Today, I received an ezine from Kim Duke, The Sales Diva . (By the way, she has a remarkable website - if you haven’t checked it out, I highly recommend you drop by.) I liked what she had to say so much, I want to share it with you.

Do You Fold Like A Taco? By Kim Duke

Have you ever eaten a soft taco? The shell isn’t hard - it is soft - and folds over really easily. They are delicious! In business, however, I see too many people fold like a taco when they are negotiating with a customer.

It’s not pretty.

The customer may not even be asking for a discount/added value but at the slightest sign of hesitation a.k.a silence - the salesperson drops the price or keeps throwing in extras ” to sweeten the deal.”

This isn’t called selling - it is called Folding Like A Taco.

This Sales Diva does not believe in CLOSING the deal with a customer. I see it as OPENING the door instead. I also know that in a relationship ( which is what you should have with your customer by the way) there is some give and take involved. But you can’t be the one doing all the giving! So follow these 4 steps:

1. Come in with your best offer right out of the gate.

2. Don’t start your conversation with price. Give your customer the investment only after they understand the major benefits of your product or service. If you start with price - I guarantee you are heading down the rocky road of objections.

3. Allow the customer time to think. Just because there is silence doesn’t mean you need to start “folding your price. ” Let them think it over.

4. Look at the word COMPROMISE in a new way. You know what the dictionary has to say on the word COMPROMISE? ” A settlement of differences in which each side makes concessions.” Look at the word this way: CO-M-PROMISE. Basically it is a promise made by 2 or more people to meet in the middle. It isn’t called ONEPROMISE!

If your customer is genuinely concerned with the investment - then you have some choices. You can either fold like a taco and drop the price considerably. ( Not a Diva recommendation!) Or you can provide added value/decrease in pricing based upon a commitment from them in a volume buy, or repeat business over a duration of time. You can also decrease your price but also delete some of your services as well. Say ” I can definitely work within your budget, however, we will have to reduce “this” from the package.

Once you have established a relationship with a customer that is based upon you folding like a taco - you will find it very difficult to increase your rates in the future.

So stick with your guns, believe in yourself and what your business brings to the table!

Have a wonderful long weekend!

Hugs, Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven

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Sometimes marketing can seem like magic. You put the effort out there to start making cold calls and someone completely different calls you up to ask about your products or services.

Or, you go to a networking event that seems like a complete waste of your time. But, on the way out of the building you run into a hot new lead who is going into the same building for a DIFFERENT meeting.

You receive an e-mail from a person who was referred by someone you’ve never met. Hunh?

Being persistent in your marketing efforts brings results. It just doesn’t necessarily come from the direct efforts you are making. Is it magic? Well, to tell you the truth…your friendly marketing maven doesn’t care. Magic or not, it works! By committing to consistent and persistent marketing efforts, you WILL get results. When you move forward purposefully with an intention to expand your business, you begin to get a response even though it may not always where you expect it.

ACTION ITEM: Make an ongoing commitment to your marketing efforts. Make 3 cold calls a day, regularly check in with former customers, place articles online, or attend a networking event each week.

Hugs, Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven

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In the beginning of the month, I wrote a blog entry about Keeping in Touch With Past Customers for New Work.

I’m realizing that there may some fear out there about contacting clients or customers. Particularly when it comes to asking feedback.

So, here’s some nudging: Do it now! Ask ‘em! Don’t wait until a frustrated client seeks out your competition. Tell your customers their opinions and their business is important to you. Ask them what worked for them AND what didn’t.

If you receive negative feedback, FIX the problem. Most of the time, you’ll be overwhelmed by the positive responses. Make sure you ask if you can use these comments as testimonials. Post them on your website and include them in your printed marketing materials.

Let me know how it goes…

Hugs, Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven

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Your website is finally built. Woo hoo! It’s professionally designed, has compelling content, and it has vast amounts of helpful information about your products or services. But, and this is an important but…Is your website working for you?

Your offline tools and advertisements may get your customers and prospects to go to your website home page once. But you want them to return many times. Here are some things to improve your website’s sales power:

1. Update Your Portfolio: If you have a portfolio, keep your “latest and greatest” work current. Send an e-mail letting customers know it’s been updated.

2. Write Articles: You are an expert in your field. Customers are hungry for the information only you can provide. Give them helpful advice and tips. On your homepage, let website visitors know about this section.

3. Add a Discussion Forum: Your website designer can help you add a discussion forum. This allows visitors to communicate with each other, and your staff can provide helpful answers.

4. Create a “Links” Page: Customers like being able to find out more information regarding their purchasing decisions. With a links page, you can map the way for them to visit other related websites.

ACTION ITEM: This week, look at your website. Would a visitor want to come back? If not, write down one thing you can add to entice people to return. Take steps to get it in place. Then, update them!

Hugs, Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven

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Fast Company provides a list of their favorite business blogs written by women and why they like them. I particularly like Pause written by Jory Des Jardins, freelance writer. A quote about her site from

Des Jardins blogs from the heart. She usually writes about the intersection of life and work — about finding the best coffee shop to work in, about getting the call about her mother’s layoff, about the self-discovery that comes with becoming self-employed. Her well-written posts are long and meaty, eloquent and revealing.

Hugs, Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven

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Do you know Leslie Hall a.k.a. Sweater Girl? No? Well, let me introduce you to her. A recent article in the Nashville Times discusses her band Leslie and the Ly’s. Part commedienne, part ironic art student, and part something I’ve never seen before, Leslie Hall is a master of marketing, in particular viral marketing. I first became aware of Leslie when someone sent me a link to her Gem Sweater site. A Boston art student from Iowa, Leslie has quickly gathered a cult following with her bizarre hip-hop lyrics. Leslie has a CD on Amazon, she sells T-shirts, and her band tours. She has become a favorite topic on many blogs.

Enjoy! Here is a picture of Leslie Hall dressed up in her Gold Gem Sweater.

Hugs, Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven

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When business is booming, it’s easy to put marketing on the back burner. Why focus attention on getting new customers when you already have all you can handle? The reason is simple: when things slow down, you want to have new clients in the pipeline. Make marketing part of your habit. The most efficient way to do this is to create structure around your marketing efforts. Here are some tips:

1. Make time for marketing: In your calendar, schedule time each week for your marketing and sales activities. It could be an hour every other day, or a chunk of time on one day of the week. Don’t make this time optional - honor this slice of your week as a time devoted to moving your business forward.

2. Marketing is a mindset: You never know when an opportunity will arise to help someone out with your services or products. Always be prepared to speak enthusiastically about your business. Once you get used to this way of thinking, it’s easy to communicate your company’s value without being pushy.

3. Develop a marketing calendar: Do what makes sense to you - you can create a simple spreadsheet, make notes in your planner, or sketch out activities on a large flipchart sheet on the wall. The point is to make an annual profile of your marketing activities including: networking events, trade shows, advertising deadlines, direct mailings, seminars, and so on.

4. Ask for referrals: Word-of-mouth is the most effective way to get new customers. Ask your current and former clients to pass your name and contact information on to their circle. When finishing a sales cycle with a customer, ask for referral recommendations. If you don’t ask, people may not think to offer.

ACTION ITEM: This week, carve out time dedicated to your marketing activities. Work on your annual calendar and call clients for referral suggestions. Make a commitment to your marketing and you’ll find your business will grow as a result.

Hugs, Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven

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OK. I admit it. I’ve become obsessed with Googling myself. If we didn’t all know what Googling meant, that might sound a bit disturbing. However, being the techy, Internet, information-overloaded, blogites that we are, we all know that Google keeps a directory of information, including people’s names.

Here’s the search results for “Wendy Maynard articles”. Pretty cool, eh? Yes, it is a bit of a self-indulgent activity. But, it also is informative from a marketing perspective.

I have been submitting articles to a variety of online content providers such as Ezine Articles and Idea Marketers. The reasons for doing this are as follows:

1. I want to increase the number of people who are familiar with my writing and my work in the marketing industry.

2. I want to drive people to my company website, Kinesis.

3. I want to optimize Kinesis for search engines, and a great way to do this is through links. Each article I write has a link back to Kinesis.

4. I want to grow the subscriber list for a marketing e-newsletter I write. It’s called Kinesis Quickies. Sign up, if you haven’t. It’s a great resource for free marketing tips and anecdotes.

5. I want to help people succeed at their business efforts. I’ve gained enough expertise in marketing that I would like to share what I know.

Is it working? YES. It is actually fabulously successful. The articles are getting read, they are being distributed far and wide, site traffic is growing, and the number of subscribers are increasing. How do I know this? Well, I check our site traffic and I Google my name. Each week, I notice my articles on more and more sites.

ACTION ITEM: You ARE an expert in your industry. If you have goals similar to mine, I highly recommend you being to write articles that help position you online as a “go-to” person.

Hugs, Wendy Maynard, your friendly marketing maven

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