New Sales Machine Tagline!

I'm happy to announced that the clear winner for the Sales Machine tagline is "Connect. Listen. Sell." What's more, the all-powerful BNET editors have approved the change, as you can see in the Sales Machine header above this post.

I love the new tagline because it really does represent what this blog is all about... certainly much better than the old one "A. Always. B. Be. C. Closing." which promotes an obsolete selling philosophy.

The winning tagline was a variation of an entry by Sales Machine reader "klumsr" who is now entitled to an hour of my time on the telephone (or an hour of my writing time). So, if you're out there, "klumsr"... please email me!

Before we move on, though, I have a confession to make. I didn't run this contest just because Sales Machine needed a new tagline. I also wanted to make an important point about brand marketing.

I once personally watched a Fortune 50 company spend over $1 million in marketing expense in the quest to find a new tagline.

By contrast, the tagline above not only didn't cost BNET any money, but instead actually generated the income from the selling of advertising for the blog.

What's more, the tagline contest helped get people involved and made ME more committed to providing you guys with the best stuff I can find.

Folks, this is how brand marketing is done in the 21st century. Make the product (and the customer experience) as cool and engaging as possible. Then you let your customers do your marketing.

'Nuff said.