|  Today's Expert Author Case Study introduces us to Expert Author Sam Manfer, who uses his personal experiences, along with humor and stories, to show salespeople how to implement his own sales strategies and tactics.
Sam has coached and trained salespeople all over the world. From his experiences, he wrote a book titled "Take Me To Your Leader$," and he continues to write articles in the Business niche. As part of our Expert Author Case Study series, we asked Sam several questions about his article writing and marketing experiences. - What sets you apart from other Expert Authors?
First, my experience - twenty-five years of corporate experience as a Business Development Manager, Sales and Marketing Vice President and President of two companies.
Second, my sales training - studied under Steve Heiman of Miller Heiman, where I became a certified seminar leader, and conducted hundreds of selling seminars. I also studied under Wilson Learning where I became a certified seminar leader and conducted seminars.
Third, my speaking, seminar leading and consulting experience - fifteen years conducting hundreds of sales seminars, keynote speaking at sales meetings and consulting with clients. I'm also a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) from the National Speakers Association.
Fourth, my consulting experience - I have worked with hundreds of companies to improve their sales, business development and go-to-market strategies. Also, I'm the author of a popular selling sales book, "Take Me to Your Leader$."
Finally, I write, produce and conduct my own selling and sales management seminars. - What's your secret to article writing and marketing success?
Article writing, for me, comes easily. I use my daily experiences selling myself and the experiences of others trying to sell to me. There's a wealth of stories and tips in this alone.
I also use my daily consulting experiences. My clients run into a host of problems and need advice in a variety of different areas in the sales and management field. This, again, gives me a whole host of topics to discuss in articles.
I also use topics from my books, manuals and seminars. So, there really is no secret. It's just using all the available information I'm constantly exposed to, and turning it into a story, strategy, tactic and/or technique that's outlined in an article or video. - How do you stay motivated to write articles?
Motivation is easy. I've noticed that when I write and publish articles, the traffic to my website picks up, as do my sales. When I don't write, it drops off. So, article writing is a no-brainer. - How do you decide what to write about?
I use my daily experiences and topics that I teach and coach. This provides me a wealth of article information. Eventually, I hope to broaden this into a related area of personal development, and an unrelated area of gourmet healthy cooking. Again, in both areas I have a lot to say and a lot of material. - How do you balance writing for quality and quantity?
This is a difficult balance for me. I feel my quality is very good from the feedback I get from various sources. However, I have trouble keeping it short. I feel I need to explain the concept, outline the difficulties and use an example to get the point across. This takes me usually into the 1,200-word realm. I'd like my articles to be 500-700 words.
So, I guess my advice to myself is to narrow my topic/concept, or make the article less detailed and encourage people to ask me for more detail if they're interested. - How has using EzineArticles affected your traffic?
EzineArticles has been a great lead generator for me. I use Google Analytics and I see the traffic that's generated from EzineArticles. - How does article marketing fit into your overall marketing plan?
Article marketing fits beautifully into my marketing plan. At this point in my life, 90% of my marketing plan is what I call passive marketing, which article publishing is a part of. It provides a venue for people to get to know me, trust me and hopefully buy from me. - What EzineArticles tools do you find the most beneficial?
I like that EzineArticles ties into my Facebook, Twitter and even updates Squidoo. I don't think I use nearly as many of the tools available from EzineArticles as I should. They could probably help me with lead generation appreciably. - If you had to start over again, what would you change?
If I could start all over again, I would become an M.D. because I like fixing people. But, as far as article writing and marketing, I feel good about my approach into this field. If I can afford it, I'd like to hire someone to do all the technology work and submissions. - What advice would you give newbie article marketers?
My advice to newbies is to write from the heart. Tell your story, use your experiences and your ideas, and you'll never run out of things to write about. - Anything else you'd like to share?
I need to learn how to write shorter articles because people prefer short reading. However, as they say, "You can write 30 pages in 3 hours, but it takes 30 hours to turn them into 3 pages." Here are 5 quick tips from Sam: - Write From Your Heart - Be personal about the information you have to share. Tell your story. That's the best way to build credibility and a real business relationship with your target audience.
- Use Everyday Experiences - Whether your work is related to your niche or you're just really passionate about it, you live inside that niche every day. Generate articles based on your own experiences and be open to your next great article idea at any time.
- Keep Individual Articles Focused - If you stay focused on the topic you want to cover, you'll be less likely to stray from your main message. When you are passionate about a topic, it's quite easy to write a 1,000+ word article in a short period of time, but the length may cause you to lose focus on the main message. In that case, you might be able to break the article up into multiple parts.
- Tie Your EzineArticles Account To Your Social Media Accounts - Social media platforms are great ways to share your expertise with your audience. It helps to build the amount of followers or friends you associate yourself with.
- Build Your Credibility - Writing articles is an effective way to build credibility. It's a platform where people can get to know about you. With enough credibility comes a special kind of trust. Without even having a face-to-face meeting with them, you can reach out to your readers and help them make good decisions.
Use these quick tips to write and submit your next set of high-quality, original articles. Also, leave a comment for Sam and share one of your own tips:
http://Blog.EzineArticles.com/2010/11/case-study-sam-manfer.html |
To Your Article Writing/Marketing Success & Passion!
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