“The filtering system of any person you are speaking to has one primary goal:
To ignore your pitch or spend as little time as possible thinking about it.
If you can’t get past this natural response, then you will fail to get their attention.”
Your Pitch vs Your Prospect’s Response
In his excellent book Pitch Anything, Oren Klaff talks about the fact that we, as business owners, marketers, and sales people, prepare our pitches using our most sophisticated thinking and processing while our prospects hear it with the primal part of their brain which follows a few basic principles:
- Is this dangerous? No: ignore it. Yes: run
- Is this new, exciting, or interesting? No: ignore it.
- Yes: summarise quickly and forget the details.
- Do not send this up the chain for problem-solving unless it is really unexpected.
The problem this presents for business owners is that our prospects are pre-disposed to ignore our offer unless it is truly new, exciting, or interesting to them!
…and there’s another problem…
It’s Easy (and disastrous) to Trigger Your Prospect’s Fight or Flight Response
Humans are hard-wired to run away when we feel threatened or when we are being chased. That’s why it’s harder to close deals when you really need business than when your pipeline is already full… your prospect senses your desperation and neediness, and they run away.
If you’re out there offering deals and discounts the chances are that your prospect is wondering what they don’t know that has triggered this unprecedented offer and that trace of suspicion will often kill the deal.
There are two simple solutions that help you avoid this problem:
- Entice your prospect by presenting your offer as novel, exciting, and interesting; and
- Keep your pipeline full and profitable.
When you feel needy, it’s really hard to disguise that in your conversation and focus on the real benefits your business delivers.
Entice and Intrigue Your Prospect
If you see yourself as ‘just another…[insert your service/product here] provider’ then the chances are that that’s the way your prospects will see you and your business. That’s why it’s important to invest time and energy in thinking seriously about what makes you and your business unique. There is always something that makes you different if you look for it… but most people get stuck with things like delivering ‘value, exceptional service, …’ which, if we are honest, are pretty normal.
For some businesses, the difference is personality.
Other business might have a process-difference.
Or, it could be a relationship-difference, and experience-difference…
The possibilities are almost endless and they apply to everything from shopping for groceries, to services, churches, and medical providers. Your job is to work out what your differences are and offer them to people who value your particular ‘brand’ of difference.
Do this well (and profitably) and the second problem solves itself…
Keep Your Pipeline Profitably Full
I know… I keep emphasising the ‘profitable’ aspect!
That’s because it’s critically important. You cannot afford to be unprofitably busy. That’s bad business. If you’re not going to charge profitable prices, you might just as well be unemployed or volunteer your services… at least that way you won’t have the stress of running your business.
So, how do you fill your pipeline?
That has really been the topic of this whole series on why marketing fails. If your pipeline isn’t profitably full then I will bet that you have one or more of these marketing problems https://hiltoncopy.com/7-reasons-marketing-fails-make-sure-doesnt-part-1-9/. When you strategically define your target market and message, know where your ideal prospects can be found, create an irresistible offer, systematically market to them, and follow up appropriately then your pipeline will be full… and you’ll find that you are confidently able to redirect people who aren’t your ideal clients, ask people to wait for an opening, and define your processes the way you want them to run without fear of finding yourself on an income rollercoaster.
That’s the magic of using attraction to gain clients rather than chasing them. You can fill your pipeline by creating assets that attract the attention of your ideal prospective clients (like offers, trainings, reports, and other lead magnets) and then letting them know how they can work with you, buy your products, etc.
The Magnetic Marketing(™) Program… a great place to start
If this is all new to you, I suggest that you familiarise yourself with the basics of magnetic marketing before you do anything else. Based on experience, most marketing consultants don’t really understand the principles and processes of direct response marketing.
If you’d like to learn more about the underlying principles of a Magnetic Marketing System before investing in it you can get a copy of Dan Kennedy’s Magnetic Marketing book for just $10 (includes shipping and handling anywhere in the world. Visit https://hiltoncopywriting.mykajabi.com/offers/CXivH6fe/checkout to order your copy.
If you’re in Melbourne, we’d love to see you at our Magnetic Marketing Mastermind which meets monthly on Tuesday evenings in Box Hill. To learn more and sign up for notifications visit https://memg.com.au. NB: This is not a sales or referral meeting.
