Social Networking Gets Slater’s 50/50 off to a Strong Start

The first time I heard about the concept of viral marketing was in Malcolm Gladwell’s fascinating book, The Tipping Point. He described the elements necessary for a product to take off and catch the public’s imagination like a virus. The impression I got was that while you can know what elements are necessary, you can’t guarantee that you can get the mix right when you deliberately try to make a product go viral.

This remains true about social networking. Some things are so well done that they capture the imagination of a few people who are influencers, and those people spread the word. If they’re respected and their followers or audience agrees, they too tell their friends. Suddenly your product or service goes viral. At least that is every marketer’s dream. What you have to say should be entertaining or informative. Though important, video is not the key. Slater’s 50/50 is an example of a business doing well in its first months thanks to raving fans who use the Internet to tell others about their restaurant. [...]

Seven Times When You Win by Walking Away from a Quote

In my meeting this afternoon with my client, we got into a discussion about experiences we’ve had with small business owners who waste time on quotes they won’t win. To most salespeople, any live request for a quote is exciting. Eventually, experience teaches us to pass on doing some.

This article presents seven situations where smart salespeople, whether soft sell salespeople or hard sell, win by walking [...]

Taking Time Out to Read Malcolm Gladwell’s “Outliers” at Starbucks

Content with iced tea, highlighter, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers

Friday night I finally did something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I went to Starbucks, bought my iced tea and then sat down there and read. Usually I just drop in, get my iced teas to go, and take off on my errands [...]

Do You Have the Sales Passion to Become Outstanding?

1/04/09 – In the chapter on “The 10,000-Hour Rule,” in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success, Gladwell makes the point that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve world-class performance, whether it’s with the violin, the piano, or programming – provided, of course, that you even have the basic aptitude to excel at that activity. To become a master salesperson, likewise, takes persistent practice. It takes passion to discipline yourself to pursue the knowledge and skills needed to get in 10,000 hours of persistent [...]

Resources

Curious about Knowing More? Sales & Marketing Resources

There are so many books and courses available today that figuring out which are good is daunting. I personally rely on people whose advice I’ve learned to trust to help me avoid wasting money and to point me towards wise investments. This page enables me to list books, [...]