How to practice cold calling

Two friends of mine recently started a new business, which we’re affectionately calling BookBook.

It is a digital platform that allows users to display their favorite books.

The platform would display the spines of books, just like I do on my physical bookshelves. And the collections would only feature collections of books, like my favorite cookbooks or a list of what Tyler Cowen calls quake books.

Sourcing book spines turns out to be quite difficult. So I set out to phone book publishers in the attempt to find book spine designs for this project!

I took on this task of cold calling publishers because I love books, my friends are starting a company and I wanted to help. Really, though, I undertook this project to practice making cold calls.

Here are a few things I learned that will make your next cold calls easier.

Outline your pitch

The first step was to decide on my sales pitch.

I sat down with my friends and asked each of them to sell me on their startup. I recorded the audio of their sales pitches and took copious notes.

Then, I pitched my own version and asked for feedback.

We went back and forth like this until I had a rough script and was prepared to answer a variety of questions.

Outlining your pitch shouldn’t be complicated. Decide what you are going to ask for and write a rough script. Bullet points are fine! Consider getting some feedback

Then move on to the next step.

Set a deadline

Practice enough that you are ready to deliver your pitch, but don’t let practice get in the way of actually getting started.

Don’t use preparation as a form of resistance. And don’t forget Parkinson’s Law – work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion.

I scheduled a day when I would start actually calling publishers. That deadline gave me a concrete window in which to practice.

Set a deadline and give yourself a limited amount of time to prepare.

Rehearse your pitch

My next step was to rehearse my pitch.

I booked time in my calendar, because, for me, if something isn’t in my calendar it doesn’t happen.

During those rehearsals, I reviewed my notes and recorded a voice memo of my new pitch. Then I listened back, took notes and tried it again.

Hard things often take less deliberate practice than we think. But you do have to show up and do the work!

Make some calls

The final, and most critical step, was to actually start calling publishers.

On the day I had set aside, I Googled book publisher phone numbers and called all six of the big book publishers.

It would have been more effective to locate phone numbers in advance, but fortunately book publishers are easily available online.

This is the most critical step, because without actually putting in this practice, outlining your pitch, deadlines, and rehearsal don’t have much impact!

Outcome

In talking to representatives at all the big publishing houses, I learned that book spines are even harder to source than I’d thought!

So while I haven’t yet gotten access to book spines, I’m grateful to have taken on this small sales project as practice.

As people who have something to sell, we all want to be more comfortable talking to strangers. Likely the reason you don’t ask more often is that discomfort and your fear of rejection.

And the best way to overcome that discomfort is to practice.

Most of us are uncomfortable asking strangers for things. But through this project, I put in the practice and took an incremental step.

Homework

Cold calling is one of the scariest things most people do. But that’s because the steps are too big.

Get comfortable doing the uncomfortable thing when the stakes are low.

Today, pick up your phone and call one person spontaneously. Most people don’t use their phones for phone calls, so maybe that’s enough of a stretch.

If you do talk to people by phone, phone someone you don’t speak to regularly.

See if you can stretch beyond your comfort and phone when you’d ordinarily text, or to contact somebody you don’t normally talk to.

All the practice and rehearsal doesn’t matter if you never pick up the phone and call, so just get started.

Until next week,
Robin

The difference between marketing and sales

I taught a workshop a few weeks ago for a handful of entrepreneurs who wanted to get better at selling.

I asked attendees what they thought of when they heard the word “salesman.” I expected answers like used car salesmen and telemarketers, but instead attendees described the challenges of creating social media content.

I realized that most people don’t have a clear distinction between marketing and sales.

Marketing and sales both require:

Selling adds a few crucial steps including asking, “Would you like to buy my thing?”

What is marketing?

Marketing is storytelling. It is the stories we tell each other and about ourselves, which inspire toward a desired outcome.

When I was ten years old, my Dad and I read The Odyssey aloud together. The book was written two thousand years ago. Nonetheless, I vicariously experienced Odysseus’ ten-year journey home from the Trojan Way.

Marketing is using the story of Odysseus’ bravery, loyalty and pride to inspire the next generation to stand up for what they believe in and to lead.

Marketing consists of telling stories that are:

Marketing is the stories we tell about our work, or tell each other about the world around us.

What is sales?

The ask is the primary difference between marketing and sales.

Selling is attempting to persuade somebody to adopt a belief, asking to change their behavior, or inviting them to buy. Even the “Buy now” button at the end of an ad moves it into the category of sales.

Effective sales incorporates an ask after first delivering a story that is personal, relatable and inspiring.

After we finished reading The Odyssey together, my father asked if I’d like to run cross country. I’ve been an athlete, gymnast and runner ever since.

Good selling is about making an ask. Great selling is about making an ask that you’ve prepared for by telling a compelling story that pulls on emotions, aligns incentives, helps the other person become more of who they want to be.

Homework

What’s one thing you’re trying to sell?

Before you pitch, what’s a story that inspires the other person to become more of who they want to be?

Write out a couple of sentences about:

  1. What you have to sell.
  2. What you are selling will help your audience become more of who they want to be.
  3. A story that bridges that gap.

Send me an email with your answer to these questions!

Until next week,
Robin

The car salesman bias

Most consumers are leery of car salesmen. And that’s understandable because car sales usually means a lack of price transparency, a high price tag, and pressure.

As soon as I walk into a car dealership – and I’ve purchased more than my share of used cars! – my hackles rise up because I’m approached by salespeople looking for a fresh victim.

Attitude, first

Everything in sales comes down to the salesperson’s attitude.

Here are a few tips:

As a salesperson, your attitude matters more than anything else.

Be aware that the customer is likely to be skeptical and hold a “used car salesman” bias. Counter that narrative by being different from any other car salesperson the customer has met before.

Build community loyalty

Pressuring a customer to purchase can work in the short term. But it never results in long-term loyalty.

And since word of mouth referrals – people talking about you to their friends – is the ultimate mark of success in any business, a primary goal of your salespeople should be building loyalty within your local community.

This can mean the subcultures that each of your salespeople lives within – a neighborhood, the local recreation league, someone’s favorite coffee shop – and also your city itself.

People talk about their experiences. So it should be the job of each of your salespeople to create positive experiences and generate goodwill towards your business.

Become the mayor

You want your business to become the “mayor” of your city. When people think of your town, you are one of the first names that comes to mind.

This can either be you, as the owner of the business, or something that represents your business, like a mascot or the logo.

One way to approach this is to run for local office: city counsel, leader of the Parent’s Association, etc. But this can also be implied power.

Doing things that someone with deep ties to a community would do is a way to generate goodwill.

The value of cold call

Doubtless, you’ve already considered the benefit of having your salespeople make cold calls. But I think that the likelihood of actually selling cars by “dialing for dollars” is very low.

To do so a salesperson has to reach someone who is:

If any of these four aren’t true, then cold calling damages the reputation of your business.

Instead, I suggest cold calling for a completely different purpose. Teach your salespeople to make cold calls to collect information.

Here’s a script:

Hi there –

Do you mind if I take 3 minutes of your time?

I’m calling from your local BMW dealership 
but I am not calling you to try to sell a car. Instead, I’m just collecting some demographic information about local residents so that we can be a better part of this community.

Again, I’m not here to sell you a car. Do you mind if I ask you three brief questions?

If they respond in the affirmative, proceed:

Do you own a car? If so, what make and model?

What is your perception of BMW cars?

What is your perception of car dealerships?

End the call by asking if they would like to be added to your free monthly newsletter, which is about the goings-on in your region. Thank them for their time, appreciate them for the time you’ve spent together and encourage them to reach out if you can help them in the future.

This approach will help your salespeople get better, spread the brand of your business, and generate future leads. The last question, What is your perception of car dealerships? will highlight for your salespeople the perception that they are having to combat to build customer loyalty in the region.

The prospect will be pleasantly surprised when the salesperson doesn’t try to sell them a car at the end of the call, thus ending on a positive note.

Hire great people

It goes without saying that you want to hire great salespeople. But instead of focusing solely on people who always hit sales quotas, hire people who add to the reputation of your company through goodwill and long term customer loyalty.

A great salesperson who also alienates customers or employees does more harm to your business.

Define what a great salesperson brings to your company, and don’t settle for less.

Company culture

We often overlook the importance of company culture in sales. After all, the purpose is to close more deals and make more money!

The cohesion of your sales team matters. One overly pushy salesperson can model for the rest of the team an approach that will alienate customers.

When we put a smiling face on what is actually an unhappy working environment, our customers can tell the difference. Similarly, customers know when a member of your team really, sincerely enjoys their job, and is excited to be a part of the company.

A culture that derides the worst performing salesperson or hazes newly incoming team members creates an environment that will, invariably, trickle out to the customer’s experience.

I’ve written a book about the importance of team culture, so start here.

A culture of feedback

One important aspect of company culture, particularly in sales, is creating a culture of feedback.

Sales teams often only provide feedback during the onboarding process of a new salesperson. But every salesperson – and everybody! – can benefit from feedback. And in a thriving company culture, every employee should want to.

Here are a few ways to incorporate feedback into the daily cadence of your company:

Be generous

One of the phrases least likely to be uttered about a typical salesperson is that they are generous.

The common perception is that a salesperson wants to take advantage of the customer. It is your responsibility to contradict this narrative by being incredibly generous with your time and effort on behalf of each customer that you work with.

As often as possible go to the extra effort with each person you come into contact with to help them – even if that help has nothing to do with the sale you are aiming for.

By being unexpectedly generous you foster long-term relationships and make it more likely that a customer will come back in the future.

Until next week,
Robin

How to sell without a network or connections

In 2016, I was given an amazing opportunity to take ownership of a global community called Responsive.org.

After running my first ever business event early in the year, I decided to create my first business conference, Responsive Conference, 9 months later.

I’m a circus performer. I had never attended a business conference, not to mention produced one, so that first year of selling tickets to Responsive Conference was a madhouse.

That was also the same year that I started Robin’s Cafe, so any moments that were not spent behind the counter, or hiring and firing baristas, I was on the phone with everybody I could think of asking for advice.

This distinction is key: I wasn’t trying to sell tickets to the conference at first. Instead, I asked for advice.

Ask for advice

I brought 275 people to Responsive Conference 2016 by asking people for advice. It is really that simple. I turned to the founders of Responsive.org, everybody who had come to my free event earlier in the year, and everyone else I could think of.

When you ask for advice, you create the opportunity for excitement and support from people who might not otherwise be open to purchasing. People get enthusiastic about your cause, regardless of whether they’re interested in spending money – or attend my conference.

By asking for advice, you create advocates who want to see you succeed.

Practice telling your story

One of the things that making those hundreds, even thousands, of calls in the first months of Responsive Conference gave me was practice telling my story.

I was new to Responsive.org. By luck and good timing, I was able to bring together 150 people for a free event at the start of the year and there was a lot of interest in our topics. But I was no expert!

By asking everyone I could think of for advice, I got a lot of practice telling the story of the ecosystem and why I wanted to create Responsive Conference.

Build a network

When you are beginning to sell something new, you probably don’t have a network or a reputation. But what you lack in network you can make up for in short calls with strangers.

Ask everyone you talk to refer you to three other people. Quite quickly, the size of your network grows!

It takes time and effort to take calls with so many people, but you’ll also go from no contacts to hundreds of potential prospects in a very short time.

The final step is to ask

The final phase of this saga, once you have enough experience telling your story and have built out a network, is to begin selling. Change your pitch from “Will you give me advice?” to “Would you be interested in purchasing a ticket?”

Several months into asking for advice, I’d talked with hundreds of people and generated a list of prospects in the thousands.

It takes courage to ask people to purchase. You can’t hide behind the “I’m just learning how to do this” anymore.

The final step is to muster up the courage and ask, “Would you like to buy?”

A word on authenticity

This approach to learning how to sell something new only works if you are sincerely interested in what people have to say.

If you go into an “advice call” with the desire to sell, the other party will know and be turned off by the experience.

Be humble, stay curious, and look to learn.

Homework

If you don’t need to, I don’t recommend spending hundreds of hours on the phone with strangers asking for advice. That said, the practice of building a network is incredibly valuable. This is the same process I use anytime I’m starting a new business or exploring a new opportunity.

Your homework is to call one person in the next two days and ask them for advice. The rules are simple:

And just like that, you’ve landed your first advocate.

Until next week,
Robin

Everything is Storytelling

I’ve told the story of Robin’s Cafe – how I started it in 3 weeks and eventually sold it on Craigslist – hundreds of times. I love talking about the incredible culture we built behind the counter and the amount of learning I went through to start a restaurant But time and time again, when I mention selling a restaurant on Craigslist, I invariably get a laugh. “Craigslist?” They ask, incredulous.

Over time, I’ve iterated on this story so that I both get to share what I most care about while also setting up this great punchline. And as a result, this story never fails to kick off a great conversation.

As humans, we’re social animals and we live and die by the stories we tell each other. And yet we forget that storytelling—or if you want to sound more sophisticated, “narrative strategy”—is what shapes the work we do, why we do it, and who we work alongside.

In today’s newsletter, I thought I’d share some habits of storytelling that have helped me leverage this skill to foster more meaningful connections with every audience: from the conference stage to the board room, and even with friends and partners.

A good story fosters an emotional connection

We like to tell ourselves that we are highly rational creatures, but ultimately, a lot of our decision-making comes down to our emotions. And nothing is more emotion-laden than our relationships and connections with other humans

I recently read Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight, about the founding story of Nike. One of the world’s most iconic brands, Nike’s marketing focuses on helping people connect, not only with the athletes Nike represents, but also with the athlete inside each of us. Nike accomplishes this by telling great stories in their advertising of athletic challenges and triumphs, instead of just marketing their newest product line. They’ve built a brand association based on connection and inspiration, and the product sales follow. 

A good story matters to both you and your audience

During the COVID pandemic, I moved in with a partner, and within a couple of weeks, they were able to parrot back to me the handful of stories that, apparently, I told over and over in the course of all of my Zoom calls. The stories that come up the most frequently are the stories worth your focus because they speak strongly to you.

In addition, when I am telling a story I pay special attention to the reaction of my audience. My story about Robin’s Cafe gets a predictable chuckle whenever I mention selling the restaurant on Craigslist, and so I’ve used it to break the ice in conversations and have refined the story over time to set up this moment as the punchline. I focus my stories on what is interesting and engaging to my audience, and thus my audience is interested and engaged.

A good story takes practice

We’ve all been there at a holiday dinner table when a relative rambles on and we think, “I wish they would get to the point!” We take for granted that actors rehearse their lines before a performance and athletes run drills before playing games, but storytelling is no different. It’s a refined craft that you can get better at with time, and it especially takes practice to make your story feel natural and organic.

Taking the time to really think about your story can help you hone it in. What are the main milestones of your story, and what details do you include to move seamlessly from beginning, middle, and end? Where are there superfluous details that distract from your main point? What’s the punchline, and how do you want people to respond to it? 

Until next time,
Robin

Responsive Organizations with President of Pepsi, Simon Lowden

My guest today is the President of Pepsi Global Foods, Simon Lowden. Simon has been the driving force over the last 10 years at turning Pepsi into a forward-thinking and self-iterating company. He is incredibly thoughtful when it comes to marketing and Responsive organizations, and in today’s conversation, we dive deep into some of the philosophies that he has implemented over the span of his career. He offers tactical advice on how to work well with teams and build a future focused organization. I hope you enjoy!

Podcast Notes:
3:00 How Simon found Responsive
5:00 Building a team
7:45 Why Pepsico brought Simon on
10:45 How Simon stays current in marketing
12:45 Balancing the internal politics of the organization
with staying fresh with consumer attention
15:45 Marketing platforms on the rise
18:15 Plastics Project
21:15 Three local rules of the Plastics Project
25:30 Simon mentions: If by Rudyard Kipling
26:00 Simon’s thoughts to the Responsive community
28:00 Steps towards being plastic-free
31:30 Begin with trust

Mike Arauz on Reimagining Work for the 21st Century

mike

Mike Arauz (@mikearauz) is a founding member and acting president of August, a New York-based consulting firm which helps organizations keep up in an increasing fast-paced world. Mike is also co-author of Responsive.org, a community leading the self-organization movement.

Mike is passionate about helping companies to innovate quickly, to make their dent in the universe. In our interview today, Mike discusses what lead him into consulting in digital technology from his beginnings in the arts in New York City.

What Makes Dance Go Viral? (I Will What I Want)

In the last 5 days more than 5 million people have viewed this video of American Ballet Theater controversial soloist Misty Copeland perform in an advertisement for Under Armour.

Her performance and sheer physicality are stunning. But there is more to this exceptional piece of viral advertising than just good dancing.

In stark contrast, my friend and teacher Robert Dekkers’ company Post:Ballet performed a several exception pieces of contemporary ballet, including a World Premier, all at a full but not sold out Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

I’m excited that Misty has gained even more notoriety. If the best in the world in an industry aren’t noticed, those below them certainly aren’t going to be! I’m also not disappointed that Robert’s company wasn’t more well received – from their intended audience Post:Ballet received rave reviews.

But there is something more going on here.

Who is the intended audience?

First of all, who is the intended audience? Misty’s Under Armour ad is targeted at populations who can relate to her: anyone who wants more from their bodies, who has been told no, has overcome an obstacle of any kind. The message is designed to be internalized by a wide audience. Under Armour just comes across as the backer – an organization the audience can trust to back their winning underdog.

Post:Ballet addresses contemporary issues, but does so artistically. The narrative of the final piece in this season’s show “ourevolution” shows a progress that can be equated to human evolution, and leaves me personally feeling inspired while considering our species future. I’d call that a successful performance! And yet, even I am more likely casual recommend Misty’s performance.

Misty’s performance is the ideal length for spreading: short. But when intermission came at the Post:Ballet performance I had a moment of feeling cheated, thinking that the show was only a “paltry” 50 minutes. Misty’s performance is also free, whereas I paid $25 for an evening of Post:Ballet.

Changing Perspectives

It is easy to see why Misty’s performance has been viewed (and largely admired) by 5 million, whereas Post: Ballet has not gained thousands of new adopters. It is easy to tell the story of Under Armour’s success and Post:Ballet’s predictable audience. But what about the reverse? What about the controversy around Misty and reasons why Post:Ballet isn’t gaining audiences like Beonce (who was also performing in San Francisco the same week).

Misty is a controversial figure in and out of ballet. Even within this specific performance I can see some reasons for concerns. Either she is a genetic abnormality (arguably the case for any dancer at the highest level) or she is unhealthily low on body fat. I have hear a lot of comments about her “beautiful physique” but simultaneously her calves are bulging with muscles to a degree I have only ever seen on collapsed Olympic sprinters. What kind of message does those calves send to already physically insecure viewers?

In contrast, Post:Ballet’s piece “ourevolution” could well become a draw for a younger audience looking to express themselves. While the dancers are extremely talented and experienced professionals, they are relatable and led by a young Artistic Director. For a young, affluent San Francisco audience looking for expressive outlets, it is conceivable that they could find such in a company that promotes itself as being what comes after ballet.

As a dancer and advocate of many of the benefits that dance can bring I’m left with more questions than answers. (To anyone who knows me and my love of questions, this will come as no surprise.) But I see a dilemma if we want there to be more local high quality performances and performing artists.

From these two performances it is clear that physical prowess speaks to us all. And there are some smaller stories about viral growth that are further reinforced: small spans of attention are easier to engage than large, the experience of awe is one that spreads. I’m glad that Under Armour and Misty are promoting dance, and that Post:Ballet puts on live performances for me to see. Beyond these facts, I’m curious what the future of dance will hold.

What are your thoughts?

The Art of Selling – Don’t Always Be Closing and Other Counter-Intuitive Tips

What is Sales?

When you think of sales what comes to mind? For me it is the combination. My grandfather going door-to-door selling vacuums in California’s Central Valley in the mid-1950s. I think very highly of my grandfather and he did well by his family. But I don’t think of knocking on doors in the 100 degree Summer Fresno heat as my ideal way to earn a living.

The second image that comes to mind when I hear the word “sales” is a guy in a shiny but none-too-high-quality suit selling sheet metal roofing. Why sheet metal roofing – no idea. But in my mind this salesman is extremely pushy, aggressive and doesn’t give a damn if I even have a house that needs a roof. He is going to persuade me to get his roofing, no matter what.

The final image that comes to mind when I think of sales is this video clip. I am among the most persistent people I have met, in my learning projects, in relationship, or with myself. But I don’t ever treat others or want to be treated like this. I view this hard-nosed desperate selling as pitiable.

And guess what? I am learning sales. If you know me at all you probably know that I love learning – be that gymnastics, dance, handstands, Spanish, questioning or autism. Right now I’m learning sales because being comfortable asking for a sale is going to be a part of the contributing factor to the success of my current big project.

Me being me, I am not going to do sales like any of the images that come to mind when I think of selling. I am learning to sell very differently.

Growth Hacking A Book Launch – “Autism Breakthrough” Case Study

Ever since reading Ryan Holiday‘s book Growth Hacker Marketing I have been applying what he calls the “growth hacker mindset” to business projects.

This post is about using a growth hacker’s creative and analytical mindset to radically change the launch and long-term success of the book Autism Breakthrough by my friend Raun Kaufman

autism-breakthrough

For background: Raun Kaufman is the son around whom the Son-Rise Program was created. The Son-Rise Program has since been run by thousands of families with children with autism around the world and helped kids recover from autism. Raun is the Director of Global Education at the Autism Treatment Center of America. For more information this fascinating study examines the efficacy of applying the Son-Rise Program with special needs children.  

What Is Growth Hacking?

I first encountered the term growth hacker in an essay by Andrew Chen:

Growth hackers are a hybrid of marketer and coder, one who looks at the traditional question of “How do I get customers for my product?” and answers with A/B tests, landing pages, viral factor, email deliverability, and Open Graph.

I was immediately struck by the similarities to what I have always done. Maybe its just that I’ve never had a big budget or that I was taught young not to spend money if I wasn’t sure of a return. Regardless, analytics and creative problem-solving have always been part of my work, whether for Move Autism or in any of my previous positions. I’ve always asked about processes with an eye to improving them.

Studies in Kickstarter

I recently had the opportunity to study with Clay Herbert, creator of Kickstarter Hacks. Clay taught a class on Kickstarter at CreativeLIVE and I’m excited to share what I learned.

I have been interested in Kickstarter for more than year and have actively been building my own campaign over the last few months. I have been at times overwhelmed, determined and delighted. Studying with Clay at CreativeLIVE put everything I’ve done into perspective and showed me that building, managing and successfully running a Kickstarter campaign is manageable and something that anyone can do.

He did this by breaking down every step of running a campaign into it’s component parts. By only trying to accomplish one small step at a time, I realized I was better able to focus on keeping one foot in front of the other and not stumbling along the way.

In what follows I will share some of my take-aways from Clay’s workshop. At least as interesting to me, though, is how these same holdups and breakthroughs transfer into a larger learning process. Increasingly, I recognize patterns in my own learning. As I discussed in my study of the Gymnastics Giant there are predictable periods in any learning process of inactivity or overwhelm. As I’ve encountered these periods in building my own Kickstarter, I have been learning to plan for them and make progress when I am at my most energetic.

Kickstarter_Logo

Masterful Marketing – How Jay Abraham sends emails I’m thrilled to recieve

This resource is something I’ve wanted to share for a quite a while. I’ve described this man and his resources to individuals and groups dozens of times in the last year. Whether you are in business, work for someone else, or think marketing and sales are evil words there is useful information in Jay’s ideas and give-aways. Take a look!

 

I’ve never met Jay, though I intend to. I haven’t even read all of his books or used all of his products. I’ve also never paid him and he currently offers very little that I even could spend money on! He works almost exclusively with seriously large (multi-billion dollar) corporations.

That said, there is one audio recording in particular – of Jay Abraham interviewed by Tony Robbins – which is worth more than… most anything. I’ve certainly received more value than I paid for it – because is free! One of the many aspects Jay talks through in this particular interview is the usefulness in business of contributing far more in value than is expected or than we take in payment. I currently employ this in my private practice by charge of consulting two weeks after working with clients – and not at all if effects of my work have not been observed! I have found that this policy is a very useful incentive for new clients. There are hundreds of similarly useful lessons for business and for life in just this two hour audio interview.

I received an email tonight from Jay that explained that I will be receiving 9 emails from him in the next nine days. In the year that I’ve been on his email list I’ve received less than one email a month. My enthusiasm for this man is such that – even though he specifies that he will, for a change, be marketing a product – I can’t wait. I am excited to hear what’s next and what this brilliant man has in mind. I should reiterate that I’ve never spent money on any of his products or services. I may never. The thing that Jay does brilliantly, and the reason I’m excited to hear from him again soon, is deliver enormous value ever step of the way. Jay detailed that in addition to the nine emails I’ll be receiving a report which breaks down of his career in marketing with specific tools he learned at each step in his career (from selling dust carpets to advising Fortune 500s), as well as 4 hours of fresh footage of him reviewing and deconstructing other businesses. Throughout this endeavors Jay builds in value.

Update: Even as I’ve begun to receive the series of emails Jay breaks down how and why he’s organizing the emails for optimal persuasion. Also, though I know that I can always unsubscribe, he explicitly details the number of ways I don’t have to participate or continue receiving his emails if I so choose. Even Jay’s selling techniques provide useful tips!

Here’s an example of the enormous value he brings to the table: This link is to a page which depicts an overwhelmingly large number of products that he has created over the last couple of decades. Enter your email (it can even be a throw-away account) and get access to the identical page except that each product description links to the actually product. My favorite by far is Tony Robbins interviewing Jay Abraham but published books, CD and DVD training programs, and reconstruct-a-business videos are just a few of the products available.

Another note: Try out the audio, even if you’re turned off by Jay’s land page. The products he gives away are invaluable!

I really want you to listen to Jay’s interview by Tony Robbins because it has been completely transformational in my own business. I make a percentage of my monthly income as residual from work that I’ve done for other companies in the past year. I have contributed marketing or sales strategy to these companies and helped them improve their business for a percentage of the profits I generated. In other words, I’ve used one of the models that Jay describes to supplement my income. It was easy and fun work and you can do it too!

Visit http://abraham.com/gifts/ and give this audio a try. This is the most useful marketing tool I’ve discovered in years of learning about marketing and sales. I frequently describe to nearly everyone I meet and I think it can be useful for you, too.

Just as an aside: though I have no financial investment in anything here my reasons for sharing are entirely self-serving. Next time I go to describe this resource to anyone I can just tell them to check my blog! And I’m always interested in sharing business ideas and discussing effective marketing strategy. My hope is that sharing these resources will fuel the discussion!