Quotations by Chet Holmes

Market data can motivate purchasing when people might not even feel they need the product. [2007] - Chet Holmes

List the six most important things you need to do and, by hook or by crook, get those six things completed each day. Your six most important things should take about six hours. Put the most important task first. Spend 80 percent of your time on results-oriented work and only 20 percent on everything else. [2007] - Chet Holmes

There are two ways to include case studies in your standard training. One case study should show how someone did everything wrong and how that made the situation worse. Another case study should show how someone did everything right and how well it worked. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Three Ps: planning, procedures, and policies. Schedule at least one hour a week to work on the three Ps. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Service the customer, not sell to the customer. [2007] - Chet Holmes

People like to be asked their opinion. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Change the titles of the salespeople to sound less salesy--for example, "director of corporate communications." [2007] - Chet Holmes

About 3 percent of potential buyers at any given time are buying now. 7 percent of the population is open to the idea of buying. The remaining 90 percent fall into one of three equal categories. The top third are "not thinking about it." The next third are "think they're not interested." The final third are "definitely not interested." [2007] - Chet Holmes

96 percent of all businesses fail within 10 years, with 80 percent failing within the first two years. The top reasons for failure include bad customer relations, bad budgeting, lack of staff training, failure to anticipate market trends, and poor and inconsistent marketing. [2007] - Chet Holmes

When you sell, you break rapport, but when you educate, you build it. Sales is all about building rapport, not breaking it. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Being a market expert--not just a product expert--means being more knowledgeable than any of your competitors. You need to take the time to collect market data and build your core story or your stadium pitch. Today the Internet makes market data readily available. To get the most powerful market data, the trick is to look at things over time. Find market data that makes your product or service more important. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Personality profiling is the key to finding superstars. Candidates who exhibit high dominance in DISC test have strong egos. Strong ego is crucial in sales because it means you will have the drive and personal ambition to close as many sales as possible and the armor to not take repeated and even harsh rejections personally. Top producers exhibit high influence. If your candidate's personality combines high influence with high dominance, you've found your sales superstar. [2007] - Chet Holmes

The more you challenge superstars, the more you encourage them to overachieve. But don't forget to compliment them when they meet and exceed your challenge. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Best buyers buy more, buy faster, and buy more often than other buyers. These are your ideal clients. Have a special effort dedicated to just the dream clients. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Social Proof: "When others are doing it, it's okay for me to do it, too." [2007] - Chet Holmes

For a lot less money, you could send a special direct mail effort to just the best neighborhoods where the best buyers live. The secret is to do it continuously so that you build top-of-mind awareness among those best buyers. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Affiliate marketing is a much faster way to grow than traditional advertising, direct mail, or other forms of driving cold leads. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Offer incentives to your current buyers when they refer others to you. [2007] - Chet Holmes

Seven Musts of Marketing: 1. Advertising; 2. Direct mail; 3. Corporate literature: brochures and promotional pieces; 4. Public relations; 5. Personal contact: salespeople and customer service; 6. Market education: trade shows, speaking engagements, and education-based marketing; 7. Internet: Web sites, email efforts, and affiliate marketing. [2007] - Chet Holmes

There are four rules for creating high-response-generating advertising: 1. It must be distinctive. 2. Capture attention with a screaming headline. The headline should give a benefit and focus on the prospect by using "you" or "your" instead of focusing on yourself by using the word "we." 3. After your headline hooks them, your body copy has to keep them reading. The body copy must focus on your prospect, not on you. The body copy should be benefit-oriented. 4. Include a call to action.  [2007] - Chet Holmes