Book-Marketing Tip of the Week – July 28, 2014

Focus on getting people to buy rather than selling to them. This may seem like a minor difference, and it may just be a matter of degree. But today's business buyers are more astute than those of the past. They are not simply looking for ways to reduce costs, but how to create value for their organizations.

 

Discover what the customer needs -- which will probably be some combination of products and services -- then describe how you can help improve revenues, margins or brand image. Add value to their way of doing business. For example, you may be trying to sell a barbeque cookbook to buyers at Lowe's or Home Depot. They do not want to sell cookbooks as much as they want to sell high-priced, more profitable barbeque grills. So you could sell your cookbook by demonstrating to them how it could be used as en enticement to get people to buy the grills. They could use your book – rather than sell it – by giving one away with each grill purchased. This is the concept of cross merchandising.