Whether you're a dentist, painter, software developer, medical equipment manufacturer, dry cleaner or the Mayflower Madam ? you've got something to market and sell.



Therefore, ?Marketing? and ?Selling? are not dirty words. They are your friends, your best friends. Embrace them. And never think you are above them.

They will pay for your kid's college education. They will buy you a bigger home or a totally unnecessary second home. They will buy you Lexus's and Porsches, Parisian vacations and unnamed and possibly illegal vices and vulgar affectations.

And when you're done, they will buy you a very cushy retirement, and even leave you with lots of money to give to your spoiled kids from your numerous marriages ? which they helped you create and afford, respectively.

So here are three tips on how to market and sell better and faster so you can get all and more of the above that much sooner...

The Amazing Power of the Three ?S's?

The first ?S? stands for... Story.

When you were a babe... that is, a child... what did you ask Mommy and Daddy for at bedtime?

Okay, asking to stay up a little longer may have been your first choice, but when that appeal was thoroughly exhausted... you asked them for what?

Okay, a glass of water. And after you drank the glass of water... and, went to the bathroom, again... then what did you ask for? (Boy, you were a sly one, weren't you?)

Good. Thank you. You asked them to tell you a story?

And the point being... we all love and want to hear a good story.

We've embraced stories ever since the first stories were grunted around a Woolly Mammoth Bar-B-Q, and ?story boarded? on an open house cave wall.

Story telling may even be the ?oldest? profession. And even if it takes only second place honors, it just proves that...

Stories and Sex... ?Sell?

And when you combine the two ? Hello, Watch Out! You've got one hell?uva marketing tactic, though not necessarily a recommended one if you're selling to religious zealots, Tipper Gore, most of the business to business (B2B) sector, and children.

And for that reason, sex is not one of the three ?S's?.

Back to stories...

We watch TV, we Tivo, go to the movies, read books ? why? Because we instinctively enjoy gossip ? no, well... maybe. It's because we enjoy a ?good? story, and always will.

A good story captures our imagination... and holds our attention.

What constitutes a good ?marketing and sales? story?

People. It's a story about people whom our target market (prospect or customer) can easily identify or empathize with...

And... it's a story that clearly highlights a product related problem or need (the beginning), a growing crisis that begs for a fateful ?buying? decision (the middle) and a cost-effective and profitable solution (the happy end).

When you show the origins of your product or service ? how it came to be developed, the vision and impetus behind it, and how it has helped a particular customer or two (think: case histories) ? I assure you, your sales will be far higher and greater, than if you don't.

So Tell a Good Story... When Selling Your Product or Service

Now for the second ?S?, which stands for... the difference between the fish and the fishing pole.

I'll explain...

Surely, you've heard the adage that goes: give a man a fish and he'll have food for a day, but give a man a fishing pole and he'll have food for a lifetime.

Well, forget it. It doesn't work in marketing and sales.

Your prospects and customers don't want a fishing pole (unless their shopping for one at The Sports Authority). Given the choice, the average consumer will always opt for the fish ? not the pole.

As an enlightened, spoiled and unbelievably lazy 21st Century consumer, whatever we want ? we want it now, and we want it already assembled.

If it Smacks of Work We Just Won't Buy it

The other night I couldn't sleep. Earlier in the day I had delivered a banner ad to a client (a well known investment newsletter publisher) for whom I had also written a subscriber acquisition sales letter, to which the ad linked.

The banner ad read: Immunize Your Portfolio Against Future Stock Market Shocks, Click Here Now, yada, yada...

Not bad, right. Well, something wasn't right. And I couldn't put my finger on it... until I awoke at 3 in the morning with the answer.

?Immunize? means that the reader must do something in order to gain a perceived benefit.

But, if I use the power of ?S?...

And turn ?Immunize? into ?Immunizes? ? it means, at least in the reader's eye ? which is the only eye that counts ? that the perceived benefit is immediately and automatically conferred ? no assembly required.

?Makes Your Life a Lot Easier...?

Or...

?Learn How To Make Your Life a Lot Easier...?

Which ad would you click on first?

Whatever you're marketing or selling, in whatever medium, online or off, and whenever applicable, use the power of ?S?. It will put more money in your pocket a heck of a lot faster.

Now for the third and final ?S?, which stands for... Sleep. Yes, sleep.

If you've been knocking your head against the wall for hours, searching for an elusive solution to a thorny problem, marketing or otherwise ? call it quits, and take a nap.

What do you think Thomas Edison did whenever he couldn't figure out how to get one of his soon-to-be successful inventions to work? He took a nap... and sure enough, when he awoke there was a light bulb above his head.

When you shut your eyes and drift off ? with a question or a problem in the forefront of your thoughts ? you intentionally task your subconscious to filter through all the garbage, the conflicts and distractions, which blocked you while you were awake.

It worked for me in the ?Immunize? example above.

Till the next time... lock your office door, take the phone off the hook, pull down the shades, put your feet up on the desk... and snooze.