Selling Mark Twain

Do you remember reading in "Tom Sawyer" how young Tom talked his friends into giving up their time and their adolescent treasures to take turns doing one of his least favorite chores: white-washing his aunt and uncle’s fence? It was sales genius! For anyone who knows a little about Samuel Clemmons (the real name of well-known author Mark Twain), it's easy to see that sales is a skill that Tom Sawyer came by honestly.

Clemmons was a sales genius in his own right. In fact, while he was alive, his books were made available only by subscription. An uncommon practice today, subscription selling was once popular, and conferred many advantages to book sellers.

Subscription selling permitted publishers much greater control over their profit model for each individual book they published. As printing would not commence until orders flowed in, printing runs could be based on actual instead of estimated orders. This allowed those concerned with production costs to make profit-maximizing decisions based on real information.

As a result of the personal interaction during the sales process, subscription selling also resulted in higher sales and profits for publishers and authors. Quite often, the same texts were made available in as many as five or six different bindings. With proper representation, book agents could easily sell the better-quality bindings to more affluent buyers. Sensibly, the more elaborate bindings were offered for higher prices and, accordingly, commanded higher margins.

Another advantage of subscription sales is that it brings with it the ability to connect with an audience that does not shop through conventional channels. Clemmons recognized that the vast majority of his books were sold to a more “democratic” audience; one that did not visit bookstores as often as book retailers, publishers and authors would like. By sending agents out into the community, awareness for Clemmons’ books was much higher, and he could realize much greater distribution for each book.

The agent's tools were his prospectus and his pitch. Each book agent would be well trained in how to carry his samples, speak about, and illustrate Clemmons’ work. Deviations from the system were not encouraged. In Clemmons’ subscription sales model, book canvassing includes 5 progressive steps taken in the following natural order:

First: Thorough preparation

Second: Securing influence

Third: Gaining a hearing

Fourth: Creating a desire

Fifth: Taking the order

Samuel Clemmons built an immensely successful writing career on the subscription selling system. Can you make it work for you?

Do You Do The Two-Step?

Time after time, I see managers in all types of organizations make the same mistake in pursuing new business. They spend money and waste time trying all sorts of things to get leads, but they neglect a fundamental piece in sales process management. What are they doing wrong?

The simple truth is: they try to do too much all at once.

It's an easy mistake to make. You see, when it comes to our own goods and services, we all inherently "get it". We understand the value of what we have to offer, and naturally think that others will, as well. Anxious managers assume that all they have to do is reach prospects with their message, and they will be ready to buy. Of course, there are probably some number of prospects out there who will respond to the right message. But for selling to the rest of us, it's usually not quite that easy.

Trying to go "all the way" in one fluid motion is not your most effective strategy for at least two reasons. First of all, you will have to sift through a far greater number of prospects to find those few that are ready to buy today. This will always will cost you more and take you longer. Secondly, you miss the opportunity to identify and keep in touch with prospects that may not be interested in or able to buy today, but for whom the situation might change in the near future.

If you are not getting the response you think you deserve from your promotional efforts, try using a technique called the two-step. Divide your sales process into two sub-processes: (1) acquiring prospects, and (2) converting prospects to customers.

Admit that it's okay for prospects to talk to you, and not buy right away. Then make sure that you focus the efforts of any mass-delivered communication (advertising, writing, speaking, direct mail -- whatever fits your business best) on getting potential customers to identify themselves and voluntarily jump into your prospect pool.

Here's the key: Don't try to sell anything, just yet. All you are looking for at this point are those few traits that indicate that a person or company would be a good prospect for you. The best way to do this is to offer something of value to induce candidate customers to "self-identify" their interest in what you have to offer.

Once you have filled the prospect pool, move on to customer conversion. Start the process of identifying those prospects closest to making a buying decision, and lead them into your formal sales process. Whether you are a software sales executive, a banker, a recruiter, or a real estate agent, the goal is the same. You are trying to develop a systematic way to move people from a state of acknowledgement of interest to the point of making a buying decision.

Have a clear plan for what you need to say, show, or do in order to get prospects to buy from you. If your sale is a complex one, plan multi-step follow-throughs to qualify prospects and advance them slowly but surely through your sales process. Offer low-risk ways for prospects to get started, and help build their confidence that your solution is a good fit for them.

Do the two-step, and don't waste any more time or money trying to sell to that vast mass of people who are unqualified and who may never have the interest, authority, or money to buy from you.

Hold A Contest

In the mid-1980s, the California Closet Company launched a national campaign to get leads. With masterful execution, the company held a series of contests to find the messiest closets in America. With the promise of a free closet design for all of the winners, homeowners were encouraged to send in pictures of their closets and storage spaces.

The contest was a massive success and generated tremendous publicity for California Closets. But that’s not even the best part of the story. Even more valuable than the publicity were the hundreds of leads that streamed in from coast to coast. The company ended up with an instant mailing list of qualified homeowners who had self-identified themselves as being unhappy with their current storage arrangements. Talk about a great way to get semi-qualified leads!

The beauty of this approach is that the respondents have not only identified themselves as having a particular problem, they have also indicated a desire to fix it. This inherent needs qualification is half the battle. The other half, of course, is making sure they can afford to do something about it.

Although it works best in business-to-consumer environments, this approach can be harnessed effectively by a wide variety of businesses. The key lies in the offer: it has to be perceived to be valuable enough to warrant submitting an entry.