If only you weren’t selling it, you could go on and on about how you love it madly.
But who wants to listen to anyone go on about how great something is when you know they’re also selling it?
In our society, what you’re allowed to say about something you like (and get an open and unsuspecting mind at the other end) depends on whether you’re selling it or not.
Pretend you just got the new Power Mac. Of course you’re supposed to show and tell your friends. And if you just got that new motorized stroller, you show it off to your friend, and she’s usually all eyes and ears. They call that word of mouth – among friends.
Some say that’s the coveted form of advertising because people are telling each other about things that work in their lives and they have no known ulterior motive. It has social value – you to pass on good information that might help someone else. Plus it’s fun to be the one to tell someone else about something good, fun or useful that they didn’t know about before.
BUT…when you happen to be selling the thing you’re going on about, suddenly no one wants to hear your good words anymore. Ask yourself: How much time do YOU want to spend listening to someone else extolling the virtues of something, when you know they’re also selling it?
And the thing is, EVEN if the wonderful things they say about it are true, when someone is selling it, the truth is suddenly suspect to all who are listening.
Of course we know why: sales and marketing types have lost our trust. We’ve been fooled so often that one new best-selling business book is entitled, “All Marketers are Liars.”
Seems we’ve concluded that sales and marketing people who will say whatever they have to, to try and sell you something – overstatements and misrepresentions are common. Here’s what happened to me last week. “You’ve Been Pre-Approved”
Seems like the only way people believe each other about new and fun things is if they’re not also selling it.
So what do you do if you sell stuff you DO really love madly?
1. Tell the other person right up front that you ARE selling the product.
2. Tell WHY you decided to sell it. What did it do for you that made you decide to sell it?
3. Make NO promises about what might happen for them. Only tell what happened for you.
Remember the very famous and successful TV ad with Victor Kiam, the guy who bought Remington? He came on black and white TV in the 70’s, in his bathrobe, held out a razor, and announced to everyone watching: “I liked this razor so much I bought the company.”
We can do that, can’t we?
THEN you have taken ANY possible hidden agenda out of it. And then you get some credibility. Because you have just bared all: You are marketing it, because of what it did for you. And you make NO gushy promises about what it will do for them.
That’s one thing we show you in the book, “If My Product’s So Great, How Come I Can’t Sell It?”
If you have other language and techniques that have given you credibility when you describe the wonders of your product to a prospect, please share. Use the ‘Comments’ section below. I for one am waiting with bated breath.
Kim Klaver | Klaver | marketing |
direct marketing|networkmarketing|sales training |motivation| self improvement
