Nancy Hendrickson

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the election returns yesterday – and why Barack Obama was so successful. The reasons, of course, are many. Economy, war, hopelessness, being mired in a broken political system–all messages and issues that will get out votes in just about every election.

But beyond that, I attribute at least part of the success to the Obama campaign’s brilliant use of relationship marketing. Yes, they did the big TV ad blitz . . . but they added a strategy (and philosophy) not seen in campaigns in my lifetime. Building a voting base one person at a time.

Through word of mouth marketing, massive person-to-person canvassing, and crafting messages that spoke directly to “we the people” this campaign was wildly successful. Plus, the strategists realized that part of the relationship we want to build with a new administration was one devoid of negativity, divisiveness, exclusion, and dirty tricks.

Congratulations to President-elect Obama, and best hopes for a new era of how we do business with one another.

Michael Port, author of Booked Solid and Beyond Booked Solid, is out with yet another winner – The Contrarian Effect – Why It Pays Big to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite.

The premise of Port’s newest book (written with Elizabeth Marshall) is that old sales tactics (cold calls, high pressure sales, door-to-door sales) no longer work. What does? Person-to-person interactions. Sound more early 19th century in philosophy than 21st? You’re right . . . and it works.

In my many years online (I got hooked back in 1986 with DOS-based Compuserve) – I’ve witnessed the evolution of business on the Internet: the dotcom boom to bust, the crunch of big business finally getting into online sales, mass e-mails, spam . . . basically, doing business as usual.

With the advent of social networks, the Internet is returning to more people-to-people interactions – - and this trend is reflected is how people want to be “sold”. Instead of “big business” pushiness, consumers want businesses to recognize that they are real people with real needs, who want to be treated as individuals, not part of a mass spam, high pressure, pushy sales techniques.

If your business sales are on the downslide, pick up a copy of The Contrarian Effect – and see if you can shake your sales out of the doldrums.