Selling The Invisible, Harry Beckwith

Study your points of contact

To get started, study every point at which your company makes contact with a prospect.

Usually, you find only a few contact points.

Your receptionist.  Your business card.  Your building/store/office.  Your brouchure.  Your public appearances.  A sales call or presentation.  Just a few points of contact -- the moments that decide whether or not you get the business.

Then ask: What are we doing to make a phenomenal impression at every point?

Don't squander one point of contact.  It may be your only one.

The points of contact continue once the person becomes a client.  But again, the moments are surprisingly few.  A call here and there.  A meeting now and then.  A few points of contact.

Did you get everything possible from those points of contact?  Did the client feel respected, amazed, impressed, delighted?

Study each point of contact.  Then improve each one -- significantly.

The End of Marketing As We Know It, Sergio Zyman

• Rather than be caught up in consistency, I have found it is far more important to be willing to try things that might work, and then test, measure, and revise.  Change my mind, you bet!  New info, new tactics.  Same strategy.  Fixed destination.

• When you refuse to change your mind, you miss the opportunity to capitalise on your learnings and do a better job of whatever you are trying to accomplish.

• You don't have to win every round to win the fight!

• You don't want virtual consumption... what you need is sales.

• Being successful today does not mean you are goint to be successful tomorrow.  You are going to have to develop a whole new set of skills, or you might need to hire people who have a whole different set of skills than the ones that you had before.

• I am constantly rethinking what is going on with my brand or product, or what is going on in the marketplace.

• Make sure everyone understand that marketing is too important to be left solely to the marketing guys.

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got, Jay Abraham

• One of your breakthrough goals is to always make you, your business, or your product special, unique, and more advantageous in your client's eyes.
  
• Fifty questions to check strengths and weaknesses of your business -- Read Chapter 3.
  
• Make it easy for your customer to say YES.