Inspiration – It’s What You SHOULD Be Selling!
No matter what you sell, the ONLY way to move more of it is to pull the right emotional rip cord. Every prospect is in some kind of “free fall” when they visit your website or walk in your door. You have to figure out what they’re really looking for and offer the right “parachute.” You have to inspire them with real reasons to buy!
Here’s some truth:
• Patients don’t go to doctors for drugs, therapies or bandages. They go to get an all-clear to see that grandbaby. They go for a chance to finish senior-year soccer. They go to get happy and whole again.
• Clients don’t go to lawyers to file lawsuits or draw up wills. They go to right a wrong, make a difference, or protect their family.
• None of us hires a real estate agent to sit in the house on Sundays. We hire them to help other families see our home as their own. Benefits are what prospects feel most deeply about. Benefits are why people buy…anything!
Features – like a shorter office wait time, the right legal degree, or an impressive number of homes sold in 60 days or less – make a difference. But they DON’T make the sale. We eventually have to have solid reasons to buy, of course. But emotions come first.
So be that medical practice that’s in the business of hope and healing. Be that law firm that cares about outcomes over hourly rates. Be that real estate company that sheds a tear when we hand over keys to the house where we raised our kids. Start marketing and selling benefits first!
Here’s how:
1. Know your prospects: I mean know who buys your stuff and why! Take a look at your current customers. Find the ones who buy most often. Look for shared traits – physical, social, emotional. Put those things together and “see” one person in your mind. Then literally write out a “here’s our perfect customer” profile for every product or service.
2. Identify your prospect’s core emotions: Emotions those prospects will have when they look you up or stumble across you. Remember, we all have lots of feelings about any single problem we want solved. But only one or two of those feelings are going to be strong enough to make us act. Those are the ones you want to target.
3. Look at everything you do, say, print or publish through this lens: Change any message, method or practice that strays from reaching out to that profiled person and his or her specific emotional triggers.
In all honesty, it’s not as simple as it looks, but meeting the challenge and staying consistent will pay big dividends. This little to-do list is truly the hardest part. But once you know these things, you’ll be like Tom Cruise in the movie, Jerry Maguire: You will inspire your prospects more deeply than any competitor, and you will “have them at hello”!
