All Posts by John Aberle

Yes, You Can Teach Old Sales and Marketing Dogs New Tricks

By John Aberle | Internet Marketing , Sales and Marketing

American English has lots of interesting expressions and clichés. I like them because they tend to convey concepts or morals, as in “the moral of the story” is, like in melodramas. Good writers try to avoid them because they become so overused they lose their punch. Nevertheless, the moral of “You can’t teach old dogs new tricks” seems to be that as people age, they get so stuck in their ways that they refuse to learn.

People Once Considered Too Old to Learn New Skills Are Excelling at Internet Marketing

However valid that once was, in Internet marketing the leaders I like to follow are within five to ten years of my age. In some cases, like Judith & Jim, I know how old they are because they’ve told us. I turned 62 in June, by the way. I don’t recall how old Cathy Perkins, the WordPress Wizard, is; but I know from things she’s said she’s done that she’s around my age, maybe a little younger. Alex Mandossian, from what I know of him, fits in this group as do Jeff Herring, the Article Guy, and Tom Justin. One of the women Continue reading

Doing What’s Right in Sales Situations

By John Aberle | Ethics , heart-centered , Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

Most Ethical Situations in Sales Skirt the Law

This weekend a friend described an ethical situation at work. In Mike’s (not his real name) case, his employer is actually breaking the law. It requires courage to act in such an environment. Unfortunately, most ethical situations, in my experience, manage to skirt the law thereby making the judgment call even harder. This is particularly true in sales and marketing where people who are driven solely by the numbers, i.e. money, care only about getting the contract signed. The methods used to get the signature are unimportant to these types of business people.

Once Signed a Contract Is a Legal Document

I’ve always considered it ironic that people who will lie to get a contract signed, will then use the law to enforce that contract gotten by dishonesty. Oops, to be politically correct I probably wasn’t supposed to say anyone would lie. They’re only people who “stretch the truth.” Of course, if I get burned by their fraud, I’m going to be looking for justice regardless of how they spin what they did.

Avoid the Head-Trip — Stick with the Heart-Centered Golden Rule

Actually, salespeople who want to use heart-centered, soft sell sales techniques will be coming from Continue reading

No White Knights Wanted

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing

If you think you’re going to come in on your white charger to save your prospect from some monster, forget it. Most consulting clients I know want coaching, help, or guidance, not a savior.The same is true for most customers, at least of any complex sale. So if you want to make the sale, turn your attitude around to where you “help customers buy.”

That means you become a temporary partner in helping your customers or your clients co-create the solution they need. They got their business this far without you. Now they are temporarily out of their depth or just lacking knowledge and need some help, another viewpoint, or the opinion of an expert. But they don’t want to give up control so someone can change their business to where they don’t recognize it. They want to be involved.

Soft sell sales and marketing are about relationships, about trust, about connection. Prospects want salespeople who actually take the time to get to know them, their thoughts and feelings about their situation, their desired outcome before rushing in with a “one-size-fits-all” solution.

This is a good time to think about how you feel when you get unsolicited advice. Have you ever had the experience of wanting a friend to just listen to your situation? Instead, just as you are getting started explaining how you feel, how you see it, he or she jumps in with the solution to end your problem. How did that sound to you, friendly, supportive, or just know-it-all? How did you feel about your friend not caring enough to listen?

I know from personal experience that it takes effort, a real commitment to care to listen fully. Be sure before you start tossing out your solutions that your clients have fully explained their frustrations or desires. Ask questions to dig deeper so you really do understand from their viewpoint. When you do that, they will feel you’re ready to help them with your advice. Because you’ve earned their trust, be sure that you only recommend your products and services if they can help. Otherwise you blow that trust for future and repeat sales.

So, clients aren’t looking for a white knight to save them. They want salespeople who can become their partners in co-creating their ideal solution. When you do that, you help customers buy – be sure it’s right for them. Then you’ll find sellinng fun, fulfilling and mutually rewarding.

Being in the Goal Achieved Makes It Real

By John Aberle | Goal Setting

It’s easy to forget when goal setting to come from “being here now.” It took Judith & Jim’s Soft Sell Marketers Association weekly training call last Wednesday on “Features and Benefits AND Coming From” to help me take my understanding a step further.

Visualization Activates the Law of Attraction

I’ve used the Law of Attraction and visualization to achieve hundreds of goals in my lifetime, probably thousands if we include the minor ones that I don’t think about consciously yet set in motion. That works for negative images too which is why being conscious of our thoughts is so important. Yet in listening to Judith & Jim today, I realized that many times I seem to stand outside my body watching myself do whatever it is I want to accomplish.

By Coming from the Goal, You Are Already “Here”

Jim was right that coming from the awareness of having achieved the goal is vastly different from moving toward it. As Judith pointed out, moving toward it brings up all of the obstacles and tasks that lie ahead. “Coming from” means you’re already “here,” the struggle and decisions to get here is over. (On the physical timeline, your goal and obstacles still lie ahead so this is a movement through visualization to the point when you have arrived.) My shift in awareness came when I realized that Continue reading

Selling for the Love of It

By John Aberle | heart-centered , Sales and Marketing

Work with Passion

There’s more to life than money alone. I know that sounds shocking from someone who trains people to sell and who considers himself a businessman. Nevertheless, for most of us, it’s true. And from my experience working with small business owners, I find that most of them have a passion for what they do. Naturally, we all want to make lots of money and be able to have the freedom and possessions it brings.

I Sell for the Love of It — When …

Still, as I was watching an Air Force commercial on TV recently, I thought about the hundreds of thousands of people serving in the U.S. Military Services – these are people who are dedicated to serving their country. Money is not their primary motivator either.

In both my experience and reading, I find that most of us work to Continue reading

Dreams Come True If

By John Aberle | Goal Setting

In May 2007, I read The Secret about the law of attraction. By then I had been aware of the power of the law of attraction for about thirty-five years. What Rhonda Bryne and most of her contributors failed to make perfectly clear is that there is more to working with the law of attraction than just thinking pretty thoughts. You need to take action. You need to show life you’re sincere.

A Dream 40 Years in the Making Comes True

Today one of my life long dreams of being a freelance writer of restaurant reviews came true when Examiner.com posted my first article for them, “Review: Fresca’s Mexican Grill at Stadium Crossings in Anaheim.” Admittedly it’s been a minor goal but constant ever since I wrote my first restaurant reviews for The Talon as a cadet at the USAF Academy.

Will You Make the Effort to Manifest Your Dreams?

While some dreams manifest sooner than others, virtually all dreams require Continue reading

Skip Manipulating by Customer Service Report Card

By John Aberle | Internet Marketing , Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell , soft sell marketing

There’s a Right Way and a Wrong Way to Ask for a Testimonial

Charles H. Green got me thinking the other day about the right way and the wrong way to ask for testimonials. He was actually talking about how to do customer service surveys but his point applies to asking for testimonials as well. In Trust-Based Selling, Green wrote, “It’s manipulative to ask customers point blank if you have given them excellent service; it is embarrassing, self-serving, and highly self-oriented.” (p. 201) Having been on the receiving end of just such a manipulation seven years ago when I bought a new car, I agree completely with Green.

Bribes and Guilt Trips Can Backfire

The interesting thing is that the sales rep’s effort to control my survey backfired. I got quietly furious about their attempted bribe, Continue reading

Sales Lesson from Julie & Julia

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

Last night Dorothy and I went to see Julie and Julia. It was a delightful movie about overcoming obstacles through persistence and creativity, about frustration and “meltdowns,” and about a passion for writing. I’m an average cook with no real desire to attend Le Cordon Bleu so that’s not where I connected with this story.

I Related to Their Passions, Persistence and Challenges Overcome

My ability to relate comes from my passion for what I do and have done. I could relate to both Julie and Julia’s love of cooking and of writing as well as all that they went through, including Julia’s being rejected by her first publisher. Interestingly, in both cases their passion developed over time and had lots of points where they could have quit. Sales has been that way for me.

Initially, I Stumbled Upon Sales as a Way to Make Extra Money

I didn’t start out knowing that I wanted a career in sales. What happened is that in my spare time Continue reading

Attitudes Revealed that Put Customer Interests before Profits

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing

In several of their emails the week prior to their May 15th release on Amazon, Judith & Jim said, “Our New Book Can Change the World….” I agree. And it’s about time! The view of soft sell sales and soft sell marketing as expressed in The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back is core to the way I enjoy doing business.

Feel Good about Your Sales

When I’ve been focused on “me, myself, and I,” I have come to regret my actions in sales. When I’ve concentrated first on what my customer or client needs, I have walked away with relationships that I treasure to this day. And, lest anyone think that this soft sell approach only results in good feelings, I have consistently been a sales leader using soft sell sales techniques.

No Longer Alone in Feeling Selling Is Spiritual Service

It wasn’t until I met Judith & Jim that I realized I wasn’t alone in my viewpoint that “selling is spiritual service.” Continue reading

The Place for Hard Sell – Lessons from the LA County Fair

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

It’s Fun Watching Product Demos at Fairs

Yesterday, Dorothy and her sister Martha and I enjoyed Labor Day at the Los Angeles County Fair. I love fairs! I love the crowds and frenetic activity. I love the commercial booths with the salespeople demoing their products. And it brought home to me something I already know but don’t always think about when talking about soft sell sales and marketing.

Some Sales Don’t Require Relationship Building

Not every sales situation requires or even benefits from the investment of time and effort required for soft sell sales. Sometimes the customers qualify themselves. This is especially true in Continue reading