It’s a VERY rare person who isn’t disappointed when someone brushes them and their product right off, after the first five seconds. The good sales people have learned to reduce their attitude down time to seconds, rather than hours, or days. Or even forever for some people who just up and quit.
But sometimes it’s not you or the product at all.
“Who we are affects what we see.” (Liars, Godin)
Do you believe that?
Who you are includes in a big way, your pre-existing beliefs about the things and ideas being marketed to you. If you’re a Christian, chances are you won’t pay attention to notices about the next Jewish event in your town. If you play tennis but not golf, you won’t notice the great deals on the latest golf clubs. If you buy organic, you won’t notice specials in regular grocery stores. You get the idea, yes?
We are all a bundle of attitudes and beliefs already in place when people come offering their wares. And what we pay attention to has very much to do with our own already-there attitudes, likes and dislikes.
That worldview we have, says Seth Godin, affects three things in everyone. In this we are all one:
1. Attention: If she doesn’t think she needs a new brand of nutritional supplement, she’s far less likely to notice or want a new one when it appears.
2. Bias: everyone carries around a list of dislikes and wishes. When a new product or service appears on your horizon, your predispositions instantly color all the information that comes in. Remember those people who wouldn’t buy after they found it it was a network marketing company that was selling it?
3. Vernacular: consumers care just as much about how something is said as what is said. They care about the choice of media, the tone of voice, the words that are used — even the way things smell…
He concludes:
“Understanding how worldviews interfere with or amplify the story a marketer tells is the most overlooked element of marketing success…”
Amen. What are your worldviews that you think attracted you to your product or this business?
Next trick, how to put those worldviews out there so the right ones come to you. You know, instead of trying to convert all those heathen, so to speak.
