If you have ever pitched a piece of business but had it fall on deaf ears, or had your audience nod in agreement but not take action, I think you'll find this interesting.

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What Super Bowl  ads have stood out for you over the years? Which do you think really got us to either think differently about their products or motivated us to purchase them?

Share your thoughts.

Mark

Never underestimate the power of a great story.

(Many thanks to John Frisbie for passing this along-I'd love to hear about other great examples of powerful stories, so please send them over to mark@gentlerainmarketing.com.)

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Here’s a contrarian viewpoint. I believe that trying to develop an elevator speech, in which you attempt to summarize what you do in a single sentence, is an amazingly dumb idea. Lord knows, I’ve spent enough time working on one for myself and trying to develop them for clients.

Finally, it occurred to me that it was a complete waste of time.

Think about what’s typically developed.

Either it’s what I call the Yellow Page classification answer…”I’m a  financial advisor"…accountant…butcher…baker…candlestick maker.” Exceeding dull and only serves to check off our list of polite chatter, “I’ve said what I do.”

Or it’s incomprehensible to anyone who doesn’t live in your business world…”I’m a supply chain consultant.” (Come again?). “I integrated proprietary networking systems into legacy based infrastructures.” (How nice for you.)

Or, we attempt to get creative…”I help people live their dreams.” “I turn potential into gold.” Blah, blah, blah. (As an aside, how does anyone actually say that stuff with a straight face? It’s a rhetorical question-so if you are someone who uses a “creative” elevator speech, there’s no reason to write me an angry note.)

But, we do have to say something. So what’s the answer?

Here’s what I think.

The goal for what you say is to stimulate curiosity. If they’re interested in learning more, they’ll let you know. That permission then enables you to tell them the short story about what you do.

I recently saw a great example of this from, of all people, a lady involved in MLM/Network marketing. As a group, these people are usually the worse at this sort of thing, but this lady had a great answer to the “what do you do?” question.

“I help mature women look as attractive as possible.”

I was intrigued and followed her around the room for a bit. Virtually everyone she said this to, asked a follow up question. That question then gave her permission to tell her story about how she started selling this product. (Did you catch why this line works so well?)

The lesson? Get them curious.

For years I told people some version of “I’m a marketing consultant.” The alternative I used, “I assist business owners attract more new clients with no cold calling” was OK, but never flowed as smoothly as I desired.

One day it occurred to me that one of the primary ways I attract clients is through my books, and that I spend the majority of my time preparing, writing or promoting them. Thus, I shifted my answer to, “I primarily spend my time writing books.”

What a change in reaction.

“What types of books?” “How many have you written?” “What are they about?” “Where can I get them?”

This naturally enables me to transition into the story about how I became an author, how I speak, train and coach people on using stories to sell.

Rather than just blab at people uninvited about what we do, or attempt to be cutesy with our elevator speech, focus instead on making them curious. That way you’ll be invited in to tell the longer story about how clients benefit from your services.

However…figuring out what precisely will make them curious requires that pesky mental heavy lifting I often refer to. But, if you’re planning on using networking events or other social engagements as a tool for meeting new clients, it’s certainly worth the effort.

Good food for thought.

PS: Would you like some assistance is developing your Anti-Elevator Speech? GO HERE

If truth be told, I don’t think I’m alone. I’m sure there’s lots of stuff you would do, if only it was simpler. 

Unfortunately, simple answers usually only exist for simple problems. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I find that the more challenging the problem, the more we have to think “deep into the game”, as the chess masters say.

For example, let’s take the topic of getting more new clients.

On the surface the answer should be simple…Just ask them.

“Hey you. I realize we’ve never met, and you don’t know me, but wanna buy my stuff?”

OK, perhaps we say it a bit more elegantly, but haven’t you been guilty of that? I know I have.

It’s what’s called selling to strangers.

Does it work? Sure-if you’re willing to talk to enough people. It sort of reminds me of my strategy in the ‘70s of going up to women in the disco and asking them to go home with me. (Hey it was the ‘70s, I was young-gimme a break.)

Did it work? Sure. All right…occasionally. But what about the quality, you ask? Well…that was a bit suspect.

The problem is that if we blindly put our nose-to-the-proverbial-grindstone, asking strangers to do business with us, not only do we get a lot of rejection, but we also have no filter on the type of clients we eventually wind up with. 

Granted, if you have no clients, the idea of having any clients, regardless of how bad, sounds good. But I think it’s important to remember that the goal is to have both quality and quantity.

So how do we accomplish this? Is there some sort of magic bullet/answer that if we only learned it, all of our client attraction problems would go away?

Of course not.

But…there is a strategy that will make the process a lot easier.

But…it takes a bit of patience.

Here it is…

Stop trying to sell to strangers.

That’s it. It really is that simple.

Stop trying to sell to strangers and focus instead on building a relationship with those who can either hire you, buy from you, or refer you to others.

And the way to do that? 

Bribe them.

Give them something that’s interesting for free. A tip. A suggestion. Something helpful. Answer a question that people often ask you. But most importantly…

Focus on building a relationship…Not trying to sell someone something. There’s plenty of time for that down the road. 

Patience & Best Regards

Mark

Want me to help you develop your marketing strategy or work with you to create your unique message? Info HERE.

How do we get the people…the ones we desperately yearn to do business with… to STOP for a second and pay attention to us? Here’s an idea.

Piggyback on what’s in the news for your own attention-getting purposes. Like this…

If you’ve picked up a copy of USA Today anytime in the last couple of years, you’ve undoubtedly seen ads run by Bill Bartmann for his free books on the Debt-Collection business. Bartmann’s a, shall we say, colorful character, but you can’t fault his marketing prowess. In fact his approach is applicable for anyone who wants to attract a large congregation of followers.  There are a lot of steps to what he’s doing, but today, let’s take a closer look at how he’s getting attention.

Now, keep in mind that he’s been pitching this business opportunity for a number of years. You’d think his market would be getting pretty fatigued with his message, and you’d be right, IF Bartmann didn’t do such a good job of changing it up.

The strategy he’s currently using is to take a headline from the news and aligning it with his message. For example, “Bullying" has been getting a lot of press lately. Petitions are being signed, celebrities recruited, numerous articles written to eradicate bullies from existence.

Do you know who one of the biggest bullies is? Why, it’s the debt collection business. 

I can see you nodding your head.

And Bill Bartmann knows your nodding your head. So he’s written a book you can get for free about the Bullying Tactics of the Debt Collection Industry. Not surprisingly, that will put you into his automated drip-marketing system, and eventually some of you may decide to sign up for his program.

That’s the key for effective lead-generation marketing. Get them to nod their heads in agreement by linking your message to what’s appearing in the news.

So let’s look at what’s in USA Today and how you might link it.

***“Facebook is tracking you.” Is there a privacy issue you can link to around your product or service?

***“Congress filled with the wealthy 1%.” Good jumping off point about people not being in touch with real problems. Conversely could be a lead-in to a pitch about how by using such-and-such financial system, people have the financial capability to devote themselves to public service.

***”Economy tanks so fewer people moving.”  Leads to any of a number of pitches for “buy local’ businesses, or…invest in sunbelt property in anticipation of pent up demand once the economy does rebound.

What news story can you piggyback on?

Food for thought.

One-Day. That’s all it take. Have Mark facilitate a Marketing Development & Implementation Day at your location. Email barb@gentlerainmarketing.com or call 770-643-8566 to discuss specifics.

Not surprisingly, I firmly believe that the skill of creating and telling sales stories is not something that's "nice" to  have, but rather a critical skill everyone who sells or needs to persuade others, needs to master.

This 18 minute video will help you determine whether this program is right for your organization. Since it is a large video it may take up to 30 seconds for it to fully load.

Naturally, once you've finished watching this I would welcome an opportunity to speak with you in more detail about the program and how I might customize it to meet the specific needs of your organization.

Thanks for watching this and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Mark

mark@GentleRainMarketing.com

770-643-8566

Never underestimate the power of a great story.

(Many thanks to John Frisbie for passing this along-I'd love to hear about other great examples of powerful stories, so please send them over to mark@gentlerainmarketing.com.)

This may take up to 30 seconds to load, so please be patient. (Trust me, it's worth it.)

Give me 3 hours and I'll teach your sales team how to tell great stories that get more referrals, differentiate you from the competition and help you close more sales. Information is HERE