Time, as we all know, is money, and anyone who mismanages any aspect of it can, according to Cliff Quicksell, become “irrelevant in two seconds.” To help business practitioners avoid that distinction, the vice president of affiliate marketing for iPROMOTEu, Wayland, Mass., took to the show floor at PPAI Expo East in Atlantic City to present “Creating Relevance with Self-Promotions.”
Throughout Wednesday’s hour-long session, the noted speaker challenged his audience to believe in hopes to differentiate themselves from their peers by stressing a five-point formula. By discussing targeted self-promos, vertical markets, client classification, discovery interactions with potential clients and case studies—along with drawing a laugh when transforming the meaning of “R+D” from “research and development” to “rip off and duplicate”—Quicksell, with an impressive background as a distributor and a supplier, showed that touting oneself can be a, well, quick sell if people cease being fearful of failure.
Quicksell reminded the group that there are many means to obtain self-promotion success, with asking good, solid questions being his top sales tool. Also encouraged to believe that “sales feed egos” and “profits feed families,” the attendees were all ears (and eventually eyes when Quicksell became immersed in his PowerPoint slides) as he noted four ways to propel their business to greatness.
Tabbing enhancing connections with current clients as the organic way to build one’s reputation, discussing the benefits of resuscitating old clients, stressing the rewards of seeking new prospects, and commending the sense of self-satisfaction that can come through acquisitions, Quicksell perfectly segued into a discussion of client classifications and campaigns that have helped him gain trust and that bear a repeatable mindset for similarly eager businesspeople.
During his presentation, he shared a helpful PowerPoint page that listed off the types of clients, ranging from A-F. What this means is that there’s a number of different criteria that you should look at when identifying what types of clients you want to work with.
From Quicksell’s powerpoint:
- A- class act
- B- above average
- C- middle tier
- D- low tier
- E- questionable
Quicksell knew exactly what he wanted out of a top-client and listed a number of factors, including someone who pays their bills on time, one where he sees a growth opportunity, someone that refers him, and someone that’s nice and communicative, to name a few. This was important to note, and he continued by explaining that we all have 24 hours in a day, so spend it with someone you enjoy working with. Of course, this will look different for everyone, but realizing what type of customer you want to work with is beneficial.
As an example, Quicksell also shared some examples of self-promotions in the past, and, one in particular, stuck out.
He showcased an image of a package in the shape of a briefcase with a sticky note printed on the top that said, “The Jury is OUT.” On the inside of the box was a confidential file titled, “Marketing Case 107-3” as well as gavel and items you would possibly find in a lawyer’s briefcase.
Quicksell shared with the audience that something people might not know is that some law offices have marketing departments, too. In this case, he presented a self-promotion idea that relates to lawyers (and their classified cases), but he also displayed how to target his specific audience and made this a truly unique piece. Putting everything together, he reiterated that, “If you want to be different, be different.”
Returning to our opening point about time being money, we have to say that makes total sense. (Get it? Cents?)
