Learn about the importance of creativity, guidelines to branding, ideas to get past the "Broca" and resources to apply creative messaging and branding.
Contributors: Brian Childers, Andy Horner, Boris Siebert, Michael Jahn.
6. 1. IMPORTANCE WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF A BRAND? YOUR BRAND IS WHAT EXISTS IN THE MINDS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS
7. 1. IMPORTANCE YOU MUST GET PAST BROCA “Interest me, cries broca. Surprise me with something I don’t know. If you are not carrying new information or a new perspective, you’ll not enter my Prefrontal Cortex. “ Roy H Williams.
11. 1. IMPORTANCE MICHAEL JAHN PDF Evangelist, On Demand PDF Book Champion, Not Ready for the North Shore Surfer and “Stump the Chump” PDF application guy
Today's presentation is about unleashing creativity to create more sales. Creativity has a role in everything we do. including the sales world and our selling efforts as business owners.
Today I’ll be discussing the importance of creativity. Creative guidelines in the world of sellingIdeas to apply it right after this presentation and put some creativity in some of those things that you do such as the next email you send out, the next proposal you create or presentation to your customer. Resources that you guys can you use to help you express your creativity or drag it out of you.
Alot of people think that when we talk about business and creativity it just about standing out. Well….It’s a good startBut it's so much more to it than that. Just to be noticed and be recognized is not the most important thing here.
Creativity is about everything. It's about proving to people that you are a thinker. It's about capturing the respect and admiration---expressing who you really are. Even though you might be a goof ball at heart, you need to use your creativity to show that you are a thinker, that there is wisdom and ideas inside of you.
Sales people have the reputation of being inathentic. self-serving and fake.It's just the basic assumption out there of sales people. Ahh you're just a bunch of suits.Well….your creativity unlocks the idea and perception that you are a real personality, someone that they would actually like to know. It's a keyhole to showing somebody that you can build a relationship with rather than just trying to close them. It's not just about standing out, It's far more than that.
While many people refer to a brand as a logo, tag line or audio jingle. A brand is actually much larger. It’s the essence or promise of what will be delivered or experienced. It’s how you make people feel. Your brand is what exist in the minds of your customers.
Is anybody familiar with the Broca’s area? Inside the mind there is an area called the broca. we use that area to filter out all of the stuff that is unimportant. the drive here today....totally uninteresting. But if I would have seen Rita in a monster truck cranking AC/DC, the broca's area would have acted like a gate and and opened up to say hey there is something important that you need to pay attention to. that same thing happens with the world of selling. peoplesee all of these ads, sales people, emails. If you present them with something different, the brocas area says pay attention to this. this is something different. so yes. standing out does have a place.Roy h williams – wizard of ads
It’s ok to try new things. What did toastmasters do. What is their new taglineICE BREAKER Shaky voice, Sweaty palms, blood rushing to my face, sweat dripping from my forehead. 8 speeches. New topics. New things.Nail down your differentiator and who you really are. Have fun doing it. President of Foxxr? Sultan of Service. S.O.S. email signature
My friend Boris Seibert ran for Capitola City office back in 2006. His biggest weakness was that nobody knew him. Boris decided to run a simple campaign slogan at the beginning of his campaign based somewhat on the Got Milk campaign. He broke all of the rules. He was the new guy on the block with a new perspectiveHe used his name as leverage. 2 things happen - In the beginning, it was Who’s Boris? In the last 3-4 weeks as he was gaining momemtum, he was attacked as he had predicted. At that point, he was able to leverage that momentum phrase his message into “I am Boris and this is what I stand for. The public bit on the attacks and he lost the election. Key here was that he had nothing to loose. And campaigned around a simple catchy message.
If you look at the ad world. There are some brilliantly creative campaigns, right? The crazy old spice guy with his crazy shower ads and riding backwards on his horse. Flow with progressive. Creativity is flooding into all of the advertisements. Notice that these compnaies are all represented by an individual? Creativity has a huge role in capturing the respect and grabbing the attention of the people out there. but its more than that. these ads comes across as intelligent. it's about expressing yourself as a thinker.
Talk about Personality and brand specialtyJahn. This guy knows how to have fun with his brand. As a public speaker and pdf evangelist he got very creative with his profile pics. HE IS THE KING OF ANALOGIES AND METAPHORS.PDF Evangelist, On Demand PDF Book Champion,Not Ready for the North Shore Surfer and “Stump the Chump” PDF application guy
The internet, all of the spam we have today makes it harder to get past this brocas area. that is why it is so important that you have something new to share. something they haven't seen before.
RelevanceYou cant just through something crazy in front of your customer's face like a frightening clown. boo. now that i have your attention, buy now.You have to have relevance to your message. you can't just have random messaging or imagery. you are actually segwaying your creative message to this unique image.
Here's another idea.Try combining two previously unpaired ideas. so if you have london and you have the stacked buses.Combine them into a logo. designers work this way alot. They take two ideas, bring them together, to create something fresh and new.
There is another way of doing it.Try flippping an idea upside down. this is an actual house. it looks like something from the wizard of OZ. Very cool. Imagine if you saw this on the side of the road in a suburban neighborhood. That would open the gate to the brocas area. google it. upsidedown house.
also you can change the scale. take something small and make it big. Or take something big and make it small. you can see where i am going with this.
DESIGN MATTERS. This is an ad for a cat boarding service. Clip art? Really?
what if you took a house and put it on the side of an art museum. that would get somebody's attention. Jeffrey Gitomer does this same thing in his sales seminars. there he is instructing and leading a bunch of well-dressed business folks in his mechanics shirt. a mechanics shirt. he is a leader and a thinker putting something where it doesn't belong and it gets peoples attention.
be careful of humor. bad puns, corney jokes, cliches, sarcasm, and shock humor. I see people try these (and occasionally have tried them myself) and guess what..people MIGHT BE SMILING AND MAY EVEN LAUCH don't think they are funny.Use funny personal stories, you tube videos and your own brand of humor. YEARBOOK YOURSELF
as you try to communicate with your customers, use metaphors. they work beautifully it gets the mind thinking, it opens up the broca. Your computers apple a day, we take two previously disconnected things, security software for your computer and your apple a day. Your computer's apple a day.
how about this. if you are a realtor, this house is going to sold so fast, we are calling it a closed house. and we are only inviting a few people. that's the way you grab somebody's attention. if somebody reads that you're having a closed house they'll think what in the world is a closed house.
ashville north carolina. biltmore castle. Ad from moving company. GUESS HOW MUCH THEIR FURNITURE IS WORTH? you now get their mind spinning. ANY GUESSES. 2.3 billion! Their slogan….”when we move your furniture we will treat it tas though it has the same value”. that is how to segway your business message.
exploit your kids. have them draw a picture. make sure taht you share that your kids did this. kids drawing and buseinss. 2 previously disconnected things. you bring the together and you'll grab somebody's attention. go to an elementary school classroom and look at the projects they come up with. they haven't been told yet that they are not creative.
The creators of ace of sales are brilliant at injecting humor into their templates.
Never forget your customers birthdays. My insurance agent always sends me a birthday card. Even though there is not much personalization to it. I still remember that he took the time to send me a card. Talk about customer loyalty.
If you see a name of your customer, take a picture from your phone and send it to them with a short note saying you were thinking of them.
Better yet, get Ace of Sales and create a custom greeting or post card in only a few clicks.
Discover, create, communicate and maintain your brand. 10.5 commandments of sales success. Think, believe, engage, discover, ask, observie, dare, own, earn, prove, become