Marketing, Selling, and Networking

Posted on July 21st, 2009

Last week I received an email from a reader about the content found in my first three books:  Marketing to the Affluent, Selling to the Affluent and Networking with the Affluent and Their Advisors.  This writer was concerned that these books might be merely a rehash of each other. In fact, each book is unique, as you'll see below.

To be more accurate, Marketing to the Affluent could easily be retitled "Marketing to the Millionaire Next Door." The material found in Marketing to the Affluent originated from three main sources:  first, from focus groups of millionaires that I conducted for seven of the top ten trust companies in America; second, from my monograph, "The Myths and Realities of the Affluent Market," i.e. more millionaires hold a Sears store credit card than Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, etc., and third, from a study that I was asked to conduct for a major investment company of their top 60 financial consultants (out of more than 10,000) on how they market to the affluent.  The book profiles millionaires in detail and then profiles the 6 characteristics of extraordinary sales professionals who market financial products and services to millionaires.  This book was selected as one of 10 outstanding business books in America by Best of Business.  It was also a finalist for the Ben Franklin Business Book of the Year award.

While Marketing to the Affluent focused on how marketers can sell financial products and services, Selling to the Affluent addresses a much wider array of products and services.  It profiles some of America's most extraordinary sales professionals who sell everything from luxury homes to prestigious makes of automobiles.  It also explains how the sales professional can become an apostle to millionaire clients and prospective clients as opposed to being an antagonist.  It highlights some of the experiences of top sales professionals who target wealthy business owners, affluent marketing sales professionals, successful authors, affluent women, affluent Asian Americans, etc.  The book was selected by Soundview Publishing as an outstanding book for business people.

Networking with the Affluent and Their Advisors details how marketing and sales professionals can favorably influence millionaires and their advisors.  With numerous case studies of extraordinary networkers, the book points out that one must focus on the needs of the target beyond one's core product.  When most sales professionals are asked what a millionaire needs, they will reply, "my product, my service, my investment counseling, my insurance products, etc."  But the top networkers in America see things differently.  They understand that a millionaire business owner, for example, needs more business, more customers.  Thus a top networker will help generate new business prior to discussing his "product."  But revenue enhancement is only one of eight roles that top sales and marketing professionals play.  These eight roles are discussed in considerable detail in Networking with the Affluent. Networking with the Affluent was also selected by Soundview Publishing as an outstanding book for business people. More recently, it was selected as one of the best marketing books of all time in Chris Murray's, The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time.

Category: For Marketing and Sales Professionals
Tags: marketing, selling, networking, affluent, Millionaire Next Door, research, sales professionals, selling, customers, writing,