Bear Marketing (Issue 522)

In which we are reminded that the heart and art of sales is understanding and working our prospects’ desires and feelings.

This is not a joke.  Only the names have been changed to protect me from a lawsuit. Read this approach letter and tell me what you think. (Actually, don’t TELL me what you think, just think it to yourself and I’ll hear it!)

Mr. Miller,

Happy New Year! You’ve worked hard to build Clarity Advantage. As you know, in today’s challenging marketplace increasing revenue and building stable, profitable accounts is a requirement–not a luxury. Perhaps we can be of assistance.

AYEH Group works with growing technology solutions providers and professional services practices to seize revenue opportunities. We are not telemarketers, consultants, or recruiters. We employ experienced sales teams, staffed by industry veterans who know their niche markets and have established relationships with the high-level contacts our clients need to reach.

(Blah blah blah from there)

Sincerely,

James Smith

AYEH Group

I am thinking, “Well, yeah, it’s not a bad email – professional, measured, alludes to benefits and how they’re produced… and,  I am EGG- ZAUSTED!   Oh, man, I thought that guy was NEVER going to finish.”

I didn’t call James.

So, OK,  How about this?

Dear Nick:

Ever wanted to poke your prospects with a stick and shout, “Hey, ****, pay attention to me?”  Or (think Grizzly  Bear here)  knock ice-cold gate-keepers on their foyers with  single swipes, rip your prospects’ closed office doors off their hinges, and, deeply growling in their doorways, rear up,  reveling as your prospects blubber and fall to their knees, ready to give you every dollar they have before you end their miserable lives?

At least once a day, right?  Twice in a good week?

Well, that’s where we come in. We’re Behr Marketing, and we get you in. [And, don’t worry, no gatekeepers will be harmed in the making of your appointments.)

We would never write such a letter, right?  First, we’d feel it would be unprofessional, below our dignity.  Second, our compliance department or attorney would string us up by our gizzards and leave us for the buzzards… which they would call to ensure that we weren’t hanging around for long.

Good point.  However…. The first letter was a complete waste on me.  I’ve seen two gross  of ‘em, and none of them stir me up.. none of them touch my beliefs, desires,  or feelings.  They’re all SO professional, and the message is:  People writing these letters don’t understand me. They don’t understand my life.

The “grizzly” example stirs up everything … with strong, visual language…ripping office doors, growling, blubbering, begging to write checks…  because all of us, as sales managers and marketing managers, have experienced those feelings and thoughts.   My response to that approach (even if I do say so myself) would be:  YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!

And, needing the service or not, I would have taken the call from Behr Marketing if for no other reason than to thank them for making me laugh and saying “out loud” what I’d been thinking and trying to keep away from my own sales people.   And that would be the point, right?  That I would have taken the call or, better yet, called them?

We can talk about benefits all day long and never prompt prospects to action.  We have to remember: We’re sales people. We need to speak to our prospects and clients where they live, we need to articulate their desires and feelings the way they do using their language, so we stir them up and get them moving.

Just think: How cool would it be, just once in our sales lives, to knock a gate keeper across the foyer, rip a difficult prospect’s door off the hinges, growl in the door way, and watch the prospect blubber,  ready to write a check?  How cool would that be?

And  that’s what I mean by speaking directly to where our prospects live and tapping into their feelings.

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