Ten Tips for Selling to Business

As I mentioned earlier, I recently did a talk on "Selling to Business" and I decided to dispense with the PowerPoint slides and just (as Guy Kawasaki is fond of doing) put it all into a top ten list.

I'll expand on all ten in this forum--I really invite your feedback.

Tip 1: Get your anchor down.

I've got a 35 lb CQR anchor on Southern Cross and it lets me sleep at night but that's not what I'm talking about. Anchoring is the well-documented effect whereby your initial impression flavors all future thoughts about something.

A classic example of anchoring is the sign in the produce section that says "Lemons: 4 for $1.00". In this case, studies have shown, the quantity 4 becomes an anchor for deciding how many lemons to buy, and average quantity per purchase goes up over this: "Lemons 25 cents each."

In short, your Mother was right: first impressions are important.

Whatever gives your customer his or her first impression about your product, service, or company will anchor all future interactions. If the anchor is positive, you get a little boost on everything they think about you in future. If the initial anchor is negative, you get a little handicap from that point on. Psychologists have found that anchors last a long time, so it pays to make sure your's is a good one.

What are the anchors in your company? It might be the way your phone gets answered, your home page on your web site, your product's packaging, the way your dress, your company name and what your business card looks like, whatever the first point of contact with a prospect or customer.

I recently saw a ragged piece of cardboard taped up to an office window for people in the street to read. It was a medical office building in the suburbs, and the scrawled on the cardboard was something like: "www.reallystupidchiropractor.com." They thought putting their web site URL up where everyone could see it was a piece of brilliant marketing. "Hey, Joe, flatten out that box the beer came in and write our web site address on it so we'll get more clients." Of course you will. And they'll come in knowing that you like to sweat the details.

So remember, anchors are powerful, and they last a long time.

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