It would be nice if we could just tell people how great we are and they’d then buy our stuff, wouldn’t it? Annoyingly, it hardly ever works that way. Prospects have an irritating collection of reasons they don’t want to buy, don’t have time to talk to us now, and don’t take their credit cards out of their wallets.
Fortunately for us, human nature tends to be comfortingly consistent. There are actually five recurring objections that virtually every prospect needs to be brought through before they’ll become customers.
This series will walk you through how to get past each one of them in turn. The truth is, you don’t have to be a “born salesman” to sell, you just have to learn the techniques that work.
The first barrier to blast through is the toughest one for most people . . . managing to get a prospective customer to spend two minutes looking at our stuff. It’s the equivalent of getting your bright shiny rocket off the ground–you’ll spend most of your energy just overcoming gravity.
How often have you heard the following sentence? (How often have you spoken it?)
I Don’t Have Time to Talk to Salespeople
Is there anyone, anywhere, who does have time to talk with salespeople?
One of the 50 things your customers wish you knew is that we absolutely hate to be sold to (even though we love to buy). Is there anything more annoying than that person you met at a networking event who calls and calls after the event, even though you have no interest in her product? Even worse, you might have actually been interested, but the incessant nagging makes her product about as appealing as taking out the trash.
When you nag prospects, you associate yourself with the feeling of being nagged. Bad idea.
Pestering or trying to guilt-trip customers into paying attention is a poor use of your time. The mean ones who yell at you or rudely hang up are actually doing you a favor–they’re unambiguously letting you know that they’re not going to buy. It’s the “nice” prospect who lets himself get nagged into talking to you who’s the problem, because he’s not going to buy either.
Attracting Attention in a Sea of Clutter
Every advertiser knows that ads are becoming a mass of white noise. Customers will tune in if you’ve got something they want, but breaking through the clutter gets harder every year.
My copywriting hero Gary Bencivenga gives the best advice I’ve found on this: your advertising must be valuable in and of itself.
Is a blog advertising? It is if you’re using it to build your business. And in fact, a blog fits Bencivenga’s advice to a tee. Build lots of great, valuable content and you’ll attract attention, build loyalty, and establish yourself as an authority. You put yourself into the category of “good, useful guy” instead of “bloodsucking ratbag salesman.”
(I’m not saying it’s fair. I’m just saying that’s how it is.)
Remarkable Communication is based on the idea of using useful, friendly communication as the “something valuable” in your advertising. Newsletters, whether they’re paper or electronic, fill the bill. So do blogs and email autoresponders, or a terrific series of articles hosted on your Web site. Direct mail pieces like “magalogs” or other freebies with good content are a great example, although they take more resources to put together.
If you’re facing a lot of “Sorry, I don’t have time to talk now” from prospects, see what kind of valuable free chips and salsa you can put together. And if you’re not quite sure where to begin, sign up for my free email and content marketing class to get started. (Will I hit you up with dozens of high-pressure offers or rent your email to Romanian pharmaceutical spammers? I will not.)
The Objection Blaster Series (So Far)
- #1: Capturing Attention
- #2: Zen Selling
- #3: Who Cares?
Like this post? Please link to or Stumble it!
Okay, I don’t usually say stuff all gushy like this, but there is so much stuff in this short post that is just RIGHT I am squirming in my chair fit to explode. Yes, and yes, and yes, and yes!
You still need to know how to ask for the order, but nowadays, your content is your salesperson.
Thanks Michael! Yah, I don’t see you get gushy too often. 🙂
And absolutely, there are four objections that come after this one. This is that proverbial salesperson’s foot in the door. But of course, if you don’t cross the first threshold, nothing else happens.
I’m loving the “bloodsucking, ratbag salesman” description.
Maybe it’s because I just finished a scene in my memoir where Mr. Huggins, the lisping Encyclopedia Britannica salesman who had greasy black hair and smelled of stale cigarettes, landed on our doorstep. Soon after that, the rapid-fire ping-pong game began: objection (Mama), new serve (Mr. Huggins), objection (Mama), and back and forth it went. In the end, Mama won. (And I was heartbroken.)
In a way, I think that, done well, online marketing removes a lot of that “sleaze factor.”
Look forward to your next post!
Judy Dunns last blog post..A Copywriter’s Rant: Marketing with Cheesy Clichés and Lazy Words
“… put yourself into the category of “good, useful guy” instead of “bloodsucking ratbag salesman.” ”
There’s a credo if I ever heard one…AND it it makes those chips and salsa more organic high nutrient instead of empty carbs… gotta love that.
Janice Cartiers last blog post..Government By Utube
Sonia –
I’m loving your “Content Class” email course. Didn’t realize you had a second course – signing up for it now.
🙂
Dave Navarros last blog post..Rock Your Business Tip #2: How To Get Magnetic People To Notice You
In Real Estate you either learn this lesson or hang up your shingle and go home. This is why it *looks so easy* for the top few and so hard for the rest. Nothing can compel the bottom group to stop chasing after folks like a smelly wet dog when if they would just stop, listen to what they needed and give it to them all would be well.
It is the same in any sales endeav0r.
Wendi Kelly-Life’s Little Inspirationss last blog post..Giving Back to the Givers
“Bloodsucking ratbag salesman”, huh? Can I use that one tonight when the telemarketers start hounding me during dinner? 🙂
I’m with Dave, I love your content class too! Thanks for the great information!
Jamie Simmermans last blog post..Setting Priorities: Work Vs Blogging
Great article and it’s all so so true. I met someone at a networking event recently and innocently asked what they did and instead of a short crisp response the person launched into a long-winded dissertation with not even a break in breath for me to say I have to go to the bathroom!
To make sure you are never like that desperate person who is launched into a sales pitch without a clue that I wanted to escape, ask them to talk about what they enjoy, what they need, how things are going etc. In other words, care about the person. Without a relationship you will never sell anything to anyone. I write more on this in my free e-book.
> you associate yourself with the feeling of being nagged.
Beautiful point! I’d rather be associated with the feeling of feeling good.
At work, I coach my mentees to create more pleasure than pain in their interactions, especially with their managers. Who wants a whiner, nagger, whatever?
J.D. Meiers last blog post..Social Loafing
Romanian pharmaceutical spammers?
What the hell are you talking about?
Otherwise, great series.
scribus last blog post..Filmule?e de la UBBots 2009