Nick Nichols Personal Branding Expert

At a networking group luncheon yesterday, the speaker gave a presentation on the art of persuasion. It was very interesting to me, so much so that I bought his book on my way out. However, at the end of his talk, he asked what I call a “kiss-of-death” question, namely…

“Are there any questions?”

As a society, we are conditioned to say “No” to statements like, “Can I help you?” (in a retail store), “Anything else?” (in a restaurant), and, “Any questions?” (after a presentation at a networking event).

After the speaker asked, “Are there any questions?” there was a deafening silence. To help the guy out, I volunteered a question that the speaker said was “an excellent question.”

Which brings me to the solution to kiss-of-death questions:

When you’re in a selling situation—and when you’re trying to persuade someone to do something you’re ALWAYS in a selling situation—pretend you’re a criminal defense attorney. The defense attorney’s credo is, “Never ask a question to which you don’t already know the answer.” It would be wise to adopt this credo in selling situations, too.

Part of the persuasion speaker’s advice was to attempt to preempt questions on the prospect’s mind by anticipating and answering questions he might have so there would be nowhere for him to go but say “Yes.”

This is fine, but leaves little room for so-called “buying questions” that continue (or in some cases initiate) the interactivity or two-way communication that is essential in closing most in-person sales.

To avoid any awkward moments at the end of a presentation, you might want to try something like this:

“If you’re like most of the audiences I speak to, you probably have questions about how what you just heard can apply to your specific situation. Here are the three most often asked questions.” Then, the speaker would state each question in the form of a problem to be solved, and then ask, “How many of you would like the solution to this problem?”

Do you see the difference between, “Any questions?” and “How many of you would like the solution to this problem?”

Nick Nichols is an expert at helping personal service providers identify their most profitable niche and hone in on the problems that niche has to become the best and only choice for solving those problems.

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In his best-selling book, "Differentiate or Die," international branding expert Jack Trout talks about how being different in the minds of your prospects and clients is absolutely essential to survival and prosperity in the 21st Century. He cites nine ways to differentiate your business.

The problem is, most business owners are unaware of how to identify or create a meaningful difference. What I do is help you cut through the advertising clutter and position your business with a unique difference that will set you apart from your competition so that you become known as the best and only choice in your industry.

Until you do this, you will be forced to compete mostly on price and your profits will suffer. If price is your main differentiator, you will eventually go out of business. The countryside is littered with the remnants of failed businesses whose owners weren't savvy enough to create a unique difference. If you take action today, your business can succeed beyond your wildest dreams.

You may be familiar with the concept of having a "Unique Selling Proposition," or USP. Most traditional USPs overlook having a strong point or points of differentiation. This is the marketing kiss of death in today's highly fragmented and ultra-competitive world.

Before you place another ad, make another sales call, or send out another email message, please, please stop and assess your unique difference. If it's something like, "We give the best service," or "We have the best selection," or something similar, you're fooling yourself because, trust me, you don't have a unique difference.
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Recently I came across a website that sells "pixel" ads at $1 per pixel.

Pixels are the basic unit of graphical space measurement. A typical web page is 600-800 pixels wide by 600 or more pixels deep.

The website, milliondollarhomepage.com, has created quite a buzz for its creator, Alex Tew. The 21-year-old British entrepreneur has reportedly made $623,800 selling ad space on his homepage - one pixel at a time, according to Gwendolyn Bounds of The Wall Street Journal.

While I applaud young Mr. Tew for his creative thinking, I must scold the suckers who bought ads on his site.

The page is a collage of tiny pixel ads that is totally untargeted and a challenge to navigate.

Although the site has reportedly generated millions of page views from curiosity seekers, there's no evidence that the advertisers are getting any trackable results.

Just like the illusions of P.T. Barnum, Mr. Pew has masterfully created an online circus where "clowns" of all descriptions can "perform" for a hundred bucks.

For the advertisers, this is mindless marketing at its finest.

I can't fault Mr. Pew though, except to say that I'm jealous that I didn't think of the idea.

However, if you have money that's burning a hole in your pocket, I have some land just outside of Las Vegas that would make a perfect location for a cactus farm...

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I was scrolling through television channels last Sunday morning and I happened upon an infomercial for the Land Rider bicycle. It was interesting because of the unique way the bicycle was positioned.

First, they selected a target market: recreational bike riders who ride more for enjoyment than for competitive reasons and who favor comfort and ease of use over fancy racing features.

The bike was apparently designed specifically for this market and not for hard-core cyclists. In fact, I did some research and found that cycling purists don't like the Land Rider because it's too simple. No matter. The Land Rider is not made for them.

This is the first way to differentiate what you sell from your competitors. Pick a niche market. Tailor your offering to that niche. Become known as the best supplier to that niche. To paraphrase Abe Lincoln, don't try to please all the people all the time or you will end up not pleasing anyone anytime.

That doesn't mean you can't sell to people outside your niche. It means that you should do everything you can to cultivate as narrow a market as you can and still have a wide enough audience to be profitable.

And speaking of profit, when you are known as THE best alternative for what you sell, you can usually charge a premium.

Second, they make an extremely bold guarantee. Try the bike for 30 days and if you don't like it you can return it. This kind of guarantee is common in infomercials. Why? Because it works!

Many business people are reluctant to offer a bold guarantee because they are afraid that people will take advantage of it. And they're right. A few will. But experience consistently shows that you will attract far more buyers with a bold guarantee than you would without one. The few that take advantage constitute a small cost of doing business.

It's called "risk reversal," and it's a very powerful way to differentiate your business from competitors. It demonstrates that you believe enough in what you do to stand behind it proudly.

It costs very little to institute and test a strong guarantee. The worst that can happen is that you may discover a flaw in your offering that needs to be addressed. Wouldn't that be good to know about anyway?

Third, and most important, Land Rider is the only bike with the patented AutoShift technology that eliminates the need to shift gears manually.

This "only-one advantage" was displayed on the screen many times. Yes, the bike has some other nice features that probably appeal to their target market. But it's the ONLY bike with the AutoShift system. So if not having to shift gears manually is important, and you want the AutoShift system, you HAVE to buy a Land Rider. There IS no other choice.

And this is the key to your continued success and essential if you want to dominate your competition. You must come up with an "only-one advantage" that is meaningful to your target market. Ideally, this should be something that is not easily copied by your competitors. Even if it is, you will be positioned as the first to do it and others will be seen as copycats.

Federal Express is a classic example of this. They were the first to guarantee overnight delivery. Others followed, but FedEx has retained top-of- the-mind awareness for nearly three decades because they were the innovators.

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I received an unsolicited electronic newsletter from a company that is represented in a local networking group of which I am a member.

I guess the person who represents the company in this group apparently thought it was okay to just add me to their mailing list without my permission.

NOT!

Anyway, there are three "opportunities for improvement" that I immediately identified that will benefit anyone who publishes an electronic newsletter, ezine or other marketing communications.

First, the font size of their newsletter is waaaaay too small, making in nearly impossible to read. Font size for body copy text should be at least 10 points.

Second, the contents are nearly 100% "inner-focused," meaning centered on the COMPANY rather than on the READER.

For example, the main content is written in an attempt to look like a press release. It talks about a "new" virus: W32.Sobig@F.mm, circa 8/19/2003. Well, today is November 5th, so this "news" is nearly three months old! The "release" then rambles on about how the company's service combats viruses in a way that was intended to look like a news story but instead, blatantly resembles a sales pitch.

Most business people are too smart to be fooled by this kind of transparent ploy.

If this HAD been a press release, it would have been immediately trashed—because it lacks the single most important ingredient the media looks for: newsworthiness.

Newsworthiness means something interesting to the READER, not the company or its employees. Far too many press releases—and most marketing communications in general—are filled with self-serving platitudes and hyperbole that have little or no meaning or value to the audience.

At the bottom of the main content area they include an announcement that they just signed up a new customer, which they name, and they include a pointless quote from a person at that company.

WHO CARES? Why is the fact that they signed up a particular company important to me, another customer or prospect? It isn't. It's just fluff.

Third, there is a NO offer or call to action. There's nothing in it for me, the reader, to make me want to contact the company for more information. There's nothing whatsoever to keep me interested.

In short, the piece is a bunch of self-seeking drivel that has little—if any—meaning or value to the reader.

Ironically, the sidebar of the piece trumpets the company's apparent relationship with a new "communication consultant" that has been helping them with their marketing. This is a classic example of the blind leading the blind.

The lesson? Your marketing communications MUST:

• Be readable

• Be meaningful and relevant to the audience

• Have a compelling offer or call to action

Otherwise, you're just wasting their time and your money.

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If you want your marketing communications to help you MAKE SALES, instead of putting people to sleep, call me, Nick Nichols, at 702-227-5877.

"NOT hiring Nick Nichols will cost you a LOT more than hiring him!"
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I read a newspaper article entitled, "Reviewers mostly draw the line at self-published submissions," and I chuckled at the arrogant pomposity of the writer's "BOOK EDITOR'S POLICY ON SELF-PUBLISHING."

While it is true that there has been an explosion in publishing, which presumably makes an editor's job more challenging, it's also a fact that printed newspaper readership has been—and will continue to be—on the decline.

I suspect the main reason for this decline is newspapers have failed to deliver what people want, which is something DIFFERENT than they can get via broadcast and Internet media.

That difference might be delivered in the form of reviews of self-published books that the other media are not bothering with.

When a writer is one of dozens, or perhaps hundreds of newspaper writers reviewing, say, Jessica Lynch's book, how can he—or anyone else—be different enough to really stand out?

In my opinion, when a writer limits himself to reviewing only mainstream books, he practices "dull-normal" journalism. Being dull-normal doesn't sell papers—or anything else for that matter.

The fact that a book is self-published may mean it's not 100% polished. So what? If the information is meaningful and useful, does an interested reader really care if the writing style doesn't adhere to some arbitrary literary standard?

And just because a commercial publisher believes a book is worthy of publishing doesn't make it so. As proof, just go to any major book retailer and note the number of "name" authored-books that are in the bargain bins.

The point the writer missed is that today's self-publishing and ebook technologies have allowed unknown people to communicate ideas to audiences they would not otherwise have been able to reach.

Self-publishing has allowed for the fast conversion of ideas to print to distribution in a way that the commercial publishers cannot accomplish.

And speaking as a self-published author, I can say that the financial rewards of self-publishing can be far greater for an author than the paltry royalties that are often available in a commercial publishing deal.

So, instead of clinging to outdated book review policies that may be contributing to the decline in readership, newspaper writers should consider entering the 21st century. They might venture outside their comfort zones by being a little different, a little controversial, and a lot more interesting.

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Call me, Nick Nichols, at 702-227-5877 and I'll show you how self-publishing articles, special reports and ebooks can get qualified prospects to seek you out in droves.

"NOT hiring Nick Nichols will cost you a LOT more than hiring him!"
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I visited a Prospective Client (PC) who wanted me to write some press releases. One of the first questions I ask every prospective client is, "How are you different from your competition?"

PC answered, "Everybody's the same in our business. There are no differences."

Poor guy...

No meaningful difference means he'll have to compete mostly on price.

When you compete mostly on price your customers will be loyal to you mostly based on your price. When a lower price comes along, your customers will leave you.

Unless you have the buying power and distribution efficiency of Wal-Mart (and no one else does) you will lose the price battle, sooner or later.

What's interesting is that PC gave me a tour of his facility. I discovered several potential meaningful differences that he could exploit.

But alas, he didn't want to hear it. He knows better. He'd rather waste his money on Mindless Marketing to, in his words, "get our name out there."

If you want to "get your name out there," go ahead—if you feel you need the exercise. Buy a billboard and put your name on it and see what happens:

• Indifference among most viewers
• Confusion among potential customers
• Ridicule by media critics
• Gleeful snickering by your competitors
• Drained bank account
• Minimal sales
• Embarrassment

Now, I'm not saying you won't make a few sales using the "get your name out there" tactic.

There MIGHT be a few people who are chomping at the bit to buy what you have and you happened to be the first supplier they saw at the moment of decision.

But let's look at the odds of that happening: Slim at best.

So....

Unless you have a gazillion dollars to throw at the wall and see what sticks, if you use the "get your name out there" tactic you will be throwing most of your hard-earned dollars down the drain.

And you don't want to do that, do you?

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Call me, Nick Nichols, at 702-227-5877 and I'll show you MUCH better ways to invest your advertising, promotion and PR dollars.

"NOT hiring Nick Nichols will cost you a LOT more than hiring him!"
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