Archive for marketing
Your Online Business As Spiritual Therapy
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No business runs without challenges.
And certainly an online business offers even more than its share – both internal and external. But an emotionally and financially rewarding shift takes place when you change your mindset to see your business online as a form of spiritual therapy.
The internal challenges — everything that rattles and challenges who you’ve been and how you experience and understand yourself.
Even if you’re fairly savvy in the world of business, due to the volatile nature of doing business online there can be even more radical
- wake-up calls
- major melt-downs
- leaps to success
just to name a few of the “adventures” that can leave you dazed and sleepless.
The external challenges — everything that comes at you from the outside world like all that Internet technology to manage and master.
There are those affiliates and joint venture partners who
- let you down
- don’t send out for you,
- may even refuse to pay you the affiliate commissions due to you for your good efforts on their behalf.
As a Heart-based, Soft Sell Marketer, have you tried to avoid developing the thick skin that allows Hard Sell marketers to disregard their conscience as you watch them make huge deposits generated from their online business accounts?
Instead, if anything, you may think you’re too thin skinned, and maybe you’ve even been told that “You’re kind of sensitivity wont’ work in business.” We have.
Well, you’re NOT too sensitive.
You are a wonderfully feeling-filled human who knows you are connected to all of life, and you ARE sensitive to what happens to your customers and to yourself.
That’s why it’s extremely powerful to understand your online business as a kind of spiritual therapy. Because that helps you respect and learn from every disorienting and disheartening experience you have — and this is not always easy.
We have, and more and more we feel those dark times as blessings for our spiritual growth and awakening. It takes practice, but you can too.
That way you build your business while you grow your Self, because your business and your Self are reflections of each other.
Because It’s All in the Connections,
Judith & Jim
So in the middle of those maddening moments, listen for Your Soul’s Calling. That’s the voice to rely on.
Soft Sell Marketing Misconceptions – A Dime a Dozen
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Recently I read a blog post comparing soft sell with hard sell and the writer listed several of the many soft sell marketing misconceptions.
The Writer Wrote: “But in the race to present one’s personality to the client, it’s important to keep in mind that these soft factors are likely to result in new work only if the proposed soft sell involves something that the prospect or referral source actually believes will address a personal need. Much of the friendly, hey-I’m-really-nice marketing plans miss that mark entirely.”
This was my comment:
Misconceptions regarding soft sell have become a dime a dozen and it’s arguable they’re worth even that.
The idea that soft sell is — friendly, hey-I’m-really-nice marketing plans — would of course miss the mark. This notion arises from traditional hard sell marketers whose focus on Get The Check precludes them from really understanding the process of relationship marketing that serves the customer, serves the seller, and makes a profit.
To focus on presenting one’s personality, and under the pressure of being in a competitive race while doing it, can only be crippling, because it takes all of the real connection, the real emotion out of the process.
Presenting one’s personality is mechanical. To believe you have to present is a sure sign of insecurity and a lack of confidence that leads to thinking – “Oh I better present a good face if I’m going to make this work.” Used-car-salesman anyone?
First and foremost, clients are looking to have their problems solved – WIIFM – what’s in it for me. And yes, the best client relationships are built on a personal relationship but not at the expense of getting the job done.
Because It’s All in the Connection,
Jim
The Heart of Marketing, our #1 bestseller, will give you practical insights into how Soft Sell marketing can work for you — for your profits and your soul.
Soft Sell = Compassion: A Commercial Paradigm Shift
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Compassion and commerce may seem self-contradictory like an oxymoron: for example, 
“deafening silence” or “poor little rich girl.” Compassionate commerce seems to be a self-nullifying idea, at least in the way compassion and commerce have been understood and experienced.
So how can marketing and selling and compassion be a perfect self-supporting way to do business?
The definition of compassion that most people would agree with is:
A deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.
And that understanding suggests feelings like pity, charity, condolence, mercy, or sorrow.
From this point of view putting compassion and commerce in the same sentence subverts if not destroys the intention of each.
However, is there a way that compassion and commerce can be mutually supportive so that the marketplace can evolve in a more humane and loving direction? Read More→
Prince Charming Hidden Behind Every Hard Sell
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Prince Charming is a well known and longed for character. He swoops into a girl’s life, rescues her from the drudgery and burden of her existence, whisks her away in a magical carriage, and they live happily ever after. A dream come true.
Just like hitting the Lotto, right?
Well, actually not. In a very real way, not even close.
The truth is we all secretly long for that Prince Charming moment, especially when it comes to buying things.
Buying things? That’s right, buying things —
And that’s exactly what many marketers aim at — your longing — so they dress their offers in a Prince Charming costume and swear that what they’re telling you is real.
Okay, so what’s the big deal? Read More→
Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Jeff Zucker and Conscious Capitalism?
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You no doubt know about the flap at NBC regarding the moves made to return Jay Leno, whose show is on at 10 pm, to a later slot at 11:30. That led to Conan O’Brien’s deciding not to stay with NBC to say nothing of the staff he brought along from New York to Los Angeles.
Several days ago, Jeff Zucker, the President of NBC/Universal, during an appearance on the Charley Rose show, referring to the late night turmoil and the low ratings for both shows said:
“We made hard business decisions with no personal feelings because that’s what we’re supposed to do here.”
My first response was to agree. It’s all about the ratings. Low ratings = failure. And failure = hard business decisions.
But it’s exactly those “hard business decisions with no personal feelings” that create the aura that business is, at its heart, uninterested in people; and that business men and women are, at their core, devoid of heart.
Remember the famous line from the Godfather movies –“ It’s not personal. It’s just business.” Read More→
Respectful Buyers and Soft Sell Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsWhile we give a great deal of attention to the mindset and approach for sellers in the Soft Sell Paradigm, it’s also important to focus on the buyer’s side of the transaction. Because all too often buyers are not heart-based, not caring, not respectful buyers.
And, since Soft Sell Marketing is an evolutionary expansion, recognizing the buying-selling relationship as central to bringing consciousness into global commerce, it’s important to understand what it means to be Soft Sell Buyers! And to do that we must become more aware of how most people view their part of the sales relationship. Read More→
Hard Sell or Soft Sell – What’s the Difference?
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I came across this post today by Michel Fortin and wrote the following. You can see the original post at http://www.marketersboard.com/fry-customers-tactic/
Jim
======================================
Michel,
Ed Dale’s example misses the point entirely. There’s no conflict between Soft Sell and Upsell. As a Soft Sell marketer my wife, Judith, and I use upsells all the time. So it’s not the technique that is hard sell. It’s how you approach the customer that makes the difference.
In your piece you use words and phrases such as:
“Leaving an insane load of cash on the table.” What is insane about money? This is a term a lot of Internet marketers use as though it somehow describes some reality.
Yes it’s an image, but it’s also very hard in it’s point of view, to say nothing of a dreary cliche.
“Force a customer.” This has nothing to do with the technique of upselling. It has everything to do with the marketer’s dominant/submissive relation to the buyer. Any technique used with that relationship at its base is going to be hard. Instead of pointing to the technique, rather point to the marketer’s cynicism and lack or respect for human beings who happen, in this case, to be customers.
Several other example are — “churn and burn,” “hit them over the head,” “almost taunting you.” Why would anyone want to do business with someone who shows so little care and connection.
You also that you “believe that (the marketer) must ask for the order,” implying that asking for the order is somehow aggressive. That’s just plain wrong-headed. Asking for the order with respect and a sense of the emotional connection between you and the buyer is not aggressive, it is respectful of the human relation as fundamental to the transaction and that is NOT soft, but conscious and discerning.
How Does Soft Sell Differ from Hard Sell?
Traditional hard-core sales training teaches the marketer to aim for the money transaction – first and foremost. So most of the time that means that the real needs, even the real problems of the buyer be damned . . . and then some. And no surprise that’s left a bad taste in most people’s hearts and in their deep-rooted sense of integrity.
That’s why you’re seeing more and more focus on relationship marketing by solving problems thereby developing the genuine relationship between marketer and buyer, taking time to speak to the real needs of your buyer, and allowing the buying moment to evolve through deep understanding, trust, and respect.
What does that look like when you are the representative of your business? Read More→
BH&M III — Successfully Serving the Deep Needs of Soft Sell Marketers
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Recently we held our third Bridging Heart and Marketing Conference. That’s what “BH&M III” stands for — only this time we did it Virtually. .
<><><><> And We Are Beyond Thrilled
With How It Went <><><><>
It was a worldwide celebration of spiritual liberation coupled with financial inspiration! We had participants from all around the world – France – Netherlands – Ireland – Israel – Trinidad and Tobago – Australia – Canada – Mexico – Norway – Panama – UK – and. of course all over the US.
We offered fifteen 90 Minute marketing sessions – a buffet of online and offline marketing strategies, techniques, principles, and deep wisdom. Each speaker was outstanding – and we are very demanding – so we don’t say this lightly. They were heartfelt, motivating, and on target with their wide-ranging and specific marketing topics.
<><><> Participants Received Invaluable Information
As They Learned About – <><><>
Leadership Styles and the Elements of the Servant Leader
Posted by: | CommentsIn a free eBook I just read – 26 Principles of Working for Good – written by Jeff Klein, Julie Van Amerongen, and Elad Levinson, one of the principles they listed is “Servant Leadership.”
Jeff Klein identifies the term “servant leadership” as first being coined Robert K. Greenleaf. Servant leadership, Klein continues . . .
“reflects the practices of spiritual masters and inspirational leaders throughout human history.He then listed ten characteristics of the servant leader:
listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of others, and building community.Having just written a post on the current Internet marketing buzzwords I thought it appropriate to follow with this list, because it describes what we and you are doing as soft sell marketers, even though we may never have consciously articulated them.Each of these qualities warrants a post in itself and it is my intent to do just that.So let’s begin with “listening.” Read More→
