Recently I started reading the book Clout, The Art and Science of Influential Web Content by Colleen Jones. While most small business owners are, understandably, too busy to read a book about website content, I could not resist taking a closer look.

Right from the start I was impressed and thought I would relay a very important passage regarding professional content vs. content generated by the actual business owner.

Jones writes:

“Quality Content Books More Hotel Rooms for Holiday Inn

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)-an international hotel company with seven brands including InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, Crown Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites–conducted a content experiment with remarkable results.  IHG wanted to know whether professional-quality content about their hotel properties would perform better than the regular content, which was created by property owners.  In other words, would professional photos and descriptions of a hotel influence customers to book it better than the owner-generated photos and descriptions?

IHG created high-quality photos and text for a sample of Holiday Inn hotels.  Then, they diverted a segment of holidayinn.com visitors to that sample of hotels.  Finally, IHG conducted extensive analysis to compare booking for the sample hotels and the hotels with owner-generated content.

The results were stunning.  Hotel properties with the high-quality photos and text outperformed owner-generated photos and text by a statistically significant margin.  While IHG cannot release the exact number, the results were so impressive that executives kicked off a long-term project to revamp the photos and descriptions for all Holiday Inn hotels.

‘We were amazed at the impact that better quality content had on online hotel bookings.  Our goal is to connect guests with great hotels.  We believe that professional photos and descriptions help guests more easily decide whether a property is right for them,”says John Muehlebauer, Director of Product Strategy and Planning.”

Comment:  Jones’ analysis of the ongoing debate regarding Professional vs. Homegrown content is spot on and finishes with the statement “…these elements are not easy or cheap, but they’re achievable and necessary if you want results.”  Wow, that’s a powerful statement and underscores what industry professionals, like Robert Scoble, have been saying for years:  There are too many lousy websites out there!

I highly recommend you pick up Colleen Jones’ book “Clout” and dive right in!  If you’ve already read it, what did you think?

Preston Ehrler, Webvantix

Here are a few thoughts on Social Media Marketing and books by Gary Vaynerchuk (Crush It!) and Tamar Weinberg (The New Community Rules:  Marketing on the Social Web).  These are two great books that will enlighten any business when preparing to kick off a social media marketing campaign, and as they are very different, both should be required reading!

Tom Hopkins, How to Master the Art of Selling

Never was there a more quintessential sales book that Tom Hopkins’ How to Master the Art of Selling. This book, without question, presents several cheesy salesman’s one liners:  If they say yes.  (“Yes, we own a boat.”) “Oh, fine.  May I ask you what type and make it is?”  Wow, if someone said that on a cold call today, the response could be very ugly (by saying “may I ask,” only invites the “no” response, and then where are you?)  A hint to all salespeople, stay away from closed ended questions!

Yet, parallel to this Tom Hopkins offers terrific ideas that enable you to utilize phrases that will make your prospect more at ease and ultimately look upon you as a trusted consultant to their business, or to them personally.  This is a genuine capability great salespeople have, quite simply they advise from the heart, with honesty and clarity, and at the same time can use language and phrases properly to make their point.

The idea in the book is that great salespeople lead, they do not push, and I believe that is very true.  In today’s world everything, and I mean everything, is commoditized–yes websites, which we sell, are a great example.  Many of our prospects are looking for the best price, but at the same time, do they really want to sacrifice value?  Of course not.  Therefore, the key virtue that  is extolled in How to Master the Art of Selling are guiding the prospect to the understanding of how what you offer, is specifically valuable to them (monetizing your product or service).

Tom Hopkins is big on preparation.  Know what your “Rejection Words” are and replace them with “Go Ahead Terms,” be aware that a No now, is only one step closer to a yes, all you have to understand is how many ‘no’s’ it takes to get to a ‘yes’ and you will thank someone when they say no–I love that and have believed it for years!

Digging into the chapters this book enables the reader to be very clear on what to do in certain situations, though it’s your responsibility to sift through things that really don’t apply to 2009–sorry but if you try to Ben Franklin close someone they will see that coming a mile away!

I recommend reviewing and re-reviewing the following chapters:

Chapter 4:  Creating the Sales Climate

Chapter 13:  The Objection Connection–Really read this!

Chapter 14:  Closing is Sweet Success–Test closes is great.

In this environment and this economy sales is very difficult and prospects have little time or patience for sales games, ultimately what the salesperson must make clear is how their product or service will help their prospect:

“Mr. Prospect, I understand the difficulties of today’s economy, and that investing in a new website at this time may seem like a poor business decision, and if you look at it as an expense instead of an investment, perhaps it would be, but a properly designed and coded website can drive new business right to your door, and that’s what we all want, isn’t it?”

I highly recommend Tom Hopkins’ How to Master the Art of Selling, but use it wisely and learn the skill of listening to your prospects and working with them to find the best solution to their problems…

Next time let’s discuss proper listening.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the review; please let me know what you think, I’m interested in all opinions!

Preston Ehrler

As a commissioned salesperson for all of my career I have developed quite a collection of ‘sales’ books.  Several years ago a painter who was working in my home looked at my collection and said “did you read all those?”  I smiled and said “absolutely, some several times!”  I guess I’ve become a sales book junkie of sorts, but overall my thought by reading these books was not to become great at convincing people to buy things they don’t need, but to develop the skills that enabled me to properly present a solution to someone’s problem.  Of course there are many frustrating variables and hurdles that come before the actual culmination of a sale, but sales, providing you can stomach the ups and downs, is a very rewarding career.  Just remember, no matter what someone does, they, at the very core, are in sales.

So, going forward I’ll be reviewing some of the books I have on my shelf, many of which I have taken extensive notes on, and actually have transcribed those notes onto MS Word, and if you’re interested, just let me know and I’ll send them to you (I find them helpful to reference when I have a difficult situation).

I’m excited about posting my reviews and look forward to highlighting the ideas I have gotten by reading them.  I also look forward to your thoughts as well.

What do you think?

Preston Ehrler