tools to achieve the same result. A tennis pro can use any racquet and still outplay the vast majority of people. A world-class cook can use Wal-Mart cooking utensils and deliver a much more elegant meal than a housewife who has Williams Sonoma class cookware. It’s the player, not the racquet. It’s the cook, not the cookware. So it goes, it’s the talent, not the tools. Perhaps your success is only elusive because you see the gadgets and not the goal. Get the right talent and let them leverage the tools to help you. Focus only on the talent you truly have, which is likely one or two specialties. Strategy always trumps good tools.

When You Are A Stranger
Do you look forward to hearing your phone ring?  If you are receiving a sale, the answer is, yes.  If someone is trying to sell you, then you might not be so eager.  We are all doing one of two things every day – buying or selling.  Depending on which side of the equation we are engaged in, our posture changes.

There used to be days when the salesman would visit with their suitcase full of goods to a country home.  They were welcomed with lemonade on the front porch and the seller and buyer would sit and talk.  The stranger became a friend.  That was under different circumstances:

1. There were less choices
2. There was less accessibility to information about goods and services
3. The salesman became a source of information to educate
4. The buyer had less to do
5. Time moved slower
6. Trust was built through connecting personally
7. Sales was a social event

Fast forward to our modern society and our behaviors and the dynamics between buyers and sellers have completely shifted:

1. There are too many choices of what you offer
2. Information is a button click away
3. The web is a source of information.  People love self-service.
4. The buyer feels interrupted.  There is too much we all have to do.
5. Time blurrs together
6. Trust is built on positioning and credibility of social networks
7. Sales is an experience.

It can be argued that today’s successful salesperson may not fare so well in the society of yesteryears gone by and vice-versa.  However, the challenge still remains the same.  How do you become a friend to your customer?  People buy from people they like and people they trust.  The good old days afforded more luxuries to allow people to connect and build trust.  The new economy demands that:

1. It is easy to do business with you
2. You stand out
3. You make the buyer feel important
4. You deliver a sales experience, not a sales transaction
5. You help the buyer buy
6. You do not sell
7. You do not make someone feel sold
8. You are always changing
9. You have systems not sweat
10. You are strategic not tactical

In our business, we see people who are continually lost in the wake of the new economy.  They think they can do business like the good old days; however, everyone else around them is buying and selling with a whole new interaction, process and approach.  Irrelevance threatens their business staying-power.

While the principles remain the same – we want to connect and buy from friends we trust – the techniques to make this happen today are completely different.  If you try selling as a stranger, you lose.  When you cold call, send mass mailers or advertise without permission, you are a stranger.  You are not selling the way the new economy works.

To connect and become a friend requires much more strategic systems, thought and know-how.  This is what the winners do.  Everyone else is just busy and not wanting to think about the shortcomings in their approach.

The truth is that millions of dollars get exchanged in your market or industry every day. If you are not capturing a larger share, look at how effective you are at turning strangers into friends in your sales process.  Therein lies the battle.  Want to know how to put it all together?  Take a next step and connect with us.