First Word

Have you ever given anything away for free? Have you ever been surprised when something you're giving away suddenly completely loses its value to the point that you can't give free away at all? Yes, people will turn away from free things, which is hard to believe. You want to know why? Because if value is perceived as worthless than the question gets instilled in their heads, "Well, if you don't want it why should I?" Either free things will get perceived as junk (which is why they're free) or the subconscious mind will think, "What's wrong with it?" or "There's a catch." As a sales person it will surprise you to know that giving stuff away for free can be just as much work as selling it. So in that respect you might as well sell it. Here's the real insight: people respond well to DEALS and SALES. While you might not be able to give away anything without weird reactions and "no thank yous" switch your tactic to a s...

I had a meeting last night with a long-time business associate about publishing his book. We were talking about the subject of his book, which is life lessons. We started talking about being business owners and entrepreneurs. The subject of holding your value came up. The take away from this conversation inspired me, and it made me think about how important just the idea of "value" is not just to how it comes across to prospective clients or current customers, but also in your body language. How you feel about what you're saying. How it's perceived by others. A sale happens in the customer's mind. It happens in how they perceive you. It happens in how you truly inwardly feel about what you're selling. What my friend taught me was to know inside first my personal worth and value, and then to project and hold that value outwardly. Not to concern myself about the other person's situation. Know my value and project it. Don't feel bad or guilty about it. ...

I'm going to focus on consumer book sales as my example for the day. Here is the tip for authors who sell books or products directly to consumers at events (book festivals in my case): find the tagline. It's the one way to make the reader (consumer) stop in his or her tracks. My approach goes like this: Michelle: Do you read thrillers? Reader: No (keeps walking) Reader: Yes (stops) Now have a marketing promo piece or giveaway (your way of thanking them for their time to stop and talk to you). Find the pitch (tagline): Michelle: You'll never guess the killer (for the 3L Publishing book Vengeance is Now) Reader: I'm pretty good. I might. Michelle: I edited the book, and I swear I didn't guess. The author is right over there and he will sign your book. Send them off to the author to sign the book. You have to find the "hook" or the temptation. Challenging readers who pride themselves in being able to identify the killer gets them every time. If ...

My associate Laura Sevigny, our new director of operations, marketing and sales, said this: "The biggest lessons I've learned were from when I failed not succeeded." I thought about that statement, and I agree. Then I considered my own biggest lessons from failure, and I wanted to share with my audience here on First Word . I must be the "master of my domain" (a funny line from Seinfeld which has nothing to do with business) . But it's true. As the CEO I should not be doing every job, but I should know how to do every job. After another "expensive education" (another Laura-ism), I decided it was time to pull back the curtain and figure it ALL out. Even though it's taken temporarily from my core work, I decided to devote a month or better to perform every task in my business down to shipping. In doing these tasks, I will now be able to answer every question firmly and without reservation. I can also gauge and understand what amount of time ...

Michelle Gamble-Risley, CEO at 3L Publishing (www.3LPublishing.com). As business owners, we spend a lot of time out networking and meeting people. What I see as a colossal waste of time is when you network and fail to follow-up on leads. You get back to the office and the non-stop phone or email or texts distract you -- and pretty soon you haven't had two seconds to make sure all those hot prospects turn into actual business. I ask you, what is the point if you don't follow-up? You ate rubber chicken, drank sour coffee, and maybe consumed a semi-tasty cookie (what is it with cookies for dessert these days anyway?). Your waistline expanded maybe, but your bank account didn't increase. You spent the money, ate the bad food, and you didn't follow-up. I say why don't you just take that cash, add it up, flush it down the toilet, and add some Drano just to ensure it goes down smoothly. The whole point of networking is to build relationships to grow your business. So ...