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Selling Nothing But Air

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What are you selling?

Make the mistake of asking a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman that question and he’ll whip out his cleaning machine and be into his sales pitch faster than you can scream, “NO!”  If his sales pitch were a bullet, you’d be dead before you hit the floor.

Ask that same question of a doctor, or an attorney, or any other kind of “service professional” and you would probably be met with a blank stare followed by the response,  “I’m not SELLING anything.  I’m a [fill in the blank].”

Unfortunately, NOTHING and I mean NOTHING is further from the truth. If you’re in business, you’re selling something – PERIOD!

If you’re in business and you can’t pull out  a product to hand to a prospective customer for review, then chances are strong that you’re in the business of selling nothing but air.

  • Your education – nothing but air.
  • Your experience – nothing but air.
  • Your services – nothing but air.

Sometimes referred to as “knowledge professionals”, many of us who live and work on the web are selling nothing but air.  We are joined in the “real” world by dozens of service professionals whose services can not be wrapped and mailed.   The list of those selling nothing but air includes plumbers, dentists, attorneys, doctors, chiropractors, electricians, acupuncturists, realtors, writers, accountants – the list goes on and on.

If this were a paper for a professor in business school,  I’d be using the more “technical” term for selling “nothing but air” and I’d call it the intangible sale.  Then, I’d begin prattling on about the strong connection between MAJOR SALES and INTANGIBLE SALES.   I would point out that while not every Major Sale is an Intangible Sale, every Intangible Sale is by nature a Major Sale.

Thank goodness this isn’t a term paper on Web Marketing 101!

Just as a refresher, there are two types of “sales” your business can make.  There are Minor Sales which are sales that don’t warrant a lot of time or energy on the part of the buyer.   Almost anything offered for sale in a Wal-Mart would qualify as a minor sale.  Even the few items that are sold by Wal-Mart that would meet the criteria for a Major Sale are reduced to Minor Sale status thanks to Wal-Mart’s permissive return policies.

A Major Sale is one where the buyer’s financial and/or emotional investment is significant.  As a result, the purchase warrants significant time and research into alternatives. In the Major Sale, another key factor is that there is the potential for a long-term relationship between you and/or your business and the customer.

In other words, in the Major Sale – the consequences of making a purchasing mistake are high.

  • Choosing the wrong doctor can be a matter of life and death.
  • Choosing the wrong tax professional can mean the difference between business success and business failure.
  • Choosing the wrong divorce attorney can mean the difference between splitting your assets or turning them all over to your soon to be ex-spouse.
  • Choosing the wrong Realtor can mean the difference between buying a house the floods or buying one that is high and dry.

Our town of Port St. Lucie, Florida was making national news after Tropical Storm Fay rolled through.  We got  a lot of rain dumped on our fair city over the course of a few days, exposing to the world a critical flaw in our fair city.  Explosive growth combined with poor planning by city officials = exceptionally poor storm water drainage.  As a result, much of the city was shut down by extensive flooding.

I was getting a manicure last week and he conversation turned to Fay and the extensive flooding that resulted.  I asked my manicurist if she was affected by the flooding.  Her response, “We had a REALLY good realtor who told us when we began looking to buy a house up here about the problems the city has with drainage.  As a result, we purchased our house with the possibility of flooding in mind.  Our house sits high and dry thanks to our realtor’s advice.”

Attention: All Realtors – especially those of you who are “afraid” that the internet is going to replace you-  it won’t if you understand what it is you’re REALLY selling.

Three years later, a manicurist in a popular day spa is still singing the praises of her exceptional realtor – the one who guided them as they made a Major Sale Purchase and kept them from buying a home that was susceptible to flooding.

This is why when you’re in the business of selling nothing but air why it’s so important to build TRUST with prospective clients/customers.  We live in an age which can be defined as a “No Trust Zone“.  Building trust is an essential part of making the sale when you’re selling “nothing but air”.

Realtors – you are selling nothing but air  a.k.a.  – your expertise of your local housing market.

Attorneys – you are selling nothing but air  a.k.a.  – your expertise at negotiation and persuasion.

Doctors – you are selling nothing but air  a.k.a.  – your expertise of the human body.

Accountants, you are selling nothing but air a.k.a. – your expertise and knowledge of the tax code.

Once you recognize the fact that you’re selling nothing but air, it sets the stage for creating physical product you can put in someone’s hands.  Writing a book, an eBook or even a blog is a great way to “bridge” the trust gap and demonstrate your expertise.

Google Chrome – Time for a refreshing dip in the cesspool!

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I love blogs. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love blogs -especially blogs where I can learn from someone else’s mistakes!!!

Today, my love and heartfelt affection goes out to the SEO 2.0 blog. Now I know that downloading the New Google Browser is a Bad Idea.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for diving headfirst into the cesspool that is Chrome!

I feel very, very WISE right now because I’m learning from someone else’s mistake, which appears to be an apt description of the new Google Chrome browser – a mistake.

In 10 Scariest and Most Annoying Facts about Google Chrome I learned that Google Chrome will make changes to my registry file and they’re sketchy about what they’re going to do with the information they obtain from gaining access to my computer.

Because of a blog, I personally can avoid taking a shit bath in the cesspool that is Google Chrome!

Patrick over at Spinning Silk wrote in the post What browser are you using? that he would be tuning in to the Google Chrome announcement.  I’m sure that Patrick didn’t see any of the things the SEO 2.0 blog pointed out during Google’s sales pitch for the new browser.

That’s the beauty of Web 2.0.  Go ahead… make your pitch.  Spin it any way you like.  Once people begin USING the product, the truth WILL come out.

Personally, I’ll stick with Firefox.  It ain’t broken and as such I don’t need to “fix” it by adopting Chrome.

What browser are you using?  Have you tried Chrome?

Web Marketing 101: School of Hard Knocks

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Yet another school year has begun and my children (ages 14-21) are back to hitting the books. The oldest is in college, so she has the option of choosing her courses and even choosing which professor presents the information.

WHO presents the information is a biggie when you’re in college as well as in the real world.

In college, some professors are a true resource while others seem to be devoted to collecting a paycheck with as little effort as possible. That’s why there are multiple sites where students can go and “rate” their professors online. Even though the curriculum may be the same, the person who is teaching the class makes all the difference.

Ah, those were the days- when a professor would present the information and then, a few days or weeks later, you’d be “tested” on that information. If you performed well on the test, you’d get an “A” – if you didn’t, you might get a “C” or lower.  I wish I’d known how little those A’s would mean two decades later.

Fortunately (or unfortunately – depending how you look at it), my college days are but a memory.  Even the loans I took out to pay for that 4 year party -ehm, educational experience- are paid in full.   Now I’m living in the “real” world where the only school I attend is the school of hard knocks!!! There is no grading on a “curve” or cramming for finals. Instead, the only “test” is the balance of my business checking account.

WHO presents the information you need for real life success is a biggie in “the real world” as well.

As for me, personally, I’m a graduate of SHIT FLINGER U! No, not SHIT as in the South Harmon Institute of Technology, but shit as Cath Lawson defines it in her post Shit: The Best Tool For Success. Cath writes:

The more shit you have thrown at you, the more you learn. And although being in business is stressful, the more shit that hits you at once, the easier it will become later on.

Cath is the one who introduced me to the term “knowledge gatherers”. I squealed with delight when I read that descriptive term.  See,  I’ve run into this type before and have gone as far as to hire a few of these.

A knowledge gatherer is someone who reads every blog, buys every eBook and joins every membership site on a certain subject. Then, the knowledge gatherer presents himself/herself as an “expert” because he/she has accumulated all this knowledge.  Oh, he or she hasn’t applied any of this knowledge, but he or she is more than willing to tell YOU how to implement it.

Unfortunately, it takes about 3 weeks of working with just such a person (sometimes less) before you discover that you’re dealing with this type of individual.  One thing I’ve noticed is that this type usually has a lot of trouble with the whole “blogging” thing.  They blog for a bit and then “run out” of inspiration.

See, it’s one thing to know something so you can repeat it: it’s quite another thing to learn to apply it.  That is what happens at the school of Hard Knocks a.k.a. SHIT FLINGER U.

They say that wisdom is learning from someone ELSE’S mistakes.

Oh how I wish I were wise.

I wish I had learned my lessons from others who have been battered and bruised.   That’s why, when I find a blog like Cath Lawson’s, I subscribe to the RSS feed IMMEDIATELY!

Unfortunately, I’ve learned most of my “lessons” by jumping off the ledge and discovering AFTER I landed that the pile of straw which was supposed to cushion my fall was not only “used” instead of “fresh” but also filled with hypodermic needles and sometime machetes!

As I look back over my experience as a small business owner, I recognize that the struggles are indeed what have made me a valuable resource for my clients. There’s no lesson more valuable than the one you can learn from the man or woman who stands before you, covered in bruises and smelling of feces.

The problem is, when presented with the choice between the perfectly manicured, well dressed guide who is driving a Porsche and the Sherpa who’s dirty and smells funny – most of us will choose Ken and his sweet ride.  That’s fine if you’re touring Miami – it’s not the best choice if you’re scaling Mt. Everest.

I guess that is yet another reason you need to know where you’re going before you pick your guide!

Strategic Internet Marketing: Making the Intangible Major Sale

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Blogs are a GREAT strategic internet marketing tools and should be included in every independent service professional’ marketing tool box!

If you’re selling “nothing but air” (a.k.a. selling your knowledge and/or services), your blog can be a great cost effective way of attracting your ideal clients to your practice.

In order to understand the “Why” behind why a blog can be a great tool to promote your business when you’re selling nothing but air, you need to understand the two types of sales your business may be making.

The Ultimate Major Sale: Selling the Intangible

When you’re selling your services, you’re making the most difficult sale of all : the Intangible Major Sale.

In my book, Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results, I cover the fact that there are TWO types of sales your business can make. There are Minor Sales which are sales which don’t carry life altering consequences. Buying office supplies is an example of a Minor Sale. There are few, if any consequences from making a purchasing mistake when it comes to buying copier paper. There isn’t a significant investment of time, energy or money unless you’re buying copier paper by the semi-truck load.

On the other hand, there are other purchases that do carry life altering consequences if you make a purchasing mistake. Choosing a doctor, buying a house/car/motor home or investing your life savings are all examples of Major Sales. A significant investment of time, energy or money are all important elements in the Major Sale. However, not surprisingly, another key element in determining whether it’s a Major or Minor sale is the possibility of a developing a personal relationship. Even in there’s not a significant investment of money, if there’s the possibility of “getting to know you” in the course of doing business, then that transaction is elevated in the realm of the Major Sale.

As you have probably guessed, when people are making a decision which qualifies as a Major Sale, they need a LOT of information.

However, there’s a type of Major Sale for which I haven’t come up with an appropriate “name” yet. For now, I’ll call it the Intangible Major Sale. The Intangible Major Sale takes the traditional “Major Sale” to a whole new level.

While purchasing a motor home is a significant investment, you at least have the benefit of being able to walk inside the vehicle. You can look under the hood. You can take it for a test drive. This is one of the reasons it’s difficult to sell a car, a motor home or a house solely via the internet. There’s something about needing to lay your hands on an item that is 2 – 3 times your yearly salary before you write that check or sign those loan papers.

So, when you take a Major Sale but you remove the ability to touch, smell, see and feel the object, you elevate the level of trust you must build with the client before you can close that sale.

Selling Your Expertise

When you’re selling your knowledge, in essence you’re selling “nothing but air”. Your prospective clients can’t touch your expertise. They can’t smell your expertise and it’s possible for them to see your expertise in action and not recognize the magnitude of the display!

Often the truly skilled make the execution of their knowledge in action appear to be easy and effortless.

A few year ago, my husband was chosen to serve as a juror on a medical malpractice case. When the two teams of attorneys entered the court room, they both looked the part.

If anything, the team of prosecuting attorneys were more formidable in appearance. They traveled “en masse” and there were three attorneys followed by five “assistants”. Meanwhile, the defense attorney’s team was comprised of just two lawyers.

Aside from the size of the teams, the two appeared equally matched. Each member of both teams were impeccably dressed. When each lead attorney gave his then her opening remarks, my husband said there was little difference between the two.

At the beginning of the trial, both lead attorneys were well spoken, well groomed and well presented and appeared to be equal in the quality of the representation they provided their clients.

However, by the end of the 2nd day (of a 5 day trial), my husband’s perception of the two teams of attorney teams had changed radically. He reports that by the end of the second day of the trial, there was no doubt which team was going to prevail. The defense attorney had a well defined plan and was executing that plan with finesse. Meanwhile, the defense attorney’s team plan appeared to my husband to be defined as “throw as much sh*t and see what sticks.”

My husband came home saying, “Boy! If I ever need a lawyer, I’m calling that defense attorney!” He reports that other members of the jury uttered similar sentiments.

That is the essence of the Intangible Major Sale.

Prior to sitting through the trial, if anything, you might have decided that the prosecuting attorney was the better litigator -after all, he brought with him a larger team. However, in the end is was the defense attorney and her assistant who won the respect of everyone in that court room that week.

We all want it to be like it is in the movies. The “good” attorney is well spoken and makes a great impression while the “bad” attorney is wearing a cheap suit, smells like cheap cologne and smells faintly of whiskey.
In other words, you really can’t judge an attorney by his/her appearance.

Which is why, the joke amongst the newly divorced is “I may have a good attorney – but my ex has a GREAT attorney. If I only knew then what I know now, I’d have hired his/her attorney to represent me!”

This is what it’s like when you’re selling nothing but air.

You can look the part. You can talk the talk. The question is, can you walk the walk?

That’s why testimonials play such a HUGE role for the independent service professional who is selling his or her knowledge – a.k.a. “nothing but air”.

It’s also yet another reason why blogs are a GREAT way to build the trust needed to land new clients when you’re selling your intangible services.

Try as you might, it’s tough to “fake” that kind of expertise over the course of 200 or so posts.

So if you wonder why consultants and other independent service professionals who have blogs earn more than others -(I wish I could remember where I read that now) – this is the WHY behind that phenomenon.

If you’re selling nothing but air and you want a way to demonstrate your expertise – expertise that you would like people to spend their hard earned money to access – launch a blog. It’s just one way you can demonstrate your expertise.

Working in a No Trust Zone

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We’re living in an age that is quickly becoming a “No Trust” zone. If you do business on the web, you should be especially concerned by antics occurring on the national stage which are serving to erode trust.

My family, like many others, has Olympic fever. However, you don’t have to be following the games to watch the degradation of trust that is occurring on the international stage.

I’ve written before about the importance of transparency in the world of Web 2.0. The law of transparency applies to every entity whether it’s a business, a country or an individual.

Building trustWeb 2.0 can be great when you’re authentically providing valuable goods, services and information. On the other hand, it can be your worst enemy when you’ve got something to hide.

Trust is hard to earn and easy to lose, especially in these days of Web 2.0 which could be called the “No Trust” Zone.   When trust is abused, it scars us and makes us less vulnerable and less willing to trust.

The problem is, when you’re doing business via the web, you’ve got a HUGE obstacle to overcome in that often you don’t meet your customers and clients face to face. For the throng of people who may visit your website, they have to TRUST that you are who you say you are. They have to TRUST that you can do what you say you can do.

Recently, as I was corresponding with my editor, the issue of trust came up. This is not the same editor I used to edit my book Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results, so this new editor hasn’t had the opportunity to earn my undying trust. He made an innocent comment which, little did he know, set off a multitude of alarms for me.

Fortunately, I was able to communicate with him WHY his comment had set me off. Last year, I hired a virtual assistant. I had spoken with her repeatedly as she did work for one of my clients. Long story short, I signed a contract to pay her $700 per month for a minimum of three months. I gave her a project immediately to which she claimed she was anxious and able to do. In the end, she didn’t have the skills she claimed she had. I ended up paying $2100 for something I could have created in 10 hours because she possessed neither time management skills nor the technical skills to complete the project. (Did I mention that when she finally delivered the product, it was such a mess I couldn’t use it!) She refused to refund my money and instead offered her future services. I haven’t heard from her since.

Ken McCarthy once wrote words of wisdom to which I still cling. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “9 out of 10 independent contractors don’t know what they’re doing.” He followed this statement with a story of how he hired a gentleman to create a video for him. The gentleman’s website showed an image of the man holding a high end video camera. That was enough to sell Ken on giving the guy a try. Unfortunately, when the guy showed up to the shoot, it was painfully obvious that posing with the camera was all the guy had done.

Which is why Ken recommends that you “try out” new contractors on unimportant contracts before you give them the assignment of creating something important to your business.

You’re living and working in a No Trust Zone. Your marketing, your blog, your advertising must ALL focus on a single goal: to build trust with your clients or customers. You build trust slowly, through communication. That’s why I adore blogs as marketing tools for independent service providers. A blog allows you to build trust with potential clients and customers because quite honestly, it’s hard to “fake” expertise over the course of a hundred or more posts.

Are you viewing your blog as a trust building vehicle? Do you see evidence of client’s lack of trust? How do you build trust with your potential clients and customers?