Did_Atlas_Shrug?-Digvijay "VJ" Singh Rathore

I’ve been re-reading an awesome book, The Ultimate Sales Machine, by Chet Holmes.  He speaks about the Magic 100 list and the very important need to get the list moving.  He also has a name for this method -"The Dream 100 Sell."

Kevin Kelly(KK), remarking on the stuff which come out in a classic by Chris Anderson, The Long Tail, speaks about something which helps me draw an analogy here.  He is speaking about the 1,000 true fans.  To help you get it – “long tail is a retailing concept describing the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities – usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities”. 

I’ve had the experience of speaking to prospects who have a this question when I ask them about scaling up - “We are happy with what we got and with what we sell. We are not forecasting anything bigger, Thanks for your time, anyways”.

Look at the long tail pictured below:

KK says: “To raise your sales out of the flat line of the long tail you need to connect with your True Fans directly.  Another way to state this is, you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans.”

The region marked in RED is the place where one hits a blockbuster( Jackson’s JAM).  The orange is all about niches but less money.  So, instead of going the Red or Orange way, try getting the 1,000 True Fan number.  If I were an artist and sold something worth $100 and did this 3 times a day for a year.  That’s 100K a year.  Imagine selling to 3 fans per day.

The True fan is defined by KK as – “Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that.  Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.”

Posted by Digvijay “VJ” Singh Rathore

I receive Zig’s newsletters everyday and I picked this nice anecdote on what’s best in negotiation.  Read on -

Virtually everything involves some sales or negotiation skills. Negotiations are easier if we come from a position of power - having complete confidence in our product. It’s also nice to have an “ace in the hole” (a persuasive bargaining chip) that enables us to influence the other party in a positive way.

I love this story told about a negotiation that transpired between France and Japan. When the Renault cars manufactured in France were sent to Japan, the Japanese required each car to be individually inspected. On the other hand, the French allowed Japanese cars into their country on the basis of type inspection, where one vehicle picked at random represented all others of the same make. Needless to say, this was not an equitable arrangement.

French President Francois Mitterand did not register a complaint. Instead, he ordered that all Japanese VCRs be inspected one at a time. He also insisted that VCRs be imported through one port in Southern France. The port was manned by two slow-moving customs inspectors who were assigned to conduct thorough inspections of the tens of thousands of Japanese VCRs that were quickly piling up on the dock. It wasn’t long before the Japanese government understood that the walls they had built and the counter-walls the French had built were costing the citizens of both countries a lot of time and money. After a brief negotiation, the Renault cars began to roll into Japan at a faster pace and the VCRs resumed their normal import pace into France.

As nearly as I can tell, there was no threatening or media hoopla of any kind. The French quietly took their stand and the Japanese quickly made the change. The negotiations were skillful, resulting in a win for both sides. Remember this basic lesson in life: If you can arrange any transaction or any agreement so that both sides win, the long-range best interests of both will be served. Take that approach and I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

Posted by Digvijay “VJ” Singh Rathore

I’ve always used it and it seems to help most of the times.  The times it did not work was my fault though – needed a way to structure it, I guess.  Although there are some good places to go read about this, I pulled something out of an article for writing White papers and thought it could be adapted to how the story telling might work while making the stadium, elevator Etc pitch.

1. Introducing the HERO – Make sure that there is a single character or the hero.  REMEMBER this should be the prospect and not your company

2. Establishing the Situation of Danger – What’s the danger the hero is facing and trying to eliminate?

3. Define the HERO’s goal – Wants(goal), Motivation(why he wants it)?.  For example people don’t buy an AC but they buy comfort.  The motivation might be driven from the kids in the family being unhappy from the Heat.

4. Introduce a well defined Opponent to the HERO

5. Build the Climax( Make sure it’s a DISASTER in every sense of the word)

So this is how the story will need to look like -

HERO is in a Situation and must accomplish GOAL

But can the HERO defeat the Opponent when the Climax happens?

If YES, the HOW, is something which can be a Stadium Wise pitch or customized for that single person.

Posted By Digvijay “VJ” Singh Rathore

Tom Peters and Seth Godin are the Gurus, who’ve been making a SOLID difference in the way I communicate with myself actually.  I need that bit to, “Speak out loud””, my Blog give me that free Platform to do that.  These videos I pulled up from Seth’s blog, keep reminding me that there is Good, we can do and the world is a great place.

Watch on!!!! -

Posted by Digvijay “VJ” Singh Rathore

When you target markets, create product/service offerings or develop a business plan – the biggest problem is trying to be everything for everybody.  As Geoffrey A. Moore in his classic(crossing the chasm) explained the manner in which the market can be divided.  Everybody seems to be going for the mainstream but is there any sense….

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in their track, “I Love Rock N Roll”, couldn’t have been more neater about telling what they got and for whom…

Posted by Digvijay “VJ” Singh Rathore