How to Get Into Your Prospects Brain!

WHAT DO YOUR PROSPECTS WANT?

Selling is just a whole lot easier when you know what people really want.   OK - you might say, but how exactly do I get into the brains of my prospects and find out what they want.  Great question!  That is a key question that a lot of people  spend much of our waking work hours trying to figure out.  

But here’s what I know.  Having the right product is certainly important, but it’s not nearly enough. What people really want are the benefits.  People will look at the same identical product in a variety of ways. Is each one searching for something different?  This week we spend time exploring this. 

“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality.   The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.”
 ~ Napoleon Hill

There are usually four or five common things that the majority of people in your market are looking for, and statistically speaking, those things are more or less important to them. On the surface, these things seem infinitely varied. But there’s always a common theme lurking under the surface. People at the very core of their being, are driven by human nature, instinct, and emotion. Show me a marketing campaign that doesn’t stir up these things at some level, and I’ll show you one that probably doesn’t work.  It’s easy to sell people what they want. The tough part is finding out what that really is. 

Brilliant Tip #1 for how to find out what people want - Just Ask
Have you heard of Socrates, and the Socratic Method? Here’s a guy who figured out how to answer a question with a question with a question, until the cows came home.   Of all the conversations going on inside people’s heads right now, I can tell you with certainty that ‘How To’ is a predominant front and center thought in most peoples mind, most of the time.

Brilliant Tip #2 - You need to test!
Here’s a story from Elmer Wheeler who, years ago, was asked by the Barbasol Company to come up with some effective sales talk to be used in selling shaving cream at retail counters. What exactly were men at the local retail store’s toiletry counter looking for - a clean shave, a quick shave, a cheap shave, a safe shave, a shave that didn’t bother their skin, a precise shave to detail there designer mustachios?

Out of 146 sentences tested, it turned out that sales increased an astounding 102% when the clerks approached the customer with ‘How would you like to save 6 minutes shaving?’ Sales increased still further, with ‘How Would You Like to Cut Your Shaving Time in Half?’ 

Testing is one way to find out what your customers are after, and how best to dangle it like a carrot in front of their noses. What you’re really looking to determine is a hierarchy of wants. The top want should go in the headline.  The second want goes in the opening lines. The third in the next paragraph, and so on. Powerful stuff!

Brilliant Tip #3 - You need to learn about, use and fully leverage social marketing! Of course testing is a process of elimination, so it’s a painstaking process.  However, to take a powerful shortcut let me recommend you learn and fully leverage social marketing.  Social Marketing areas include Blogging, Social Networking sites (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn), Video Sharing, Podcasts, Photo Sharing, Content Sharing sites, Bookmarking sites, and much more. For Facebook alone, it’s estimated there will be 200 million Facebook users by the end of 2008 and that number is increasing by 250,000 people per day. 
 
How effectively do you understand, use and leverage social marketing now?  If at all!  I must admit, I am giving you advice that I am just now embracing fully myself.  If you are like me, and in need of some serious training about social marketing, but don’t have much time and/or money to invest right now, have I got a deal for you!

Empower 2000 and JIREH Marketing, in partnership with Germanna Community College’s Center for Workforce, are offering a FREE five week webinar (web seminar) series titled “UNCOMMON Social Marketing (Web 2.0)” beginning October 2, 2008. The purpose is to help YOU understand how to unleash the POWER of the web in YOUR business or organization.  Think about it - social marketing could also be called “attraction marketing” because you are going where the fish are instead of expecting them to come to you.

The lineup of trainers that will be teaching you on this FREE five week webinar is incredible.  They should be charging $500 for this training - but lucky you (and me - I’m signing up today) they graciously are making this inaugural training FREE.  They are even giving you some FREE Bonuses for crying out loud.  I’m certain they won’t be so generous next time.

I am personally knowledgable about all three organizations involved in this training and can vouch for their quality, integrity and results.  So don’t delay, the first one hour webinar starts this Thursday evening at 7:30PM, so RIGHT NOW go to this link and register http://empower2000.com/7mountains - you will gain much you can use immediately!

DAILY PRAYER  
Lord, help us to be bold and innovative in our thinking on how to find out what our prospects want.  Provide us with the wisdom and ambition to be pro-active in learning about, using and leveraging Social Marketing to meet the needs of others and grow our business.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Embrace Social Marketing or you will be left behind.  The 2008 presidential election has already been shaped by it.  Your business can be reshaped and experience breakthroughs for major growth.