Here’s a little exercise you can do for yourself in LinkedIn.

LinkedIn’s “Discussions” accompany each LinkedIn “Group.” They are the equivalent of the general “Answers” section in LinkedIn, but you must be a member of that group to participate in those discussions. (We wrote more about the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of group “exclusivity” in “Run, Charlotte, Run.”)

A Real LinkedIn Discussion

Ready for the exercise? If you belong to any LinkedIn “Group,” simply go to the “Discussions” tab for that group.

Next, compare the number of comments that real questions get vs. the zeros that are racked up by the sales pitchers.

In the picture above, Nanette Littlestone asked a real question to get a real discussion going in the Book Publishing Professionals group. She asked, “What are the most important things writers look for in an editor?”

Right away, in no time at all, the comments started to roll in. Soon there were 36. These were real people responding to her question and trying to help her make the right decision.

By the way, if you go to this discussion (if you belong to the group), you’ll notice that Nanette also publicly thanked and commented back to every single one of the folks who took the time to answer. That’s what networking is about – it’s about the conversation, and conversations build relationships.

A Fake LinkedIn Discussion

Compare that with the picture below, where someone blared, “Check out my profile.” Here’s the thing, though. NO ONE responded. It didn’t work. Even after a month, no one responded.

Why? Because it’s not the place. It’s no more appropriate here than it would have been at a real-life networking event. At such an event, this guy wouldn’t have just handed you his card and said, “Buy my stuff.” But, he does exactly that here!

Why didn’t he get any comments? Everyone knew that he was simply promoting himself – or his seminar, or his life-enhancing elixir. They moved away from him, just as they would from that kind of bad behavior in real life.

The Internet is no different from real life, but we’re being sold on the idea that it is. We’re being sold that online social networks can help us sell, and we’re being told we can do it in an anti-social way.

Go for Brooke

The great thing about this exercise is that you can replicate it over and over, and you’ll always get the same results. Selling and self promotion do not work here.

In fact, selling and spamming have become so common and so unacceptable that some savvy groups, like Brian Carroll’s B2B Lead Generation Roundtable, have decided to try and stop it.

Brooke Bower moderates Carroll’s B2B group and she recently posted this warning to its members:

Blatant self promotion, job postings, spam or topics not related to B2B lead generation will be removed. If you post off topic again, you will be removed from the group.

Good for you, Brooke. Let’s keep the discussions in “Discussions” and move the anti-social behavior somewhere else.

ZoomInfo.com is one of the most important online business resources on the Internet. You’ve likely run across this site without realizing it when you search for almost anyone.

They use sophisticated web mining technology to find the latest contact information about people. But, that’s also why folks with a common name, a varied work history or very little web presence might find their information in need of more than just a face.

And, that’s why it is crucial for you to check your contact information on ZoomInfo.com.

SO STOP! Yes, stop reading this article right now and look yourself up. It’s likely that the information ZoomInfo lists about you could use some grooming. Just be sure you are in the “Find People” tab when you look yourself up:

Are you back? Yup, I thought so. Your picture looks just like the knobby little man below, doesn’t it?

So, you’d better put your face on! Ian did – and now his photo looks like the one at the beginning of this article.

But, that’s not the least of it. Ian Griffin also corrected his work history, added his association relationships (he’s president of his National Speakers Association chapter this year) and made sure that the other information about him was correct.

He also added a professional biography to further clarify his credentials. Totally legal:

If you don’t correct your own ZoomInformation, how will anyone know which “you” is “you.” Big deal, I hear you saying. Well, that’s a big mistake.

Think about it. So far we’ve left out a little secret. We’ve only introduced you to the free version of ZoomInfo.

But, they also offer reasonably priced, but robust tools like PowerSearch, ZoomExec, PowerSell, ZoomLists and more. These allow their subscribers incredible power to identify prospects by zip code radius, job title, company name and about 47,000 other cool criteria. We’ve written about this aspect of ZoomInfo in “The Butch Cassidy Approach to Sales Calls.”

Now, one last clarification before you hurry away to fix your ZoomInfo profile. Who do you think shells out for sophisticated contact databases like this?

I’ll give you a minute….

Yes, you’re right!! – human resource departments, sales directors, top executives, recruiters, meeting planners, speaker agencies and, well, you get the picture.

So, this is the last question, class. Do you want Mr. Knobby Figure to represent you with the folks who have the money, make the hiring decisions and might just provide you with your next big break? Or, do you want your profile to be groomed and looking its best, like Ian’s?

And, if you’re still not convinced, even by doing your own vanity search, consider reading what Meridith Levinson had to say January 9th in CIO Magazine: “The Two Websites Every Job Seeker Needs to Join.”

To be clear, Ian Griffin is not looking for a job. He already has several, thank you. But, as someone very wise once said – you should start your job search as soon as your get your new one. And, in this economy, who can argue with that?

So, before you head back out into the online world, for goodness sakes, remember my mother and put your face on!

And, if Terri Norvell is any indication, the rest of your customers are about to do the same thing.

Terri, the founder of TheInnerPrize.com recently told us, “I’m going to remove my name from their email list. They don’t provide me anything of value – and all they do is market to me.” We won’t tell you who she was talking about – but you’d be surprised if we did.

The important phrase in what she said was, “they don’t provide me anything of value.”

Email Gone Wrong

You see, most of these emails are my fault. I signed up for them – because I was promised tons of valuable information. Instead, I’ve received tons of pitches, come-on’s and offers – and virtually no valuable information.

Not all are my fault, I want you to know. Recently, someone started sending me sales pitches – out of the blue. The woman who answered the phone seemed unconcerned when I asked how they’d gotten my email address. The exact quote was, “We have a very large database and do not know specifically how your name came to us.” That’s what’s known as spam, no?!

However, it doesn’t matter – asked for or not – listen up, Tom, Phil, Lorrie, Mike, Daniel and the rest of you:

Take me off of your email list. Just delete me. What you offered is not what you delivered.

Nuh-uh. Enough. Stop.

I think I finally snapped a couple of days ago when Phil sent me two emails in less than four hours. His daily emails, up to then, had only driven me to seek counseling.

The first email offered me “key behavioral factors” that would “make every employee more valuable and productive.” Never mind that I don’t have any employees, my heart raced at the thought of the key behavioral factors. He was even throwing in, without any extra cost – “a guide for employees’ self improvement.” Why, I could barely keep my credit cards in my pocket.

But, then, four hours later (I kid you not) Phil broke my spirit. He was hawking a 2-hour seminar that would transform my business. But, it took him longer than a New Yorker article to explain that it was just $29. What a deal.

Maybe it was the two emails in one day, or maybe it was the fact that Phil had nothing to do with any of this – he just cut and pasted his picture onto his company’s twaddle.

Or, perhaps it was this line in Tom and Lorrie’s offerings – “You’d be crazy to miss this opportunity!”

Nope, I’d be crazy to continue to get this continuous claptrap. So, if all you’re going to send me is a pitch to “Buy my stuff,” I’m done. I’m no longer going to:

• “Click to learn more about how to…”
• “Sign up today!”
• “Order now.”

In fact, I’m not even going to read the emails – because I’m not going to be seeing them. Thanks a lot. But, it’s over.

Hype is Out – Content is In

In an information economy you have to give it away. Don’t believe me? Just read Chris Anderson’s “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business.”

The short version of Mr. Anderson’s article is that information is now so readily available you simply won’t be able to keep pitching, hawking and charging for it. Customers will need to know that you know your stuff. Which means your free samples need to be current, meaty-sized, regular hunks of things they can use right away.

It’s only when people are convinced that you know your stuff that they might actually pay to hear more, read more or see more of you.

In an information economy you won’t be able to be a blog consultant who doesn’t blog, an SEO expert who has no web site traffic or a sales expert who… well, only sends out sales pitches.

Those sales pitch email messages are on their way to the scrap heap of communication history. The good news for the rest of us is that in an information economy, we’ll be the ones choosing what to read and when to read it – and our email inboxes will have plenty of space left for those forwarded jokes from Uncle Harry.

It’s true, then we’ll have to go to work on Harry – but at least email marketing will be dead. May it rest in peace.

We may be nuts, but we tell you about Sam’s book because the world of information is transforming your business. Yup, the vast explosion of information that is now available on the Internet is radically changing how you sell, how you network, how you motivate employees – and it’s even transforming the very idea of competition.

We’re not talking about collusion or cartels – and we’re not even talking about what is called “affiliate” or “referral” marketing. Instead, we’re talking about the guy you used to think was your main competition and how he might just be turning into something that looks a lot more like a partner.

How can that be?

How can it be that the growing access to information can have such a dramatic (and mostly still unappreciated) affect on your business?

In our business, most people think they already know how to search the Internet effectively. Studies prove that people think they have nothing to learn about Internet research – and 9 out of 10 people are completely satisfied with their skills in this area.

Because of this, we benefit when anyone helps people realize that online research skills are not only desirable, but are quickly becoming critical to their business success.

Sam Richter calls these skills “The Fourth R” and insists that in today’s information society “Research” may even be more important than Readin’, Ritin’ and ‘Rithmetic.

Amazing Fact #1 – The Education of a Sales Leader

Back in late 2006, we wrote a blog article called “The Selling Power without the Search Power.” In it, we took Selling Power magazine to task for not teaching anything about the topic of Internet research for the sales professionals. Editor and publisher Gerhard Gschwandtner took exception to our observations and commented on our blog in part:

“Any Tom, Dick and Mary can log on and search the Internet, that doesn’t require much of a brain.”

Sam Richter was quick to counter with this rather sobering observation, from his own personal experience:

“I’ve trained thousands of sales people and executives over the past year on how to effectively use online search programs to locate information on prospects and 95% have no clue how to effectively use even popular search engines, much less the Invisible Web and other premium data sources.”

18 months later, Gerhard’s magazine has changed quite a lot. As we point out in a recent blog article, “The Selling Power that Now Features Search Power,” “They’re beginning to educate their readers, not just in sales skills and strategies, but in the online skills that can support those efforts.”

From that article, we know now that Gerhard has changed, too. He wrote this rather colorful comment:

“Google is no match for the trillion web pages we create every year, it’s just a little advertising suckerfish on a big white shark.”

It seems as though books like Sam’s Take the Cold Out of Cold Calling have had their impact on Gerhard – and quite a number of other professional sales organizations and corporate sales teams.

I’d say that Sam Richter’s book will likely end the argument about the need for Internet search skills for sales teams – which is, of course good for our own training business.

Amazing Fact #2 – Partnering Trumps Pitching

Most people who are creating new companies these days are creating new ideas, new products, new approaches and new strategies. Very few of us are Coca-Cola battling with Pepsi for market share.

We’re trying to expand our markets – or even establish new markets, not invade an already established market. In order to do this, we have to look for help from the kinds of people who best understand our products, our services and, indeed, our passion.

And those people, I hate to break it to you, are your “competitors.” As your competitors achieve their own success, they’re helping you establish yours.

The giants in the topic of Internet research are folks like Sam Richter, Gary Price, Chris Sherman and Tara Calishain, just to name a few. We regularly tell our customers about their books and web sites. They make us more believable, not less.

Amazing Fact #3 – No Referral Fees

Sheryl and I do not accept affiliate marketing fees, referral fees or under the table kickbacks from Sam Richter.

We like his book. We’ve learned from his book. We provide the links to buy his book because we believe it’s worth your attention – not because he is paying us.

And, we’re tickled that Sam’s offering his book for sale at the reasonable price of $34.95 ($19.95 for just the PDF). He’s not offering it along with a vast package of other goodies valued at $1,295 – (I’m not kidding, I just saw such an offer).

Because of his topic, Sam Richter certainly knows how to do every one of those various Internet marketing tricks and scams – and it’s refreshing and ennobling to think that he said, “Naw, that’s not for me.”

This is a great book at a very good price – and anyone who reads it will not only benefit, but also want to learn more.

And, when they do read the book, some of them will want to learn more from Sam. But, some will want to learn more from us.

Which is why long ago we kissed goodbye to the idea of Sam Richter as a competitor. Look around you – it’s a new world of competition out there – and see if you can’t find some new partners among your old competitors.

Recently we began using several online business social networks other than LinkedIn to target and generate leads. The results have been nothing less than astonishing.

We receive a fair number of leads from executives who are interested in using our sales assessments (Objective Management Group) at their company, but I don’t believe we generate enough leads to potential resellers (those sales development experts that comprise our channel of resellers).

The Google Problem

We can perform a Google search for sales trainers and narrow it down to 291,000 results. We can perform a search on business coaches and there are 499,000 results. There are 235,000 results for sales gurus, 3.4 million for sales experts and 169 million for business experts. Since we aren’t looking in a particular city, adding that to the search doesn’t help. We can advertise in a national publication but knowing that only 2,400 of these firms exist makes that a colossal waste of money.

The Gazelles Solution

And that’s where the social networks other than LinkedIn.com come in handy. One of the features is that they allow you to target more effectively.

As an example, I’ll explain how the Gazelles member network works. Head over to Gazells.com and click “My Gazelles” over on the right side of the page. You’ll be asked to complete a profile where you answer specific questions about you and your business.

Unlike other networks, this network, using push pins on a bull’s-eye, maps you to business people who share your strengths, and have similar challenges, interests and personalities. In this way, you are actually encouraged to start dialogs with other members who are like you. The network also has powerful searching capabilities so that you can search for people using keywords and send mail to them using the network’s internal message center.

You won’t get irrelevant results or multiple results for the same target. Instead, you’ll get a simple list of the matching records. If I search for business coaches I get only those who are business coaches. Simple. Once I have identified them, my messages are more likely to receive a response since I am a member too.

Gazelles.com is by far my favorite network because of the additional, personalized features. I am also in contact with the top executives at many of the fastest growing (gazelles) companies, a profile of our end-user.

By the way, we also used my SelfGrowth.com expert network, my Work.com network of experts and my Inc5000 network. While each of the networks allows you to accomplish the same basic thing (identifying and contacting the people you’re looking to connect with), they all have a different membership demographic so you may find other networks whose members align more closely with your target customers.

Step #1 – Join In

First, join as many networks as you can where you can expect at least some of the members to fit the demographic of your target customer or, even better, as Bob Bloom says in Inside Advantage, “Your Who” – your ideal core customer.

Step #2 – Don’t Spam Them.

There is nothing worse than receiving an email that went out to everyone and doesn’t apply to me. Write a personal note to only those who fit the profile. Keep it short, not more than a paragraph, tell them what or who you have in common, why you are writing and what you want them to respond to. For example:

Hi Michael,

I see through the blahblah network that you know suzycue and you’re an amateur dentist. I’ve known suzycue for eight years and amateur dentists make up a big percentage of my customers. Most of them find that our amateur dentist faux certification kit can fool even the most sophisticated patients. I was hoping we could chat for just a few minutes to see if there is a fit. Let me know if you have any interest.

Regards,

Dave – CEO – MakeYouLookGood.com

Step #3 – Can’t Beat that Response Rate!

This is time consuming and it’s time saving – all at the same time! If it were traditional advertising, it would take weeks to get a miniscule response, very little return for such a long wait. This, on the other hand, could take an entire weekend to complete, but will likely generate a 25% response.

That’s lots of time over a relatively short timeline for a very significant return. You be the judge!

Click Below to see a short video (then read the rest of the article):

What would you pay if you could spend a lot less time on sales calls? Might you shell out a bit of dough if you had great information at your fingertips?

Cornered at the edge of a high cliff, the Sundance Kid told Butch Cassidy that he didn’t want to jump because, “I can’t swim.” 

Cassidy replied, “Are you crazy? The fall will probably kill you.”

That’s exactly how Sheryl and I feel when folks tell us, “I don’t want to pay.” 

We simply reply, “Are you crazy? The search will probably kill you.”

And, it’s true. Consider the Accenture survey from early last year which showed that:

“Middle managers spend more than a quarter of their time searching for information necessary to their jobs, and when they do find it, it is often wrong..”

There are a ton of other studies showing the same thing – most placing the cost of ineffective searches at over $5,000 per employee. Clearly, it’s the searches that are killing you.

Paid databases like ZoomInfo excel at finding the right contact information for just the right corporate executive. They offer several reasonably priced strategies that will have you quickly dialing the right person without the pain.

We’re not selling for ZoomInfo (we take no referral or advertising fees from any of the sites we write about), but it’s worth checking out their advanced selling tools – such as PowerSearch and PowerSell.

Our video at the beginning of this article will give you the best understanding of the kind of power you can get when you pay for a first rate research and sales tool.

Here, we’ll just tell you that you can slice and dice your look-ups by asking only for human resource executives in a 40 mile radius of a particular Cleveland zip code. Or, well, you get the picture – or, should I say, the video.

Watch it – and you won’t have to jump – or swim.

]]> http://goldencompass.com/blog/the-butch-cassidy-approach-to-sales-calls/feed/ 3 http://goldencompass.com/blog/instant-reliable-research-why-the-special-issues-index-is-so-special/ http://goldencompass.com/blog/instant-reliable-research-why-the-special-issues-index-is-so-special/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2007 17:44:04 +0000 Michael Benidt http://goldencompass.com/blog/instant-reliable-research-why-the-special-issues-index-is-so-special/ You say you need up-to-date, trusted information right away? You say you need recent studies, reliable statistics and dependable trend reports on a topic or industry? Read on – and watch this video:

Try looking up your industry or a general topic in Google, Yahoo or Ask. Go ahead, try it! Try using your favorite search engine to learn about healthcare, the credit card industry, biotechnology or even, what the heck, shipping and shipbuilding.

You’ll get millions of results – and that’s a waste of time if you are researching a specific topic for background such as recent surveys, industry overviews and the professional inside scoop.

Despite our best efforts, people still think that Google “gets” everything. In fact, even the best search engines only “get” a tiny fraction of what’s available on the Web. One reason is that some of the best information is hidden on the “Invisible Web” behind paid passwords. Some things, however, are are worth paying for.

Consider the James J. Hill Business Reference Library. This remarkable site offers Fortune 500-like research power to start-up companies and individual entrepreneurs. The cost? Less than your monthly cell phone bill.

The Hill Library offers databases that help you find new sales leads, resources to get the scoop on your competition, backgrounding tools that profile companies and individuals and much more.

Any one of these databases would be worth the price of admission, but let’s consider just their Special Issues Index.

Why Waste Your Time on Research? Just “Dial it Up!”

The Hill Library’s Special Issues Index is truly special – because nobody else has anything quite like it. Available only to members, you’ll just have to read the rest of this article and watch our 2-Minute video called “What’s So Special about the Hill Library?.”

Here’s how the Special Issues Index works. You see, as magazines, trade journals, and other industry publications come in to the Hill Library, they are combed for statistics, trend reports and industry profiles – and then indexed and filed into neat little topic folders just for you.

So, instead of using a search engine to get millions of results – most of which are not relevant to your search – you simply type in the industry or topic you are looking for and get all the articles in one place.

More topic examples? Just to name an alphabetical few from a random slice:

Cable Television
Canada
Candy Industry
Ceramic Industry
Chemical Industry
Children
Children’s Products
Clothing Industry
Coffee Industry

But, What About My Industry?

Wonder if your industry, topic or interest is included? Just give us a call and we’ll tell you if it is or not. Or, take advantage of a 10-day free trial at www.jjhill.org. You can even download the list of topics at this page called “Publications & Guides.”

Patricia Hoskins, Hill’s Technical Services Supervisor, gave us these background numbers:

Out of the 2400 articles listed in the Special Issues Index, 1100 are not available on the free web and a little over 1100 are not available in one of our databases. Even when available in a database or on the web, sometimes the accompanying graphics & tables are not fully available.

Even when available online in some form, learning about their existence can sometimes be difficult in the ocean of articles and websites out there.

Which is our point, entirely. People are always asking us how to find reliable, trusted information. The Special Issues Index gives you a great running start, with just one click. Try Google to see if they can match that kind of quick, concentrated value.

Beginning to see that background information like this can be critical in other ways? You undoubtedly work with any number of various people and companies – keep Special Issues at your side for the background you need for those future business deals.

And, speaking of dialing it up – as a James J. Hill member you can simply pick up the phone, send an email or chat online with their expert researchers – sending them out to lead you to whatever escapes you the first time.

Astonishing, actually. Some things really are worth paying for.

For a salesperson (yeah, that would be most of us), the problem with Google is that it finds too much. Instead, ZoomInfo is so powerful because it finds a lot less.

These Zoom guys specialize in finding people. In fact, they specialize in finding the people who might be your next customers – and then in giving your their phone number, address and some juicy details.

If you are trying to find out where your great-great grandfather is buried, you don’t need ZoomInfo. If you are pining for your high school sweetheart and wonder if she is likewise thinking of you, again, ZoomInfo is not the right site.

However, if you make sales or business calls, ZoomInfo is worth a million bucks.

Here’s a secret, though – it doesn’t cost a million bucks. The basic version of ZoomInfo, which is one of the fastest growing business reference sites on the web, is free.

Yes, FREE. Our friend Steve Lishansky has been using the “free Zoom” now for some time for his coaching business. “In many cases with just a click I can get the information I need and prepare me for my call – everything in one place.”

ZoomInfo will find companies and even find you a new job (not kidding), but in this case we’ll concentrate on their people finding powers.

It works like this. You have a name, but no contact or background information. Let’s say a friend told you that Clyde Thomas might need your service for his new company in Scottsdale .

If you searched Google for Clyde you’d come up with over 2 million results. If you knew enough to put Clyde’s name in quotation marks (”Clyde Thomas”) you’d still get over 14 thousand results.

If you use ZoomInfo.com to find Clyde, you’ll get 62 results, so it might take you some time to figure out which Clyde is your Clyde. But, pssst, you already know where he lives – and over there, yes, up in the left hand corner, you will see a box that says, “Filter Your Results.” So, go ahead, click on the state of Arizona.

Now you have only one Clyde Thomas – and he’s your guy. Try this on Clyde – and then try it on a few people you’d like to get your grubby hands on.

What do you get from ZoomInfo for free? You get his company name, web site, phone number, address, previous employment and even that he is on the Technology Advisory Board of the University of New England.

One name – one sort by state – and you’re pretty prepared to dial Mr. Thomas up. That’s almost always much faster than wading through a search Engine’s vast results.

Oh, by the way, just in case you’re wondering, ZoomInfo doesn’t know diddley about Bo Diddley, either. But then, Bo hasn’t worked for a corporation in, oh, about… well, never. He is still singing, however, wonderful as ever, at age 78.

Note: ZoomInfo.com offers more power in several paid versions. Their paid versions are examples of “Pay a Little, Get a Lot.” Look for more on that soon. And, as always, ZoomInfo does not pay us referral fees. We write about ZoomInfo (and all other resources we feature on this blog) because they offer true value, not because we’re getting paid for it. We call ‘em like we see ‘em.

Click here to see a short video about GetHuman.com but don’t forget to read the rest of the article!

How would you ever know to ask for GetHuman.com – an online phone timesaver that is not only free, but superbly effective?

I used GetHuman.com again just this past week. It made me wonder, “How did I ever live without these guys?”

Here’s what happened. I needed to call MetLife, the insurance company. However, their phone system seems designed to do just about everything – except let you talk to a real person. Does that sound familiar?

So, I remembered GetHuman.com, found MetLife’s listing and sure enough had a real person on the line in seconds.

How? This is not a pretty site. By that I mean GetHuman.com doesn’t have pictures and flying porpoises and pop-up ads. All it has, really, is a list of companies, their 1-800 numbers and the “cheats” that allow you to talk directly to a human being.

The cheats are pretty simple:

Press “2”
Say “agent” at each prompt, until offered a representative; say “yes”
Press 33; at prompt press 2; at prompt press 2.
Press “5” then press “3”

How the heck do they know about all these different combinations? In some cases employees inside the company have spilled the beans. In other cases, they’ve done years of scientific research (well, maybe just tons of phone calls to make sure their information is accurate, but you get the idea).

Seriously, though, I was pulling my hair out last week until I remembered Paul English’s pet project – the GetHuman database. He’s just as fed up with the state of customer service in the world as you are, but he’s done something about it.

Here’s what the GetHuman listing looked like for my insurance provider:

MetLife 1-800-560-5001 Press ####

Once I hit ####, I was quickly connected to a wonderfully helpful real person who resolved my problem quickly and efficiently. (I know, that sentence just doesn’t seem to ring true, but it really did happen!).

Recently a participant in one of our workshops who didn’t even own a computer benefitted from GetHuman. Believe it or not, her bank just happened to be listed on the PowerPoint slide we showed at the front of the room. She quickly jotted down the 1-800 number, along with accompanying phone “cheat” – and told us later she was able to resolve a duplicate account problem that had simmered for years.

And this morning we got an email from NSA speaker John Marx:

By the way, I think I told you that the day I received 2400 Spam emails I was having a hard time reaching anyone at Earthlink thru their website, live-chat, fraud department, etc.

I was getting increasingly agitated but remembered your suggestion about GetHuman.com from one of your workshops. Using it, I was able to get right to a real human at Earthlink, who solved my problem right away.

Seems impossible, but try it the next time you are stuck in phone hell. And thank you, Paul English, for this stunning volunteer created and volunteer run web resource. You’re one of the good guys.

Note: To learn more – click here to see our video about GetHuman.com.

That’s why I’ve been reading Dave Kurlan’s Baseline Selling: How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He uses the metaphor of baseball to help minor leaguers like me move up to the major leagues of selling. Too often, when I step up to the sales plate I feel like a grade-schooler facing Roger Clemens.

I blame Arthur Miller. Yes, I have to blame someone for my hesitations and indecisions when it comes to selling. Miller’s classic, Death of a Salesman, captured a record six Tony Awards in 1949 is still going strong in productions around the world.

It’s hard to overestimate how much of our culture – literary and otherwise – works to convince us that being a “salesman” is a questionable pursuit, at best, and a sleazy one at worst. Many of us buy into this stereotypical portrait of the selling profession and it becomes the last thing on earth we’d want to become.

Problem is, unless we’re able to write the great American novel, hit a golf ball like Tiger Woods or act like Helen Mirren, we’re often likely to end up in sales. Whether we run our own business or work for a large corporation, our success often comes down to our ability to sell.

Sales expert Don Cooper teaches the art of selling and tells his entrepreneurial audiences, “You love what you do, right? Well, you better learn to love selling, because if you don’t love selling you’ll never get the chance to do what you love most.”

Yeah, well, easy for him to say. Learning to love selling is like learning to love organic chemistry or calculus. You try hard, but the words just don’t stick, your mind wanders and you just can’t retain the concepts.

And that’s why Dave Kurlan’s Baseline Selling is such a breath of fresh air. I can still recite Willie Mays’ batting averages and Sandy Koufax’s ERA’s, but for the life of me I can’t seem to remember what the heck to do when I put on my sales uniform.

Dave Kurlan is the founder of Objective Management Group Inc. and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates Inc. He’s an expert on helping companies hire the right sales professionals, as well as assess and develop their current sales force.

But, more importantly, in this book, he’s the Miller Huggins, Tony LaRussa and Leo Durocher of selling. He will coach you through every step of the sales process with baseball analogies that work – and stick.

For instance, the psychology of selling and making sales cold calls is “Getting to First Base.” Dave describes 7 challenges that could be blocking your way to getting a hit in the world of selling. Pretty sure I face all seven!

In our selling career, Sheryl and I have been toiling away in the minors longer than most of Coach Kurlan’s other players. If you’ve got even a little bit of experience in selling, you’ll be off to second base, third base and even touching home plate very soon after picking up his book.

We can’t wait to get to up to the major leagues. That’s when we can get to the really good stuff in the book, like the “The Hidden Ball Trick,” the “Pick-off Attempt” and, who knows, I might even hit a “Grand Slam.”

Until then, we’re down here in Double AA ball. But, believe me, with the help of Dave Kurlan’s Baseline Selling, the PA announcer will soon be booming out:

“Batting third and playing shortstop, Sheryl Kay.
Batting fourth and playing left field, Michael Benidt.”

See you in the major leagues of selling soon.