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Archive for December 2008
From the desk of Roy Furr, December 12th, 2008
Once you get the attention of a potential customer, there are a few objections to overcome, a few questions to answer, and a few sales pitches to make…
But there’s one very specific thing going on in the mind of your customer that you have to rip right through or your sale is doomed.
And you better work through it fast…
Because until it’s been worked through… Each question you answer remains partly unanswered… Each objection you overcome is not quite overcome… And each sales pitch you make falls on half-deaf ears.
So what is it you need to work through with each customer, before the sale can be made?
Skepticism.
It will hold up any sale, unless you address it.
How?
I’ll give you a two-step strategy for taking care of skepticism. From here, you can plug your skepticism-reducing and skepticism-eliminating tactics in and go — and make the sale!
STEP 1: Show sympathy for your prospect’s skepticism. Without sympathy, there’s no way you can minimize and work through it. They want to feel noticed, to feel like you’re paying attention. And the best way to do that is to say…
“I recognize that you probably have some degree of skepticism about this offer. After all, you know what they say about ‘too good to be true.’ But if you’ll just suspend your decision until I’ve had a chance to prove why everything I’m saying is true… And until I’ve had a chance to prove that my product will do for you exactly what you want it to… I think you’ll realize you’re making the right decision. Now here’s the reason why my product can do exactly what I’m telling you that it does…”
STEP 2: Prove it! Support every claim you make with an overabundance of proof. There are a number of different proof elements you can use, not limited to demonstration, risk reversal, case studies, explaining the mechanism behind why your product works, showing success statistics, and so on. We can’t cover them all here, but they’re a good start.
Once you open up someone to letting go of their skepticism by recognizing it and showing sympathy for it, you can pile on the proof and melt it away.
And that’s how you work through skepticism, straight to the sale.
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From the desk of Roy Furr, December 12th, 2008
Mark Twain once said, “There are two reasons a man buys anything. The reason he can tell his wife… and the real reason.”
In that spirit, here’s a list of the real reasons. Figure out which one is relevant for your product, and you’re in good territory. Subtly weave it through your sales pitch, and you can leverage it straight into stellar sales.
Here’s your list, in no particular order:
- Fulfill greed
- Get a better deal than others
- Have more or better sex
- Attract love
- Experience intimacy
- To be healed or stay healthy
- Self-improvement (career, social, personal, spiritual, etc.)
- Avoid loss
- Gain respect
- Feel pleasure or enjoyment
The list looks simple, but this is valuable stuff. Use it wisely, my friend.
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From the desk of Roy Furr, December 11th, 2008
I don’t know if you know this about me — I produce electronic music. So my never-ending pile of magazines that I go through every month not only includes magazine after magazine on business, entrepreneurship, and direct marketing… But also on producing music and the latest trends in electronic music.
(Plus the staples like Reader’s Digest to help me keep my finger jammed down on the pulse of everyday America.)
So I was recently reading a copy of Electronic Musician, when a little sidebar jumped out at me.
It’s title?
The Bill of Rights for Songwriters and Composers
It’s a listing of 10 rights ASCAP has put together for all songwriters and composers. The interesting thing about it to me was not just that it was done, or even how relevant it is in today’s environment of producing and distributing creative works (and all the accompanying piracy, illegal sharing, and gray area use of others’ creative works)…
But really how relevant it is outside the field of songwriting and composition.
Here’s what I think…
This listing of 10 rights is a must for ALL content producers — REGARDLESS of the nature of the content being produced.
This means it’s your rights when you write a blog.
It’s your rights when you write a book.
It’s your rights when you produce a teleseminar.
It’s your rights when you put a video on YouTube.
It’s your rights whenever you produce ANY content. Especially content released for public consumption.
Here’s the Bill of Rights, from ASCAP (at http://ascap.org/rights/):
- We have the right to be compensated for the use of our creative works, and share in the revenues that they generate.
- We have the right to license our works and control the ways in which they are used.
- We have the right to withhold permission for uses of our works on artistic, economic or philosophical grounds.
- We have the right to protect our creative works to the fullest extent of the law from all forms of piracy, theft and unauthorized use, which deprive us of our right to earn a living based on our creativity.
- We have the right to choose when and where our creative works may be used for free.
- We have the right to develop, document and distribute our works through new media channels – while retaining the right to a share in all associated profits.
- We have the right to choose the organizations we want to represent us and to join our voices together to protect our rights and negotiate for the value of our music.
- We have the right to earn compensation from all types of “performances,” including direct, live renditions as well as indirect recordings, broadcasts, digital streams and more.
- We have the right to decline participation in business models that require us to relinquish all or part of our creative rights – or which do not respect our right to be compensated for our work.
- We have the right to advocate for strong laws protecting our creative works, and demand that our government vigorously uphold and protect our rights.
Do you agree?
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From the desk of Roy Furr, December 3rd, 2008
I’ve been listening to a lot of radio recently. Especially talk radio. It’s a good way to keep your finger on the pulse of our culture. Flip between conservative, liberal, “middle way,” Christian and any other stations you can find on the dial, and in just a few hours you know how most of the country thinks.
Listening to the radio also has me listening to something else.
Radio advertising.
On the radio you find a lot of direct response marketing — a little hook to get you interested, along with an offer and a call to action. In fact, I think radio has a higher ratio of direct response to brand marketing than any medium other than the internet. Which alone is another good reason to listen to radio, if you’re in marketing and advertising. There’s a lot of great inspiration.
But that’s not the only reason I’m writing to you today.
I want to tell you about which type of radio advertising gets results!
It’s been known for a long time that editorial-looking advertising in newspapers and magazines get 5X higher readership. And when responses are tracked, the difference in response is similar and sometimes much greater.
So… Shouldn’t the same work for radio advertising?!
… (Dramatic music) …
It does!
Here’s two ways to take advantage of this.
1. Come up with a script for the host of the talk show to read during a commercial break (or better yet, record, send to you for approval, then play during multiple commercial breaks!). This script should go something like this:
“Hi, this is [host name] back with an interesting discovery I made recently. I don’t know if you’ve dealt with [insert problem here] recently, but it’s something I’ve had personal experience with. And I’ve found that [insert product name or solution description here] from [insert your company name here] was able to help me pull through. In fact, [give a very compelling statistic or other proof element here].”
“They’ve put together a 30-minute CD explaining how you too can overcome [problem], including a really important tip regarding [small but important part of solution] that you can apply to ["feel better"/"make more money"/"live a better life"] right away with very little effort.”
“You can get the CD by calling [insert your phone number here]. That’s [repeat phone number]. Again, this is [host name] telling you to call [your company name] to get a free 30-minute, content-rich CD on how to deal with [problem] — their number is [phone number] and you can call 24/7 to leave your name and address to get your free 30-minute CD.”
One huge benefit of this approach is you inherit the credibility of the show’s host, and all you have to do is ask (and usually commit to a certain amount of advertising budget — but be sure there’s a clause that says you can get out of this commitment the moment the advertisements stop working).
Another benefit is because the advertising is done in the voice of the host, most listeners will think the show is coming back on, and listen long enough to absorb the brunt of your advertisement. And those that are interested in the topic or need the problem solved will listen long enough to hear your offer. A high percentage will respond, too.
2. If the host is not available or will not agree to read your advertisement, all is not lost. You can get another recognized name (celebrity) to read the same basic script, with almost equal results. This borrows the celebrity’s credibility, and it’s often hard for the listener to identify up front if this celebrity is a guest on the show or if this is an advertisement. So you’ll get listeners and response.
3. If you’re not able to get or afford the host or another celebrity, one more choice is to make your advertisement sound like an urgent news broadcast. A low-price voice-over actor will work to read the script — as long as they’re convincing as a news announcer in the context of the surrounding program. Leave out the hype — you don’t want your advertisement to actually sound like an advertisement, it’s supposed to sound like news content.
4. Finally, treat yourself like a celebrity. By this I mean get on the radio yourself (meaning, record your own advertisement) and tell about your personal story of dealing with the problem and what you’ve done to create a solution… Because no solution out there was quite good enough for you. Again, invite listeners to call for more information in the form of a 30-minute content-rich CD.
The key to making any of these strategies work is to make them sound as much like helpful editorial as possible.
Advertisements have music in the background — important editorial is voice only. So pick voice only.
Advertisements sound excited — important editorial sounds serious with a need to communicate. So sound serious with a need to communicate.
Make all your decisions on the basis of…
“How can I make this sound more like an important editorial announcement up until the point we’re asking for action?”
Then make it easy and painless for listeners to raise their hand and express interest, by doing something such as requesting a free CD and information packet.
That’s how you’ll create effective radio advertising that sells!
Posted in Business, Copywriting, Marketing, Persuasion, Sales | 1 Comment »
From the desk of Roy Furr, December 1st, 2008
Bold headline, huh?
But I’ve seen the power of this secret firsthand, and I don’t take it lightly. It’s really simple too.
Here goes…
“What gets monitored, gets improved.”
Want to lose weight? Weigh yourself regularly (at least once a week). Track it. Put it on paper or in a spreadsheet. Just watching it is going to make you think twice about that extra doughnut or candy bar. It holds you accountable.
Want to make more money? Track your income, your conversion rates, your closing rates, the profitability of your advertisements, and any other figure that represents money coming in. As you watch it you’ll start to think about ways you can improve it and earn more. Again, put it on paper or even graph it. Tracking the stats holds you accountable.
Want to accomplish any goal? Find a way to quantify the results that will get you there. Want to write a book to establish your expertise? Write 2,000 words per day, tracking results. It’s not long before 2,000 turns to 20,000 turns to 200,000. That’s a lot of words — more than enough for a book. And it all starts with setting a goal and quantifying the steps that will get you there… Then tracking progress. It holds you accountable.
“What gets monitored, gets improved.” It’s the keys to the kingdom. Use it wisely and prosper.
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