"Sell What People Want To Buy"

Here's the simplest idea you need to embed into all of your direct marketing and direct sales efforts, here it is, SELL WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY!

If you analyze everything you do in the realm of direct marketing and direct sales you must continually ask yourself "am I selling what my prospect wants or what I want?"

You'll find all too often that you are selling what you want rather than what your prospect wants.  You have to analyze everything you are doing in your direct marketing of medical devices and really drill down and determine "am I offering something that will make my prospect's life better, easier, or simpler?"

Slow down and step back and see your pitch from your prospects eyes.  People are inherently self centered, super busy and often stressed out.  Play to their needs and then activate their greed.  Need and greed are inherent to closing a sale with urgency.

                                                      written by Brad Richdale

What I Learned From Calling "Medical Device Direct Marketing Experts"

I'm a believer that you survey a battlefield before you begin a battle.  In keeping with that core business belief  I responded to several "direct marketing experts in the medical field" for their expert help.  I only found one person who was actually willing to set up a phone appointment and made an effort to respond to my direct response inquiry quickly, professionally and with enthusiasm, that person is Joe Hage, here's the link to his website: www.medicalmarcom.com .

I had one company respond by email after I also left my email and phone number in my lead inquiry for their services.  One email from only one out of three companies (other than Joe), no phone calls, and obviously no excitement.

If someone doesn't respond enthusiastically in the buying process what do you think will happen when you hire them?

People buy from people that are excited, exciting, and/or excitable, these are the THREE E's OF SUCCESS.  People buy on emotion and reinforce their decisions with logic.  If you lose excitement your closing rate will plummet. 

The problem with American businesses isn't the allegation of too much regulation and indecision in the oval office but rather from the fact that most people want to send emails and never pick up the phone.  What happened to salesmanship?  The answer is simple the younger people today have been brainwashed into believing text messaging and emails make sales.  They don't; they just breed mediocrity and this misguided sickness young people suffer from has expanded to the general population when it comes to business. It's asinine.  Now more than ever you need to pick up the phone.  I'm overloaded with emails I like hearing the voice of another human being as they state their case and make their pitch.

The only way to influence Washington is to spend $25-50 million in lobbying.  Short of that you are on your own so you better start going back to the basics, excitement, phone calls, face to face relationships and above all else sell what people want to buy!!!

Do you know why Joe Hage has succeeded?  It's simple, he stays excited about what he does and is happy to share it.

He has opened up one door in regulatory consulting, which has opened up another door for valuation and financial consulting--we now want to work with both companies.  I haven't sent him (Joe) a dime.  What do you think the chances are that our company, Photetica, www.photetica.com, will want to work with Joe's firm?  100%!  He's already proven that he wants our company to succeed.

The lesson here is simple, pick up the phone, go meet people face to face that are critical to your success and ascertain if your needs and desires are being heard and more importantly, "will they be acted upon enthusiastically?"

Go back to the basics and remember that people buy from people not from emails.

By the way, if you have a web marketing strategy use video it will consistently out pull and out convert the written word--video is the next best thing to being there (Joe's home page has video embedded).

Most of all don't blame Washington for rough times it is the kiss of death--it just causes resentment and inaction.  At the age of 55 I've learned that despite what we want to believe politicians on both sides are usually selfish, insincere, and disingenuous.  They care about you when it benefits them not when it benefits you.  Figuratively speaking, put your jock strap on every morning and adjust your cup you will probably get kicked in the balls at least once every day and you shouldn't take it personally.  If you do you will get off track. This also appears at direct to consumer medical device marketing. I also write about this at Brad Richdale Business.

                                              story by Brad Richdale
                                     

Bad Margins Are Like Swimming Upstream

When I’m retained for Direct Marketing consulting the first question that I ask is, “are you offering a product or service that is sold or bought?”  The second question I ask is, “what are your margins, in other words what do you sell your product for and what does it cost to make it?”  You’d be surprised how many businesses are failures just because of bad margins.

If you are not at a 5:1 mark up from sales price to cost (in your business model) you are fighting yourself and the odds of success in any business. I discussed this in length at Brad Richdale wikipedia in July's 2011 column along with my column on direct to consumer medical marketing and direct to consumer medical device marketing

I know a man who began a boutique type sandwich shop while he was in college. He later expanded his chain throughout the west coast and eventually sold his chain of sandwich shops for a massive amount of money. He made his fortune counting nickels and pennies. To me that accomplishment is amazing.  He is an amazing operator and an incredibly astute analyst of costs and margins in a business where you have spoiled goods in conjunction with a plethora of menu choices. What’s my point here? Simply this I’m not interested in counting pennies and nickels I’ve done it before and it usually ends in disaster. 

The standard restaurant operating margins are 4:1 and guess what?  Most restaurants fail due to low margins.  You have to be a genius to make it all work in the restaurant world.  You will notice where you can see meals being prepared (for the most part) that the portions are allocated precisely for this very reason.  Remember you are also dealing with a perishable commodity.

On the other hand take the pharmaceutical business; their margins are monstrous, sometimes 100:1. You don’t have to a genius to make it work when you are in the drug business especially when you are selling a solution (a product that is bought).  What do you think the profits were on Viagra (the first drug for erectile dysfunction)? They dumped millions in free samples and in TV advertising.  Doctors I know said market demand was off the charts. On top of that Pfizer gave free samples out like candy on Halloween. In months the business was rocketing to the stratosphere.

Would you rather be in the restaurant business or drug business? I can’t stress this enough most people I’ve met that had a failed business failed because of low margins whereas most people with huge margins have hit out of the park. Sure there are low margin successes and there are high margin failures but they are the exception to the rule.

If you are barely getting by in business it probably has a lot to do with low margins, whereas if you have high margins you can grow out of cash flow; margins matter.

                                             
                             written by Brad Richdale Author copyright 2011 all rights reserved