How to Make Yourself Heard Above the Noise

With today’s biblical flood of information and communication, how do you get your message heard by the right people who need to hear it?  How do you get people to pay attention?

Do’s

1. Be brief and easy to understand, targeting the message specifically to the audience. While you may sell a broad array of products and services, focus the message down to what the company does best or what is in the best interest of the audience that you are trying to reach. The goal is not to be front of your customer’s mind all the time, the goal is to be front of mind when they are looking for the solution to the problem you can solve.   For example, I never really think about Discount Tires.  But, if I am thinking about replacement tires, then I think Discount Tires.
2. Use stories to enhance credibility and give a personal touch, thus becoming more memorable. Paul McGhee, a colleague, explains the value of stories in his Sales Scale blog:  Selling is asking the right questions.  Selling is listening.   And selling is telling the right stories.  Some stories are best told with pictures, some with numbers, some with analogies, some with comparisons, some with customer quotations, some with 3rd party data and some with internally observed metrics.  You don’t tell every story every time.  But if you… tell the right stories at the right time in the right way, you win more.  And if your entire sales team is telling the right stories, you win a lot more.
3. Develop a relationship or a commonality with the customer. Network to get warm leads instead of cold calls as a personal referral all but ensures that you will at least be heard. Know about the people and companies with whom you meet.  We all liked to be stroked and reminded of something we may have done well.  Finally, give it away.  Give your customer something that may help them in your business – advice, an insightful article on their industry that you may have read, your perspective of their industry and growth possibilities – even if you don’t get the job.
4. Create trust that you will do what you say. Set yourself a specific goal or deliverable to the customer, then deliver on it perfectly.  This will differentiate you from 95% of all business people who do not deliver on what they say they will do.
5. Be consistent over time. The value of your message consistently delivered over time is what helps you stay front of mind. Consistent customer contact is vital to developing reliability and preserving relationships.

Don’ts

1. Don’t speak too loudly or too flashily!!!!!!! The decibel level in our environment today has continued to climb, reaching 110 db or even higher.  Your screeching and screaming just ratchets it up even higher.  Do you really think that this point is more important because I added seven exclamations points?  Instead, get noticed by varying the volume.  Sometimes, speak in person or with your message very softly and then louder.  The change in volume is what gets noticed.
2. Don’t promise too much: The forgotten part of “do what you say” is to not say as much.  In other words, promise less and make sure you always deliver on it.  As customers, our suspicions always rise when someone is promising too much.
3. Don’t talk about yourself too much: It is all about your customer and target audience.  Keep it on radio station – WII-FM (What’s In It For Me).  A few years ago, I went with some salespeople on an important sales call.  The meeting was scheduled for an hour.  The presentation about our company lasted for over 50 minutes.  This led to a frenetic 10 minute discussion with the customer about his problems and how we could help him.
   It is great when you are proud of your company and what it does.  But, honestly, the customer and the target audience really do not care.  They just want to know how you can help solve their problems.
4. Don’t overwhelm. Too much information and too much contact can begin to grate. Create short, sharp messages on a regular basis to put you back front of mind and reinforce.  And nothing more. When visiting with customers, get in and get out; don’t waste their time.