Kevin Hogan

International Speaker

Latest Articles:  Stopping the Black Swan Can You Become a New Person?

July 17, 2019

New Sales Techniques Kevin Hogan

I went to the auto repair shop today to get an oil change and the passenger tires slow leak repaired.

I should have had my manager go.

I’m waiting in the waiting area for 51 minutes and I get a brilliant text message.  They’ve checked 71 things on the car. 65 are perfect. There are five areas “that have service suggested.” Watch the video and see how this works. This is part of a sales “funnel.” In this case they have a client with an appointment for an oil change and tire repair. That’s $100. But as everyone in the auto business knows there are always hundreds or thousands of dollars of business waiting on each vehicle that comes in the door. Here is a turning point in that sales funnel.

You saw that each area of concern is highlighted. “Tire tread 4/32. Replace.” I have almost 49,000 miles on the 10 year old Toyota Sequoia and I literally could drive it for another three years at this rate without much of a tire concern. But, they highlighted it. Then the video shows the tread and why it’s important to fix it now.

And of course the cabin filter needs replacement and here in the text is the photo of it. Looks terrible.  I am seriously bored out of my mind, but impressed as hell by the elegance of this process. Next I discover the fuel injection indicator needs replacement because a mileage or time factor has been triggered. I’m sure that’s important but I don’t know anything about cars so I skip past it.

And so on.

I go to the counter. “Set?”

“No, it’s on the rack, we just sent you that to review for approval of doing important work for you.”

You have got to be kidding… Sigh.

“Cool. No. I will be back in a few weeks or months for more work though. Gotta run.”

“We’ll tell them to put the parts that need replacement back in and we’ll have your car for you as soon as possible.”

“Excellent.”

I sit and think about the dirty CABIN filter. Man that is genius. Most people drop off their car in the morning and then get this gross photo while they are at home or at the office.

That means they aren’t bored out of their mind. They have their list of four other things that need to be fixed and why it’s important to do it today and all they have to do is call the shop and tell the guys to fix everything while the car is still off the ground. Again, this is genius. It’s in color. It’s on my phone.

Well done sales funnel aside, my mind is numb. Thank goodness there are no children in the waiting room to torture me, or worse, talkative adults that would want to share the experience of waiting.

A woman walks in the door asking for her car. They put the wrong oil in and she believed that letting them have a slice of her mind would somehow improve the process of repairing the error. Over and over… and over for almost 6 minutes.

I will not say what I am thinking. I will sit here and try not to smile.

Another 32 minutes pass and I am told my car is (finally) ready and waiting outside. $108. Attached to my receipt, there is a printout with their recommendations including everything the message said earlier that I chose to decline.  The attachment to the receipt has a note to buy Michelin Tires for $1,009.42 as well as the other four items based upon the findings they texted to me. More genius. I paid the bill, grabbed the keys, hit the road and appreciated the very gentle but real “sales funnel” (stupid phrase but it works here).

And it’s instructive.

And a good enough reason to give you today’s article on topic. And of course, by showing you a “sales funnel” I’ve started in the middle which in marketing means you have nothing. You have to start at the beginning or you get nothing. Let’s go there now.

Don’t leave it up to your future customers and clients to figure out why you do something in business or your personal life (or a medium of communication like You Tube, Instagram, or Facebook) because they won’t come up with a good reason.

Tell them why. Tell them why they should want to be a client, customer, subscriber and why they should listen to what you have to say.

New Customer Sales

Practice making that extra effort to positively influence the way you are “coming across”. Practice is the only way you’re going to learn how to do this. You will soon discover that you can highlight the parts of your personality and your way of thinking that you want people to see first. (They will meet the “entire you” as time progresses.)

Legend Point: It’s important that your FIRST impression be PRE-PLANNED, PROGRAMMED, strong and attention-getting.

You’ve heard part of that before so read it several times. Really.

Everyone has heard it, but this concept is like oxygen. You need it but don’t see it and if you don’t USE it you will lose.

There are three things you can do right now to change the way people see you. How people see you mainly has to do with the type of person you purposely or accidentally present for them to see.

(This, of course, doesn’t take into account your reputation or the perception the client/customer has of you/your product before you engage.)

With that in mind …

Changing the Way They See You, BEFORE THEY SEE YOU THE FIRST TIME

Evaluate your current image. Are your readers doing what you want them to do? Are they opening your mail, watching yout video, reading your blog? Once they are reading you, are they moving from your mail to your website? Are they taking your promotion at the Coffee Shop and coming back for more?

Are they doing business with you? Are they at least taking the time to look at the products/services/ideas you recommend to them?

If not, take an honest look at yourself and ask yourself if you’re presenting a person that is worth (or appears to be worth) listening to and buying from.

Each week I not only read e-mail from you, I go further than that.Subject Line Email Marketing

Specific Example You Can Model

I look at what subject lines interacted with your “preset” (your frame of mind at the moment Coffee with Kevin Hogan arrives in your awareness) and then I find out what HAPPENED.

I find out whether “you” opened Coffee, or didn’t open. (Not you as an individual, I don’t want to know that.) What percentage of people at the moment of engagement opened Coffee?

THEN what percentage of people went to www.kevinhogan.com and continued reading there.

It is *very* hard for me to understand how anyone wouldn’t go to www.kevinhogan.com when reading Coffee.

When people don’t, I need to know why and I can usually tell by looking at what was in Coffee.

All of this is very important to YOU because if you go to the web site to finish reading an article, it means that I’m doing something right. If you don’t, I’ve failed and I have to determine why.

When you own a restaurant you can try and sell all of Mom’s old recipe for chicken soup you want, but if your customers don’t want chicken soup….they don’t want chicken soup.

I specifically know that if I put photos of a beautiful model I ran into in Las Vegas, or an article about something controversial in Coffee that the percentage of people who opened Coffee and then go to the web site will be enormous.

There is a hierarchy of subjects that people like to read about in Coffee and there are some subjects that eventually simply don’t get written about again!

Most of this is determined by YOU, my reader, and NOT by me… just like at the restaurant. You can only determine so much for your customer and then you have to do what your customer demands. (People can say they like chicken soup and will order it next time, but we really aren’t interested in what people say, we are interested in what they day do and if you are compelled, I will write it. If you are not, I will not.

Sometimes I write an article that matches your interests but title it incorrectly. Nothin’ like spending eight hours writing a kick butt title and not having a great title for it. It happens.

Which you should write down and always remember. In marketing, the title/headline is way more important than anything that comes after the title. You’re going to learn how to write a great headline.

 

Write a Headline Captures Attention

There is one thing that will remain constant:

At no time do you quickly change your persona, you, who you are. You can allow your Self to evolve but fast changes of perception in the mind of current customers is difficult for them to reconcile.

For me, I’m happy to give you real, valuable, edgy, exciting, intense material instead of kindergarten stuff that other people spew as value. But you already knew that.

No matter what your business – online, offline, salesperson, school teacher, take steps to make yourself be, or at least appear to be, that person you are promoting. Use the next two steps I’m giving you to portray the image of someone who your readers can see themselves looking to for answers, guidance and support on the way to achieving their goals.

People do care about each other, but you can always hit a hot button when you are helping them with something you are sure they really care about, their goals and anyone who seems to want to help them reach those goals.

People will, in part, “evaluate you” based on how much they think you can help or hurt them on the way to what they want. That’s why it’s so vitally important that you give the best information you can.

2) Take a good look at your surroundings. Quite often you want to do the opposite of what the majority of other people do because being a part of the “herd” will get you what the “herd” gets…a very small share of whatever they’re fighting over.

You must remove yourself from the group and do what it takes to show your audience, customers, clients, kids, and readers that you are different from the norm. There’s nothing that compares to the influence of family and friends on your behavior. Being different takes a little bit of work and it is worth every penny.

Influence Behavior Family Friends

KEY QUESTION for YOU: What is so glaringly obvious about you that is exceptionally unique and different that they can’t help but do business with you, have fun with you, feel something cool by being identified with you?

The group isn’t always wrong. The crowd can be right. But one thing the crowd can’t do is “win” in the long run.

It’s not possible. Read it again, write it down forever.

There are two ways you can win in life:

1) You can produce and get paid for it. (Sell homes, insurance, pest control)

2) You can not produce and get paid for it. (Rob a bank, collect taxes, sell crummy products/services)

Who wants to get money in exchange for not giving a ton back in SOME WAY that is extremely important to the other person?

…Someone I don’t want to be around…

Legend Point: Only people who do what others aren’t doing get noticed.

Legend Point: If you’re doing the same thing everyone else is doing then why would potential buyers pay any attention to you at all?

Be Better Than My Competitor

You cannot put your life energy into having a “me too” business. Take some time to figure out what others in your market (your competitors) are doing so you can see how to consciously make yourself better than they are.

Exceptions? You bet. Licenses and Franchises. Beyond that, forget it.

I confess that I invest a huge amount of time in insuring that no one who “competes” with me can beat me at the value, experience and identification with you.

If I put a product out, or hold an event, it is extremely valuable.

On any given day I can be beaten where I have expertise, that’s life, but, in any given year I will win because no one will work as hard for you, as I do.

Are you OK with being the best in your field?

Can you take humble pride without being arrogant and know that you love to make other people’s lives better?

I promise you that there are lots of ways to make a lot of money in business selling junk. It’s MUCH easier to make money selling junk than it is excellence, at least for awhile.

Why?

Because junk requires no time investment. Marketing will take care of the rest…for awhile.

But selling the best means that you win long-term.

The other guy won’t. Shoot, most of the other guys won’t even try.

Does all this mean that “good” wins in the long run?

Not at all.

If 10 million people buy garbage and 5000 get lucky and land a girl or a good job while 9,995,000 fail, the cult can easily continue because you can get a lot of good stories from 5000 people.

This is The Law of Story.

A good story (true or false) is typically more effective than a box of true, accurate and raw information.

But the fact is that you can’t sleep at night when you hurt people on purpose. When your intention is to scam you lose…even if you get rich in the process. You live once.

We’re all in business and when you have integrity at the core of everything you do, when you are authentic, you win and you win big. It just takes a little longer.

It’s as simple as that. What you want to do is put yourself in a position where your customers, clients, readers see that you are making an effort to connect with them in a meaningful way, while the majority of the other competitors you have are, well….

Next week we’ll come to #3.

 

Coffee with
Kevin Hogan

persuasion newsletter

Coffee with Kevin Hogan, delivered Monday.

Dr. Hogan’s blog & newsletter are both 

…free forever.

You get the very latest and most important findings in human behavior, relationships, wealth building, outcome acquisition, nonverbal communication, mind control, covert hypnosis, selling, and marketing.

You’ll also get his book Mind Access, as his gift to you.

“Subscribe Now” and confirm it today by email the minute after you subscribe!

Latest Posts on Kevin's blog

Kevin Hogan Live in Wrocław​

Media Presence

World Class Business Kevin Hogan

World Business Class

Success in Influence, World Business Class Magazine, January 2018. Cover Story and Interview with Kevin Hogan

Costco

Costco interviewed Kevin for Body Talk: Actions Do Speak Louder than Words

Cosmopolitan

Kevin's body language evaluation!

Sales Guru

Article by Kevin in Sales Guru magazine (based in South Africa). "Burnout: Escaping Living Hell"

What People Say

“Want to influence others? Want to persuade others? Want to sell others? Then Science of Influence is not just an option – it’s a landmark breakthrough of information you can use the minute you read it.”
"As a psychotherapist, I work in the minefield of decision-making and I can tell you that making good decisions is critical to happiness, success, and relationships. Kevin Hogan’s course covers the terrain of decision-making with his usual thoroughness, candor, and relevance. Kevin is always ahead of the game because of his extensive research, vast and varied connections and sharp mind. His thinking about ‘high noon’ and light a fuse, if applied, would save many relationships and learning the concept alone is more than worth the price of admission."

Author of The Psychology of Persuasion, Irresistible Attraction, and The Science of Influence, Dr. Kevin Hogan is trusted by organizations, both large and small, to help them help their people reach their personal peak performance and maximize influence in selling and marketing. Kevin is an internationally admired keynote speaker and corporate thought leader. In Coffee with Kevin Hogan, he shares his research, observations, and how you can apply them in your life – both in business and at home.

Subscribe to Coffee with Kevin Hogan today!

You can always write us at
drkevinhogan@gmail.com or kevin@kevinhogan.com

Pay attention to your spam/junk/trash folders, shoot maybe the neighbors!

 Coffee Bonuses

And as a bonus for joining, Kevin will give you two hefty eBooks: Mind Access and Overcoming Rejection.

Overcoming Rejection: Defeating the Painful Feelings of Being Marginalized by Dr. Kevin Hogan

The tips you receive in Coffee with Kevin Hogan will help you in your relationships and in your business. The fun stuff, well is just fun. Subscribe now and see for yourself.

Subscribe to the weekly e-zine, Coffee with Kevin Hogan and you will be first to find out the latest in persuasion, influence, body language, personal development, sales and marketing.

We respect your email privacy

It’s worth being patient for this page to load completely. Apparently the subscription form is ABOVE this text!

Network 3000 Publishing (952) 465-7525 | 952 443 5049