All Posts by John Aberle

I See You

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

Human Need for Others to Recognize We Exist

Bill Gates, Sr. in his memoir, Showing Up for Life, said that “in certain traditionally Zulu parts of South Africa, when two people greet each other the first one uses words that mean ‘I see you.’” (p. 155) He goes on to say “That greeting is a powerful statement about how much being recognized and encouraged by others in our lives has to do with the kind of people we become. It also drives home the role community plays in all our lives.” (p. 156)

3rd Soft Sell, Heart-Based Marketing Conference

I was reminded of Gate’s statement when I listened to Judith & Jim last night on their second free preview call for their upcoming Bridging Heart & Marketing III virtual conference. They talked about how the soft sell marketer sees the prospect as a person in the relationship first and as a customer second. Hard sell marketers instead focus first on making the sale.

Prospects Want to Exist as People, Not Wallets

More and more people around the world, but especially in America, are getting tired of the hype and of being seen as a walking wallet. Continue reading

Join Me Tonight to Learn How to Enjoy Soft Sell Success

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

By now, you know that I’m a soft sell salesman and a soft sell marketer. But after decades of training in traditional sales and marketing techniques, there are numerous times when the situation is hard to call because it seems to me to be a gray area. I really enjoy having someone else committed to soft sell sales and marketing who has thought deeply on the issues. I’ve found Judith & Jim have excellent insights and appreciate what I’ve learned from them.

Enjoy Soft Sell Success – Marketing What You LOVE

Because I believe so highly in the value of their training, I want to invite you to hear my friends, Judith & Jim, are doing two free teleconference calls on the topic “Enjoy Soft Sell Success – Marketing What You LOVE” starting tonight, Wednesday, September 2nd and Thursday September 3rd. You can ask them your most pressing question about Soft Sell Marketing. They’re recognized as the leading voices in Soft Sell, Heart-based Marketing. Please join me. If you read this too late to attend, check out them out anyway for additional insights on soft sell marketing.

Perceived Value of Disney World Treats Versus Golf Course Fees

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

This week I had an insight into the concept of perceived value that came out of visiting with my brother, Jim. We were in Madison, Wisconsin for a family function. As we live across the country from each other, we rarely get together. I was wearing one of my Disneyland hats and commented that it really is “the happiest place on earth.”  He disagreed. He felt ripped off when he took his family to Disney World. He wanted to buy his daughters some refreshing treat until he found out that this item, which he could normally buy for $.75 would cost him $5.00 at Disney World.

Some Things Cause Us to Feel Cheated While Others We Willingly Pay

I understood how he felt as he’s right. When you’re in a Disney park, if you want it, you pay the price they want to charge. Then it dawned on me. This is the brother who plays golf all the time. And he’s complaining about prices at Disney World for something he’s only going to pay for once, yet he gladly pays his golf fees?

You Decide What’s Important to YouContinue reading

Sales Calls and the Promise of Conflict

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Sales Calls , Soft Sell

I was listening to one of the Soft Sell Marketers Association downloads from June in which Judith & Jim mentioned how they gave a relationship teleseminar on “The Promise of Conflict” because conflict is a part of life. It dawned on me that conflict is a natural part of sales though it is something that most of us soft sell salespeople would rather avoid.

Sales Calls, Like Life, Promise Conflict

Admittedly, I too love sales calls where everything flows smoothly and harmoniously. However, I have enough life experience in sales to know that is being Pollyanna-like to think I can always avoid conflicts just because I use soft sell sales techniques. Life has conflict. If you interact with people eventually there will be conflict. If you do sales calls, I can promise that you will eventually experience conflict.

How You Handle Conflict Determines Your Success at SalesContinue reading

Soft Sell’s Not for Every Customer

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

When you really believe in soft sell sales and marketing, it’s hard to admit that the soft sell approach is not for every customer. While most people I know love it when they find a salesperson they can come to know, like and trust, strange as it may seem, some customers actually want hard sell salespeople.

Groups of People Who Prefer Hard Sell

Here are some examples of hard sell prospects I’ve met and heard about where you waste your time if you try the soft sell sales approach:
•    Prospects who love the power game themselves enjoy battling with hard sell sales reps
•    Prospects who want someone to blame if it proves to be a bad decision
•     People who can’t trust for one reason or another: they’ve been burned so badly or so often they don’t trust themselves to be able to judge correctly; and people who naturally want distance between themselves and others.
•    People who themselves are not trustworthy don’t believe others are so they can’t trust.

Stay True to Your Nature or Adapt for the Sale

The choice is yours Continue reading

Sales Myths – You Must Get Past the Gatekeeper

By John Aberle | Prospecting , Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

You’re wasting energy trying to get past the gatekeeper. For as long as I have been in sales and marketing, I’ve heard sales trainers teach techniques to get past the gatekeeper. Frankly, that’s a waste of energy and bound to tick someone off. Anyone who leans towards soft sell sales and marketing should instinctively appreciate this fact.

You Choose, Sales Myth or Sales Fact

Believing that you must get past the gatekeeper is a sales myth. If you change your attitude and approach, the gatekeeper can actually be your ally. Business owners and executives would be overwhelmed if everyone wanting a slice of their time got it. So I prefer to think of the gatekeeper as a screen.

A Screen Serves Two Purposes at Once

If you’ve ever been anywhere where homes have screen doors, you recognize this image. What is the purpose of a screen? Continue reading

Sales Call Role Playing Offers the Benefits of a Mastermind Group

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

Yesterday my fellow writers at the Burbank Barnes and Noble Writers’ Group provided an invaluable service for me: they critiqued my article, “Easier Sales – 9 Steps to Finding Prospects Who Want What You Provide.” The good news is that they all agreed it was technically good writing. The better news is that they suggested what I need to do to make the article stronger – and actually interesting instead of a dry and academic list of bullet points.

Mastermind Groups Provide Coaching

Thus I benefited from participation in a mastermind group. Such a group goes beyond the beneficial service of proofreading to pointing out what needs to be done to strengthen your work. It requires people who have the technical competence to actually contribute to your understanding and help you look at things from a different angle. For sales and marketing purposes, sales call role playing serves a similar function.

Avoiding Constructive Criticism Cheated Me of Help Improving My Sales SkillsContinue reading

How to Sell for the Fun of It

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

People who are highly competitive tend to find confrontation fun like they do competing in any other game. I’m writing for the rest of us who prefer to see sales as developing mutually beneficial relationships, in other words, for soft sell salespeople and marketers.

Selling can be fun, and even thrilling, when you establish with your prospects that you sincerely care about their wants and needs. Demonstrate that you are interested first in helping them with their concerns. In my experience, one of the fastest ways to have fun selling is to stop worrying about what I want. Instead I put my attention on my prospects.

Develop a sense of curiosity. There is a joy in getting to know other people Continue reading

To Stand Out, Give Your Customers a Memorable Experience

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

I’m really excited about the changes I see in the business world. More and more businesses are realizing that the key to long term relationships is to act from a core belief that customers matter, not just their wallets. They seek to make an emotional connection with their customers, to give them a memorable experience.

“Connective Marketing” Webinar Detailed Marketing Changes

Renee Miller and Bill Williams of The Miller Group put on a free webinar yesterday for the Los Angeles Region of the California SBDC. In their excellent presentation, "Connective Marketing: A Culture of Intimacy," they presented both figures and stories to reinforce their message: marketing is changing radically. Bill called it a secular change. I call it a paradigm shift. In other words, whereas fads come and go quickly, this change will spread and become stronger.

Customers Love Those Who Care and Connect

People want to make connections. They want to do business with Continue reading

Don't Forget the Facts — Soft Sell Sales Isn't Just About the Customer's Situation

By John Aberle | Sales and Marketing , Soft Sell

This past Sunday, I read the draft of my ebook, Building Trust through Questions, to my writers’ group. Despite the variety of their work experience, several members stressed that in my efforts to emphasize the importance of questions, I shouldn’t forget that the salesperson needs to know his product and the company needs good customer service. Don’t forget the facts.

They are right, of course. Because of my years in business-to-business outside sales, I admit, I took product knowledge as a given. Wrong. I know better. Not every salesperson is committed to a career. For some it’s just a job, a paycheck. On the other hand, successful salespeople grab all the product training they can get. They never rely on their employers for all of it. They take what the company is able to give and then dig further. They ask questions to really understand how the products and services work and why they are important to your customers.

Product knowledge is important, whatever style of sales or whatever marketing you do, hard sell or soft sell. When I got started in selling microcomputers in 1981, I stayed after hours to practice with the company computers so I could master word processing and spreadsheets. I also studied our other programs. Because I knew my products, I projected confidence and enthusiasm Continue reading