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Networking Information |
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A Vital Habit For Selling Big Ticket Items
I hope the title of this article aroused your curiosity! What could this habit be that will help you sell Big Ticket Items? It has nothing to do with copywriting or creating beautiful web pages. But it does have to do with something even more important - building relationships! What is this habit? Well it has many names but the most familiar one is probably is "networking". Now, I am not a big fan of that word. Why? Because it makes me uncomfortable. I've always associated the word "networking" with "schmoozing" or hanging out at events doing nothing more than chatting people up, telling them about myself and my business and handing out business cards. Yuk! The other reason that "networking" makes me uncomfortable is that I am not a natural "networker". Perhaps you feel the same way? But please don't leave just yet :-). Networking is an incredibly important habit that you MUST develop to really market and sell Big Ticket Items. And I'm going to give you an approach that has made me more comfortable and some strategies and tips as well. Why network? Well, because building relationships with other marketers and business people is a very profitable and fun way to sell anything. When you build a relationship with another marketer or business person and you really show them how much value you can provide, that can lead to a long term, profitable joint venture relationship. A joint venture is simply a business agreement between two or more people that is beneficial to their customers and profitable for them. For example, you might meet someone at an event (e.g. seminar, workshop, chamber of commerce meeting) whose customers are interested in something very similar to what you have. You might even be this person's competitor in a way, but don't let that stop you. Customers sometimes buy multiple products that meet their needs or wants. Or you might have a product that enhances what this person's customers want or have already bought. In either case, if you can build a relationship with this person, and they love your product then you can come to an agreement about selling your product to their customers. Or you might find that someone else has a product that your customers would love. And you can sell their product to your customers. And this is especially crucial for selling Big Ticket Items. Because, if someone you build a relationship with endorses your Big Ticket Product to their customers, that goes a very, very long way to eliminating their natural skepticism towards your product. The person you build a relationship with already has a relationship with his customers. Their endorsement of you automatically helps build your credibility with their existing customers. Did you know that most people attend seminars and workshops not just for the information you can learn? They go to build relationships with the people they meet. Many of these relationships turn into joint ventures later on. Ok, as I mentioned I am not a natural "networker". I like to think of networking as "learning other people's stories". When I attend an event, I don't go there with the intention to try to find joint venture partners. I might find some but I really want to just learn about the other people who are at the event and see what commonalities we might have. I am a fairly social person and I am just curious to learn about them and their businesses. I find that this approach makes me far more comfortable about "networking" because I am not looking to put together a joint venture immediately. So now let's go over some strategies and tips for learning other people's stories and building relationships. Strategies:
Tips:
I hope my approach of "learning other people's stories" and the strategies and tips I've given you eventually leads to strong long term relationships and to profitable Big Ticket joint ventures in the future! By the way if you are interested in reading more about networking, I found the book "Network Magic" by Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin to be very good. You can find it at Amazon or at Barnes and Noble online. Copyright (C) 2005 Chuck Daniel, Like Magic Marketing, LLC -- All Rights Reserved. Chuck is a former Microsoft software designer and program manager who spent more than a decade happily working on Email and CRM. Admittedly a seminar, workshop and information addict, Chuck left Microsoft to pursue his interests in personal development, internet, direct and information marketing and to promote and work for charitable causes. Chuck Daniel This article may be reprinted in its entirety in your E-zine or on your Site as long as the content is not modified, all links are left in place and you include the resource box as listed above. If you do use this material, please send us a copy of the publication. Thanks.
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