You’ve had good sales, and you’ve definitely had bad ones. It’s a facet of a marketer’s life: successes and failures, closes and rejections, profits and losses. Who hasn’t experienced both? But the lesson there lies on the fact that you will do everything to minimize that ratio. Perhaps five yays to one nay? How do you do that?
Sales is a game of numbers—and persuasion, the latter more so since you dictate how that whole process goes. When the whole transaction arrives at that part, it’s just you and your potential customer—and ultimately them alone. It’s their choice; you’re there to make them see that choosing you is the correct one.
Good marketers will keep talking about what they’re offering non-stop, hoping that the service or product—its features, specifications, and the like—will entice the customer to buy it and letting it do the talk. Great marketers will relate with the following infographic. Let’s study up on persuasion, the ultimate essential skill.
There are many psychological effects at play when persuading. Take the scarcity principle and the backfire effect as examples. While one is advantageous, the other will break every bit of work you’ve done—maybe because they weren’t interested enough to begin with or they have a different opinion (even then, you really can’t pinpoint why).
This is a simple representation of how and why the human mind is tricky. Psychology, eh? There are a handful of shortcuts here and there, but while those can be a great help, none of them is a guarantee.
One reminder you always have to keep in mind is to be honest and genuine. When you say that you want to help, it should be the ultimate goal. It’s not just about closing a sale, not turning a profit, and not making money.
An honest marketer is often the best kind. No need for embellishments. No need for sugarcoating. Just genuineness. What maybe the ultimate trait you can have coupled with the ultimate skill you can hone may just be the best combination.
Resources:
Kessler, Doug. “6 examples of insane honesty in content marketing.” Velocity. May 12, 2015. www.velocitypartners.com/blog/6-examples-of-insane-honesty-in-content-marketing
Kessler, Doug. “7 Ways to Be Insanely Honest in Your Marketing.” Hubspot. May 15, 2015. blog.hubspot.com/marketing/insane-honesty-marketing#sm.0001frknxr3k3dlkqq22lsqtd9h7a
Lee, Kevan. “How to Win Friends and Influence Your Audience: 10 Theories to Know For Greater Persuasion.” Buffer. April 29, 2014. https://blog.bufferapp.com/social-media-influence
Wright Wiley, Kim. “The Persuasion Principle.” Selling Power. n.d. www.sellingpower.com/content/article/index.php?a=7825/the-persuasion-principle&page=1
