Mike,
I'm sorry you feel like I was wanting to debate with you. I was not and am not. I am just trying to learn. Nothing more.

If it works for you then it can work for others too.

Respectfully,
Taylor

> I receive a phone call while driving across
> the Wyoming Continental Divide on a Sunday
> enjoying the expansive views with my
> girlfriend on the last day of our
> "getaway" weekend.

> "Hello this is Mike..."
> "Mike??? You don't know me but JL said
> he gets his insurance from you and I want to
> switch! Can you do that???" ::Insert
> Seinfelds "Yada Yada" episode:::

> "Sure can... Consider it bound!"
> Tuesday morning a 25% down payment on a
> $23,500.00 new commercial account is
> received.

> No identifying the prospect...

> No targeting the prospect...

> No pre-contact with the prospect...

> Prospect has never received one piece of
> Direct Mail, nor has he ever heard of me
> prior to his associate mentioning me in
> passing.

> That's just one example.

> Of course you could invoke the 'Chicken and
> the Egg' argument. (Which came first... The
> Sale, or the Marketing...) But MY
> bottomline conclusively proves to me, there
> are sales without actual
> "Marketing" by the solution
> provider.

> The one thing I see with people entering
> into the selling profession - online or
> offline - is a propensity to believe
> paradigms as facts as they relate to sales
> and marketing.

> Once broken free from the bonds of what
> "others" tell them to be true...
> They develop their own styles, their own
> pricing structures, their own attitudes, and
> their own set of beliefs.

> If you don't believe something to be true,
> then it will never be a truism for you.

> If you don't believe you could ever close a
> $122,834.45 sale in under 30 minutes... Then
> you will most likely NEVER accomplish it.

> No one ever believed a human could run a sub
> four minute mile either. But once it was
> accomplished... Others found they could do
> it as well.

> Sales and Marketing ARE two separate
> entities.

> It's the "humanizing" factors -
> which others have thrust upon them - which
> have brought the two together.

> If a prospects calls ME without ME
> initiating the process (ie: marketing).
> Isn't the "prospect" marketing his
> NEED's to me??? I may not want his business
> for one reason or another. Possibly his
> business is out of my arena. I may not even
> have a providable solution, wouldn't you
> agree???

> So there is in effect - NO Marketing on my
> part.

> Marketing as defined by my set of standards
> is "Identifying a group who has a need
> which can be solved with the application of
> one of your products or services."
> "I" did not *identify* the
> prospect... He identified me. "He"
> is *marketing* his needs to me. I'm not
> *marketing* my solutions to his needs .

> The answers are all within my definitions of
> "Sales" and "Marketing".
> Accept it... Reject it... But I won't
> debate it... It works for me! :-)

> Success and Regards... Mike