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Who Better Than the Former Mayflower Madam
to Show You How to Keep Your Customers Satisfied and Begging For More? Dear Successful Business Owner, Yes, that's right! Over 20 years ago, in another life, I was indeed known as "the Mayflower Madam" WHY SHOULD YOU LISTEN TO ME? Why not? Most successful people will tell you that one of the best ways to make it to the top is to model yourself after other successful people. Model yourself after a Madam, you ask yourself? Why not? It's not called The World's Oldest Profession for nothing! They've had centuries to test every conceivable marketing and selling idea, adapt to all kinds of challenges and changes, and devise innumerable, creative ways to cater to more niche and sub-niche markets than any other business I can think of. So how did a nice girl like me end up in that business? IT ALL BEGAN IN RETAIL I started off my career on the Executive Training Program at Abraham & Straus, at the time the jewel in the crown of Federated Department Stores, As an Assistant Buyer in the Bath Shop. Eventually I was promoted to a branch store and was the Department Manager of Fine Jewelry, Watches and Sunglasses. I moved on to a position as an assistant to the buyer of Ladies Fashion Accessories at the New York corporate buying office of the May Company Stores. Later on I become the head buyer of Fashion Accessories at an independent residential buying office. Retailing gave me a very solid business foundation in so many areas. I learned all about the importance of image and how to create it, maintain it and change it; the mechanics of how to make a sale, the importance of product presentation, and how to price a product in various ways, depending on your purpose at the time. I learned how critical it is to see your business through your customer's eyes, to find out and give them what they want, not what you think they should have (or whatever is sitting on your shelves). I learned that repeat business and loyal customers make up the foundation of every successful business and how vital it is to find ways to maintain and expand that relationship. And I learned how to treat employees in such a way as to instill unwavering loyalty, their desire to uphold the image of the business and to make them feel they are an integral part of its success. I also received an unintentional education on how to ruin a flourishing business by personally observing how a management team can literally destroy decades of success by completely ignoring all of the above. Learning what doesn't work is just as critical, if not more so, than learning what does. I TAKE ON AN IRRESISTIBLE CHALLENGE When I became unemployed due to my refusal to participate in a kickback scheme, a friend who knew I was struggling told me about a part-time position in the office of an escort service, answering the telephones. At first, I didn't want to have anything to do with it, but at the time, $50 a night off the books was very good money and eventually I said yes. It was obvious from the very first night that while this may have been the World's Oldest Profession, this particular proprietor wasn't running it very professionally. He ignored every good-business practice in existence and came up with even more bad ones on his own! All the lessons I had learned were being so flagrantly flouted that it was a mystery how this guy had managed to stay in business for even a month, let alone the nearly 20 years he had been operating. It didn't take long to realize there were a lot of really terrific guys out there who were looking for an upscale and elegant experience and there was absolutely no one who was providing it. The challenge was just too irresistible. We knew there was a market out there, we knew we could do it so much better than anyone else in town, so one day we decided to just go for it! I couldn't articulate it then, but of course now I realize these gentlemen constituted a sub-niche market which had gone totally unrecognized and underserved in New York City (and just about everywhere else in the United States as well). Nobody was giving these very wealthy clients what they really wanted. No one was even paying attention to what they wanted, and had the means to pay for! The business we were in was not the sex business, the business we were really in was the fantasy business. Yes, there was sex involved, but if that was their main objective, they could have gotten it for a lot less. What they were really paying for was an Experience. They wanted the most beautiful, the most elegantly dressed, the most charming, the most expensive New York City call girl to walk through their door. They wanted her to listen to their stories, laugh at their jokes, admire their financial success, and be enjoyable company. They wanted to relax, escape their everyday life and feel like they were "still in the game" with a beautiful girl whose only agenda was to make them happy. At the end of that wish list was "a sure thing", but the experience just described was the main attraction. FROM MADAM TO MAVEN When my first book, Mayflower Madam, was published, much to my surprise Fortune Magazine named it one of the Top Ten Business Books of the year. But the real shock came when several recent college graduates, most from MBA programs, informed me it had been on their required reading list for courses on small businesses and entrepreneurship. When I heard it had been on the reading list at Harvard - Harvard!!! - I felt like I'd really arrived! I've been a guest lecturer at colleges for years, including some in the Ivy League like Brown and Columbia (I'm still waiting for that summons from Harvard!). I've also spoken at countless events here in the United States and overseas for the very elite and prestigious YPO, the CEO Clubs and many other business groups. DAN KENNEDY INSISTS When marketing guru Dan Kennedy approached me and proposed we begin working together, I didn't think I had anything special to share, but Dan insisted that I did, and I've learned that when Dan tells you something about business, you'd better pay attention. It took a few consulting engagements, and then I really got it - I have a talent for seeing things with Fresh Eyes. I have a real gift for spotting incongruencies between the image your business is trying to project and the reality a customer actually encounters - I understand what Mental Movie your prospective customer sees in their head, imagining what it would be like to do business with you, based on the image your advertising and marketing are conveying -- AND....I have a knack for figuring out what business a client is really in, as well as what business their customers want them to be in and how to reverse engineer it so the customer actually receives that experience. THE MAYFLOWER MADAM IS NOW COMPLETELY LEGIT - AND YOU CAN REAP THE REWARDS! First, start learning all about Sales Design and Choreography by subscribing to my free e-zine, Sales Savvy. Complete the form at the top right of this page so you don't miss a thing. Next, delve deeper into my experiences, the lessons I've learned and how to apply them to YOUR business for greater profits. Take the plunge and explore XXX Rated Sales Strategies, the first and most controversial information product I developed with Dan. Next, there's my SALES DESIGNŽ FOR EXCEPTIONAL SALES RESULTS 10-Week Tele-Coaching Program . And, I accept a limited number of speaking engagements and consulting clients annually. to inquire about my availability. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME - PLEASE Many the most savvy business owners - the ones whose accomplishments make other folks turn pea green with envy - have major gaps in their sales operations through which literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits are draining - every day! Are YOU one of them?? Worse still, they are genuinely puzzled as to why, after so many years of dramatic sales increases, their revenues seem to be leveling off. And, when it comes to launching new endeavors, this same gap - if not addressed -- causes even the most unique business plan with the highest success potential to crash and burn before it's even had the chance to get into orbit. You can fix - or even prevent - THE GAP - starting right now! I do hope you'll take advantage of the priceless information I'm eager to share with you. Warmest regards, Sydney Biddle Barrows PS: I've gone from toothbrush holders to diamonds to handbags to call girls to books and lectures, to Fresh Eyes consultant to Information Marketer - whew! By my count, if I've been allotted the proverbial nine lives, I still have two left! And when I look back on each of those very different lives, in one way or another I've used all the lessons I've learned along the way in every one of them. Don't make the mistake of thinking your business is different and you couldn't possibly learn anything from a former Madam. I can tell you from personal experience that all business are alike, and that if you keep an open mind and exercise a little creativity, I can show you how to be just as successful as I have been.
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What are people
saying about Sydney Biddle Barrows? "Sydney's quite possibly the smartest sales consultant I've ever met.." "At this stage of my career I go out of my way to work with people who intrigue and interest me and who bring exceptional value to my clients. Sydney and I are kindred spirits in a number of ways. She's courageous, a risk taker, a frank and candid person and a serious student of what makes people act as they do, buy or not buy, respond or not respond... "Sydney has through instinct and experience developed a truly unique understanding and talent for identifying how individuals are best sold, what they respond to and why they respond...Her experience developing a highly successful, elite premium priced service business predominantly catering to repeat clientele and depending upon referrals features brilliant strategies... -- Dan Kennedy, from his Introduction to "XXX Rated Sales Strategies" "Once in a lifetime (if you're lucky) you may encounter naturally occurring genius the likes of Sydney Biddle Barrows. Sydney is a living 'historic treasure.' Literally the week after I read her "XXX Sales Strategies" course materials, my staff orchestrated an enormous surge in upsells into our top level of membership. Armed with Sydney's unique strategies, even those on my team who weren't thought to be in a "Sales" position were selling like nothing I've ever witnessed. What struck me most was that Sydney doesn't just generalize some vague theory. I got line after line of exactly-what-do-you-say to make her strategies work for me on "autopilot." Fact is that in under 24 hours, her dialogue about upsells became part of our daily routine. In addition to her elegantly simple upsell strategy, Sydney's instant Midas effect on my team is also attributable to her special "Closed Loop Entrepreneurial Philosophy." What I thought I knew about team motivation and what I should have been doing were light years apart. The most incredible part of our "Best Week Ever" was that it was so easy to implement! Not even 18 pages into her manual I shot out a three paragraph e-mail to my staff. Our "Gold" membership ranks swelled by 19% in just five days. In just Four months later we've enjoyed a measurable result... to the tune of $218.00 increased dues... monthly... for 27 members... that's a $5,886 increase in monthly revenues... a $70,632.00/year "bump" from ONE KILLER VERBAL skill! With absolutely zero additional manpower or investment on our part, deploying another of Sydney's techniques will easily DOUBLE if not TRIPLE our return on investment in trade shows from this day forward. Another strategy will result in a SIX FIGURE boost from our trade show revenues, annually... forever! Never thought I'd be taking advice from a Madame... but after my first experience, I can honestly say... "I'm hooked!"" Dr. Tom Orent "We are on track to increase our business at least 25% this year since I attended Sydney's "Sales Design for Exceptional Sales Results" course. Our client retention rate is now up to 96%. "We own a property and casualty independent insurance agency... Thanks to Sydney...we have gotten out of the boring, insuring anyone who breathes and pays, insurance business into insuring only affluent clients who have the money to pay for our excellent service on our terms to protect their assets. "The importance of processes that are repeated, practiced and improved has been cemented. Jan Drake This is missing link that many business owners don't even know they have. There isn't a business out there that wouldn't make a boat load more money by using your strategies. Not to mention, they wouldn't have to work as hard and they wouldn't waste a lot of money on marketing because they would be converting their opportunities at a much higher rate. Thanks for filling a void, Sydney. Dan Cricks, "Sydney has a very deep, intuitive understanding of what marketing and sales is all about...... ADVANCED discussion of many things that will surprise most business owners - including how easy it can be to sell at prices higher than your competitors or you think possible." -Scott Tucker "I have owned a software consulting company for 15 years. Prior to reading your materials I would have said that I was in the business of marketing consulting services. I realize now that I am really in the security, protection, and construction business. After reading XXX Rated Sales Strategies, I immediately created a matrix of customer desires (19!) then integrated with my sales process - starting with the initial call that comes in from a prospective client to the signing of a contract. ".... I also realized that my biggest frustrations were of my own making, because I created no scripts or protocols for my staff... never tried to discern what a future customer was looking for.... from staff I expected resistance but quite the opposite occurred, a love fest!! "This makes our job easier...so organized" .... In just 40 days we have transformed our company. Several BIG sales are directly attributed." - David Wolfe, CPA, As a result of purchasing and listening to the XXX -Rates Sales Strategies audio recordings, attending the free Sales Strategies seminar in September 2007, I signed up for Sydney's Sales Strategies Tele-Class. And I am very glad I did. When I first heard Sydney describe her business in such detail, I was intrigued...by the thought that had gone into the planning of each step of the operation and of the scripting and sales choreography that was done ... and practiced by the employees until it became a natural response. My thoughts were: "Well, if Sydney can do that for an escort service, what is stopping me from doing that for my business brokerage company?" The answer was of course: nothing. After all, selling businesses is Match-Making....finding a willing buyer and a willing seller and helping them fall in love with each other!!! I recently went on an in-person call to meet a prospective client. The meeting started at 2:30 p.m. I asked a few pre-planned questions and then just sat back, listened and took notes while the client talked. I did not give a sales pitch, or even say that much about myself...... I merely listened. If I hadn't taken Sydney's course...I would have felt extremely frustrated because I didn't get to talk!!! In the beginning the prospect said, "Well, we're not sure if we really want to sell our business". By 6:30 p.m. the prospect said, "Well, Sheila if we do sell our business, it will be with you." By 8:30 p.m., the prospect said, "Okay, where do I sign. I'm ready to sell". Sheila Spangler Sydney has taught me ... to see the "who" of my customer, and then make choices with their goals in mind. Sales are the natural course - not the exception, not an exertion. I'm now better able to analyze -- from my client's perspective -- what needs to happen, when and how often it needs to happen for them to keep coming back for more again and again. Looking to the values of my ideal customer has helped me more wisely use resources, and better leverage my knowledge. Because of what I've learned, I found a new niche, and am developing a new info-product just for them. Harmony Tenney "XXX Sales Secrets" really knocked my socks off! This lady has such a grasp of business - it's unbelievable. She is what is known as unconsciously expert. She knows how to put her fingers on problems and solve them. When I found I had some problems in the spa I consult for, I knew she was just the one to help. I called her and immediately committed her to come and show me the problems. What she uncovered was beyond belief. It led to my spa manager quitting. We hired another manager who is 10X better than the previous person. Thanks Sydney. I look forward to having you work with me to make this spa even better Dr. Barry Lycka |
