This was an interesting question, and one I am not 100% qualified to answer as I am not 100% running a sales training company. What I can share is my intentions of building a dominant global sales training company, as frankly how I intend to do it.
Comment on October 4th, 2008.
Karl;
As someone who has been building towards a successful sales training company, I have my own list:
1) Pick a niche – There are thousands of generalist sales training companies run by sales guys and gals that have 20+ years of success. The problem with the vast majority is that their generalist approach means they can only operate in their own city because there is a similar generalist in all surrounding cities. By picking a niche my expertise goes beyond just my local geography. Search for any other expert on “Trigger Event Selling” and you won’t’ find one. This allows me to create demand for my expertise almost anywhere in the world.
2) Be THE expert in what you teach – Specialize, speak, and write. I specialize in just one thing timing: repeatedly getting to the right person at EXACTLY the right time. I have a number of articles, and webinars I have done and I now I have a publishing agreement signed and a book due out in April next year: “SHiFT! OUTSELL YOUR COMPETITION by Leveraging Trigger Events”
3) Create a market – Creating my own terminology means that when people check the web for any of the major components to what I teach – “Window of Dissatisfaction”, “Trigger Event Selling”, “Won Sales Analysis”, “Emotional Favourite”, “Trigger Event Referrals”, “First Call Effectiveness” I dominate the top 10, 20, and in some cases even the top 50 Google search results.
4) Protect your market – I own 192 domains names related to what I teach. This makes it easy for people to find me and makes it harder for a copycat to market themselves. E.g. TriggerEventBook, TriggerBook, TriggerEconomy, TheTriggerEconomy, TriggerEventEconomy, TheTriggerEventEconomy… I tried the Trademark route but found that there were so many different classifications a competitor could use to copy Trigger Event Selling and that I would have to Trademark in so many different countries that I would spend 20 times as much money doing trademarks vs. leveraging a large number of domain names.
5) STATE YOUR POSITION: Polarize the audience. If you believe that the best sales people make the best sales managers, SAY IT OUT LOUD. That way you’ll get some extra exposure by being provocative and you’ll create a loyal following that believes in the same things you do. For instance I say that timing is THE SILVER BULLET IN SALES. Some people may disagree but even if they do disagree they remember who I am and that makes it more likely they will notice me in the press and at some point they’ll come around because of what is called the “Lemming Effect” if a large group starts doing something the rest follow because they view it at too risky not to or they will get left behind. E.g. I recently did a webinar that had over 1,400 registrants. Mentioning that when I speak and write – notice I am mentioning it here – will have others wanting to know what they are missing out on. If I have piqued your interested you can get access to the recording and the handout by downloading the preview chapter of my book at http://www.TriggerEventBook.com.
6) Get exposure – This year it was my goal to get 24 pieces of exposure (be interviewed, have a story written,) and I as of last week I had my 24th piece of exposure and I still have three months to go. Having and stating your position will help you get in the press. Ten pieces of exposure on smaller site and in smaller outlets is as, if not more, effective than one piece of exposure in one major outlet. It comes out three times a day and so far it alone has resulted in 5 interviews. Getting all the exposure also helps me to increase the “Lemming Effect”. P.S. I also own the domain names LemmingEffect.com and TheLemmingEffect.com…are you beginning to get the picture ?
Feel free to contact me by phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias) or web (www.ShiftSelling.com/contact) if you have ANY questions.
Craig Elias – The Creator of Trigger Event Selling
Comment on October 4th, 2008.
Karl;
As someone who is building, what many expect will become, a highly successful sales training company, I have my own list:
1) Pick a niche – There are thousands of generalist sales training companies run by sales guys and gals that have 20+ years of sales success. The problem with the vast majority is that their generalist approach means they can only operate in their own city, or maybe a few neighbouring cities, because there is another other, perceived to be similar, generalist in every other city. By picking a niche – capitalizing on Trigger Events to get in front of highly motivated buyers at EXACTLY the right time – my expertise goes beyond just my local geography. Search for any other expert on “Trigger Event Selling” and you won’t’ find one. This allows me to create demand for my expertise almost anywhere in the world.
2) Be THE expert in what you teach – Specialize, speak, and write. I specialize in just one thing timing: repeatedly getting to the right person at EXACTLY the right time. I have written a number of articles, and done several webinars. As a result I now have a publishing agreement signed and a book due out in April next year: “SHiFT! OUTSELL YOUR COMPETITION by Leveraging Trigger Events”, and having a book makes you the ultimate expert.
3) Create a market – Creating my own terminology means that when people check the web for any of the major components to what I teach – “Window of Dissatisfaction”, “Trigger Event Selling”, “Won Sales Analysis”, “Emotional Favourite”, “Trigger Event Referrals”, “First Call Effectiveness” I dominate the top 10, 20, and in some cases even the top 50 Google search results.
4) Protect your market – I own 192 domains names related to what I teach. This makes it easy for people to find me and makes it harder for a copycat to market themselves. E.g. TriggerEventSeling.com, TriggerSelling.com, Trigger-Event-Selling.com, WindowOfDissatisfaction.com, WonSalesAnalysis.com, EmotionalFavourite.com, FirstCallEffectiveness.com. I tried the Trademark route but found that there were so many different classifications a competitor could use to copy Trigger Event Selling and because I would have to Trademark in so many different countries, I would spend 20 times as much money doing trademarks vs. leveraging a large number of domain names.
5) STATE YOUR POSITION – Polarize your audience. If you believe that the best sales people make the best sales managers, SAY IT OUT LOUD. You will create a loyal following that believes in the same things you do and you will get some extra exposure by being provocative. For instance I say that timing is THE SILVER BULLET IN SALES. Some people may disagree but even if they do disagree they remember who I am and that makes it more likely they will notice me in the press and at some point they’ll come around because of what is called the “Lemming Effect” if a large group starts, or is perceived to have started, doing something others follow because they fear being left behind if they don’t. E.g. I recently did a webinar that had over 1,400 registrants. Mentioning that when I speak and write – notice I am mentioning it here – will have others wanting to know what they are missing out on. If you want to know what you’re missing out on, you can get access to the recording and the handout by downloading the preview chapter of my book at http://www.TriggerEventBook.com.
6) Get exposure – This year my goal was to get 24 pieces of exposure (be interviewed, have a story written, be part of a podcast, etc.) and of last week I had my 24th piece of exposure. Having and stating your position will help you get in the more exposure. Ten pieces of exposure on smaller sites or niche outlets is as, if not more, effective than one piece of exposure in one major outlet. Check out HARO – Help a Reporter Out. It comes out three times a day and so far it alone has resulted in 5 interviews in the last few months. Getting all the exposure also helps me to increase the “Lemming Effect” that I mentioned in #5 above. P.S. I also own the domain names LemmingEffect.com and TheLemmingEffect.com…are you beginning to get the picture ?
Feel free to contact me by phone (+1.403.874.2998), Skype (Craig.Elias) or web (www.ShiftSelling.com/contact) if you have ANY questions.
Craig Elias – The Creator of Trigger Event Selling
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