I admit upfront that this contains a bit of a rant but stick with it and you’ll see where we’re headed… 😉

Yesterday

I went to a women’s event in London, primarily in my role as an Ambassador for Birds on the Blog. What fascinated me and what I thoroughly enjoyed was both hearing from very successful speakers – and the trials and tribulations they’d been through along the way – and still faced to some degree, and speaking with them and other attending businesswomen, starting to make new friends.

The only duff part of the entire day, in my opinion, was the one bit, one of the master classes, that was run by a bloke. He used to run comedy workshops then went into the corporate arena running workshops on stand up presentation skills for employees. I really don’t think he was used to presenting to audiences that included women who are responsible for running companies that turn over £several million a year! The content was basic, not new, and fairly lightweight and I wasn’t the only one in that class who felt we’d been patronised and that the presenter had totally misjudged his offering for us.

Today

I found an email with a link to a download from a website that promised:

FREE BOOK: How Influence Masters Get Exactly What They Want In Business, Relationships And Life And How You Can Too, Guaranteed

Written, allegedly, by a Million-Dollar Copywriter And Influence Master whose name I’d only come across in my email box to date. Well, I thought I’d see what this guy had to offer – pourquoi non? as our French amis would say, and here’s my take on it for you 😉

The book in a nutshell

It’s 47 pages mostly of waffle, psychobabble, and manipulation à la snake oil salesman. Some of what he advocates should have gone out with the ark and I honestly wonder whether he’s tried it on a 21st century prospect… he kind of gives this away when he says that he’s been a salesman most of his life and that “most of the selling that I did was in the fitness industry”. That emboldment of the ‘did‘ is mine.

However, hidden in amongst all this are a few nuggets and bloopers that, if you haven’t considered in any great depth before might be worth your while pondering on – knowing which are potentially good news for you and which to stay well clear of.

I’ve only highlighted a few here. You can phone me [+ 44 (0) 20 7209 1284 or + 44 (0) 7879 28 367] or email me [desk (at) smallbusinesstraining (dot) co (dot) uk] for the link to get your own copy of the .pdf

“Emotion v. Logic”

Cutting through all the verbiage, what he’s basically saying here is that buying decisions are driven by emotion reinforced with logic. This is absolutely true and any sales person worth his or her salt knows it – there’s nothing new here. What’s a little more interesting is that a lot of this is going on subconsciously. The examples chummy gives are about as subtle as a brick and I won’t insult your intelligence by repeating them here but, in essence it’s a valid point and, no matter how logical your buyer-of-the-moment might like to think s/he is, this is still going on under the surface (a bit like an iceberg).

“Third Party Evidence is a must”

‘A must’ is a bit heavy handed and not so easy to apply if you’re just starting out but it’s certainly very powerful. Referring to experts and quoting statistics will work reasonably well until you can include your own satisfied clients/ customers, anything that basically says “Look, don’t just take my word for it…” and helps the potential buyer to feel comfortable, that s/he’s in good company are all good. BTW: If someone says they’ll give you a testimonial/ reference but “You write it” – Don’t! Even if you have to wait for it, it’ll be worth it – your wording won’t sound like them to anyone who knows them and you’ll never dream of some of the lovely things they’ll say about you!

“Obligation/ Reciprocity”

Our man lists this little gem under “Triggers of Mind Control” and quotes Dr Robert Cialdini’s research into what makes people think and act in certain ways to justify his use of it in selling: Give the potential client something for nothing then they’ll feel they have to buy.

I’m not kidding. This is really what he says. I call it unethical garbage that deserves to blow up in the face of whoever’s dumb enough to use it. Or maybe I’m not being clear enough…

So let’s salvage this one: A freebie as a goodwill gesture plain and simple is fine. As an example of your expertise for your potential buyer to try, why not? Just as long as you don’t employ it to create a feeling of obligation. Give me strength!

“Scarcity: The less available something becomes the more people want it”

This one can be a bit of a double edged sword. For a start, ‘the more people want it’ is only going to be true if it (whatever ‘it’ is) was desirable in the first place. Secondly, I honestly believe that buyers are far more sophisticated nowadays and a far more aware of potentially created ‘scarcity’:

“In all my years of being in the Internet marketing business and writing sales copy, the scarcity trigger is one of the most important tools that I have used to get the customer to take action.”

Oh boy, I guess that shows our author in his true colours…

What’s the link between yesterday’s event and today’s email?

To me it’s that the kind of in-your-face thinking/ approach that these two guys demonstrated is passé and no longer works.

I’m not saying that all males are like that or that all male thinking needs to be thrown out of the window, just that now might be a good time for all of, women and men, to incorporate more of our feminine side in out business activities.
What are your thoughts?