14/05 2009

Selling the Hawaiian Breeze

Today’s Guest Post is by Jeff Timpanaro, President of Oberata Consulting. Oberatat Consulting exists to bring businesses into operational, financial, and relational alignment. We do this by providing strategic leverage through relationships, training, and the strength of the Total Integration™ Program.

HOW’S YOUR TONE?

“Your sales pitch should be given in the same tone as you would tell someone about your vacation to Hawaii.“ -Blain Wease, Founder, Provincial Development Group.

Typical sales speak is coercive, and seeks for the right verbal equation to nab you. It makes us feel needy when we’re not, unhip when it doesn’t matter, and irrelevant unless we make the purchase.

Is that how your prospects perceive you? What tone does your ad copy put forth? You may have this down pat; if so, stop reading and click NEXT.

But you may want to consider a review of your tone, especially in your ad copy and web copy. Why? Because these are both “decontextualized” media. There’s no voice inflection, and no obvious tone to convey your message. That’s why you’ve got to be so polite as to almost be ridiculous. The reason is because people (buyers) want security in their purchase.

“People may forget what you said, and they may forget what you do, but they will never forget how they made you feel.” – Carl Buechner

It’s all in how you make them feel. If you were telling someone about your awesome vacation to Hawaii, would there be one ounce of threat? Are you hard selling for the Hawaii Board of Tourism? No, Hawaii has nothing to gain from your account to your friends. All you are saying – with 100% knowledge and confidence – is, “Man, if you go to Hawaii, you are going to LOVE it.”

In my view, this is the ideal communication of your value in exchange for cash, and there’s nothing wrong with that. That’s because there will always be two things on earth: (1) value, and (2) people willing to pay for it. The way you bring those two together is by trust!