The parallels and differences between selling and farming are an interesting study.  One huge similarity is the presence of storytelling. Farmers have historically been creative in communicating with their community by sharing true life stories because the farm teaches them about all aspects of life at an early age. They eat what they grow; they eat what they kill. They encounter many challenges along the way, some unexpected, and it takes some problem solving to fix those si

How Much? This question has been the bane of the existence of luxury marketing sales professionals for years. Why? Because too many shoppers want to make hasty decisions based upon information without context, and ruin their chance at having the benefit of the proper selection experience. In our instant gratification, technologically driven world, we have an awkward circumstance with droves of shoppers rushing to qualify and disqualify things of an important nature. They know

The commoditization of the piano is a blight on the efficiency of the industry’s sales population.  How much meat do you think has been left on the bones because well meaning piano sales representatives didn’t have the proper follow up passion and protocol? I guess we’ll never know.  Have you heard the pitch by sales coach Jason Evans?  It’s a little schlocky and lacks some finesse for the luxury marketing space, but the statistics he rattles off on his radio pitch are solid

Hello Valued Direct Success Digital Clients! We are going to request some sensitive information therefore it comes with a promise: We do not and will not share any proprietary information with any outside resource or reseller.  The information we receive from our clients is 100% secure in our keeping. Over the last several decades we have handled millions of sensitive records from piano dealers, manufacturers, universities and arts organizations without a breach or incident a

I can answer that question as it pertains to selling luxury items because I’ve seen the value in action.  The answer in performance mathematics is double. Twice as many sales than the marketing and sales persons who don’t capture and post or publish them? Double the sales? Really? I have proof: my sales and general manager Claudio “Clyde” Ochoa.  He doubled the closing ratio of the average sales professional. We were serving up leads to over 200 to sales people when he outper

Subject: Some important information for all Dash Users Hi everyone, We’re excited to share a helpful workaround that allows you to use Dash on your mobile device  while we continue development on a dedicated Dash mobile app. By downloading the Opera browser , you can open Dash in desktop view  on your phone or tablet, giving you access to the full platform on the go. A huge thank-you to Rick Aquino  for discovering and sharing this solution with us while we’re building out na

Hello Dash Users, We wanted to share a few recent improvements we have been making to Dash behind the scenes. Our ongoing goal is to make Dash easier to use, more efficient, and more intuitive. Based on your feedback, we have made several enhancements to lead navigation. What’s new: You can now move to the next or previous lead  directly, without returning to the main Leads section, so you do not lose your place. Leads can now be filtered by a custom date range , making it ea

In a recent internal organizational meeting, I asked our staff about what we could improve on from last year and we were pretty much on the same page, knowing the things that needed improvement and what the priorities are. "How we can best serve our clients' needs" was the topic and something great came out of that 2026 kickoff meeting. My staff, which I affectionately call the “A Team", had the opinion that we are poised to be operating at an unprecedented high level in the

Before we have an intelligent, in context, examination about the makeup, nature and value of online leads, the first reality that needs to be acknowledged is that consumers buying commodities and services, with universal appeal, are not one and the same as luxury marketing purchasers. There is a marked difference in the purchasing behavior of a person buying a $150k item and one buying something for $5k or less.   Lead generation in the luxury marketing space is about making

For years as a direct response specialist, it was all about the immediate respondents we could deliver, the immediately available business to be written.  In the days of direct mail, it was about the 2% response rate before it fell below that and became an unpredictable result. In the more recent past, it has been about the approximately 10% of online traffic that would fill out a form to see a specially curated list. These leads have proven to be a fast track to new business

We've all heard the saying: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.  This timeless metaphor applies to so many aspects of life, especially when tackling something as intimidating as incorporating social media into your business strategy. For many independent business owners, the idea of using social media effectively feels overwhelming. As a result, many either ignore it entirely or use it inconsistently and ineffectively. But here’s the good news: you don’t have to d

The end of every year is so many things:   busy, critical to finishing the year well, a juggling act between business and personal life, too much traffic, tons of memories and well, trying to “get it all done” during the hustle and bustle. It’s supposed to be a time of celebration and reflection but squeezing that in is near impossible, HOWEVER, I submit essential. Maybe it will be the week after Christmas when some reflective time becomes available, but usually it's after th

WARNING: This Article Contains Uncomfortable truths. Read at Your Own Risk.                           If you ask AI whether or not playing the piano is better for mental health than a plethora of other recreational activities or hobbies, it wins hands down. For children, organized athletics provide some valuable social and teamwork skills, exposure and learning,  but for cognitive stimulation, self esteem, emotional expression and stress relief, music has no rival.  This is

In our fast paced world of instant gratification, our technology has to be able to keep up. In the marketing world we talk about conversions; does an ad convert into a page visit, does a page visit convert into a lead, does a lead convert into a sale? Meta and Google talk about “custom conversions.” Tracking conversions helps with finding more people like the ones who converted and all these conversions have value, BUT what is the conversion that matters most? Simply put:   w

Dear Friends, We want to express our deepest gratitude to all the clients and their sales professionals that we have the privilege of serving here at Direct Success Digital. Your participation in the DirectFlow program allows us to serve an industry we love, that helps people have more and better music in their lives. We   are on a mission to finish the development of the  most efficient lead generation, follow up, and sales support system the industry has ever seen, that wil

Number Three in a Series of Three Articles Promoting the Value of an Efficient Sales Culture A day in the life of a top performing sales professional. Before I get started, here’s what it's not: a mixed bag of random activities based upon what comes to mind next,  neither for an individual or a sales staff. If you don’t believe, as Aristotle  did, that “success is a direct result of good habits that you execute regularly and not an act you perform” , you will hate this final

Two in a Series of Three Articles Promoting the Value of an Efficient Sales Culture In this installment we will examine some of the tools needed to establish an efficient sales culture. We will also examine some fundamental realities about what type of, and how much, activity it takes to get the job done. Before we talk about the elements, we need to define the goal of the tools and action which we will examine. The goal is to empower the person or persons who make up the cul

One in a Series of Three Articles Promoting the Value of an Efficient Sales Culture. Charles Drucker said, ”Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”  This is especially true in the luxury marketing space. Why?  Consumers making a discretionary income purchase are 20 times more likely to engage with a sales person who specializes in what they are considering buying, than a person purchasing a commodity. E-commerce technology is well capable of delivering sales of items of univers

“Is Anyone Actually Listening?” Sequel This is the perfect place for the sensitive and thin skinned sales representatives to stop reading. I will not be mincing any words in this article; that’s not really what you need me to do anyway. We have an issue in the luxury marketing space: a lack of sales accountability and education! Do we know how to sell the product? ABSOLUTELY! Do we know how to warm people online up so they will come in to buy? Not hardly. Oh there are random

Have you ever wondered, as a sales person, how much of what you were doing was being read or listened to? If you leave a voicemail, send a text or an email and get “crickets” in return does that mean the prospect you are working doesn’t really have any interest in what you have to offer? This person may have been someone wasting their time and yours, filling out a form out of casual curiosity with no real interest in what you are selling.  Unless you continue to qualify and d