Rabbi Issamar Ginzberg consults for businesses and executives around the world. Yesterday he shared his top tips for growing sales with participants of the Temech Conference, and I think you’ll find them helpful whether you are a freelancer or a large corporation.
1. BIRG : Basking in Reflecting Glory.
Ex. when a real estate agent hands out Donald Trump’s book at his seminar. Donald Trump has nothing to do with him but people make the association anyways. Another example is having the credit card company logos on your website or materials.
2. You create a certain image. Own it!
Warren Buffett has a very different image than Donald Trump. Warren Buffett will ride Coach and lives in the same house he has lived in for 60 years while Trump flies around in a private jet. If Trump were to fly coach or vice versa, it would be uncharacteristic and make him suddenly seem less credible or reliable. If you do need to be incongruent for some reason, try to prepare your client for it first rather than that they discover it on their own.
Rabbi Ginzberg is a chassid, and as such, he doesn’t fit the typical consultant stereotype, but he owns it by staying true to his values and using his distinct appearance to his advantage.
Want to learn more about storytelling for growing your business?
3. Be #1.
No, this is actually easier than you might think. Try to become #1 in people’s minds for something specific. If someone in your field is already #1, don’t try to compete head to head with them. Rather, pivot your business so that you will be doing something slightly different.
An example Rabbi Ginzberg used for becoming #1 was creating a gefilte fish competition and the first year no one would even give him free product, but the next year, after the competition sees that the winner put #1 Gefilte Fish on their label, they will be vying for the attention.
4. Use the Rapportive tool for Gmail.
Rapportive – now part of a LinkedIn Sales Solution – will show you what social networks are associated with a given email address and will help you find the email address of a particular person at a company. Use it to find out as much about potential clients as possible. Ex. He saw that someone he contacted had recently tweeted “Go Giants!” so he put that at the end of his email to him and it was well received.
5. Use Discover.ly to Cut Through the Noise
Discover.ly is a browser extension that can help you see connections and information from your social networks as you browse. Rabbi Ginzberg’s suggestion for using the tool is to find how leads are generally communicating and try to reach out to them via networks they don’t use so often, so that you cut through the noise and that busy people actually see your message.
6. Use Suspense
You will be more memorable to potential clients if you utilize the Zeigarnik effect, which explains an element of human nature and memory. People tend to remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks.
How can you use this for your advantage? Leave some cliffhangers when telling stories. When selling products or services, try to make them part of a set. “Collect ’em all!”
