Posted by: Daniel Levis
June 10, 2009
Issue #692

It’s not just what you say
… it’s when you say it …

Dear Web Business-Builder,

There is an art and science of piecing your sales message together in such a way that the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Each selling element has two sources of strength. It has inherent strength. And it has contextual strength.

I’ll give you an illustration …

Let’s say you open your sales message by saying, “Hi I’m Joe Blow and I’m widely recognized as one of the top UNIX specialists in the world.

Hewlett Packard, SUN Microsystems and even IBM pay me $5,000 an hour to come in through the back door and help them build mission critical systems for NASA.”

Now, is this a strong credibility statement? In and of itself, it is. But contextually, it’s very weak. Why?

Two reasons:

First, it assumes the prospect is aware of and understands the benefits of availing themselves of a world class UNIX specialist. Very dangerous assumption … because if the prospect doesn’t understand why this is important to him, what does he care about Joe Blow’s achievements? He doesn’t.

Second, by opening with a credibility statement before appealing to the self-interest of the prospect, Joe sounds like a braggart. How do you feel when you run into someone like this at a party?  Right. You naturally recoil from such self-centered characters.

People don’t care how much you know or what you’ve done until they find out why they should care — and how much YOU care about THEIR success.

We could easily strengthen this credibility statement by prefacing it with a highly specific and relevant promise.

“If you’ve ever had a server crash grind your business to a screeching halt right in the middle of a big product launch … then you know how important server redundancy is to your cash flow and profits.

Well, how would you like to go to sleep on the day before your next big launch with total confidence that no matter what … your server will perform flawlessly?

Who am I to make such a bold claim?

Hi, I’m Joe Blow and I’m widely recognized as one of the world’s top UNIX specialists.”

Now doesn’t that feel better? Now you have a reason to care.

Let’s take this a step further by injecting some empathy into the sequence to bolster the credibility statement still more …

“I’ll never forget the last time it happened to me — eight years ago.

After putting in countless hours … pulling way too many all-nighters than I care to remember … and plowing more than $80,000 into an important product launch, finally we went live … and hundreds of people hit the “buy now” button all at the same time.

My heart was pounding with excitement … as I watched the orders flying in faster than I could count them. And then suddenly, they stopped.

CRAP! The server had crashed …

Hundreds of pre-sold customers, literally begging me to take their money … and all I could do was sit there on the phone with some twit from my Web host …  telling me it would be FOUR TO SIX HOURS before one of their “senior techs” could even look at my machine.

Needless to say, I WAS PISSED!”

Getting stronger isn’t it? A little storytelling going on … a greater sense of connection created. If the prospect has ever been in a situation even remotely similar to the one I’m describing, he’s relating to me. He’s projecting himself into the picture. I’m also introducing a scapegoat, a common enemy to rail against.

All of these things serve to bond buyer and seller. And that means when the credibility statement arrives it will be much more readily accepted. One thing builds on the other.

Can you see that?

Sequence is incredibly important. It matters a LOT what you say first, what you say second, what you say third, and so on.

Gene Schwartz, one of the greatest copywriters of all time, made up his own word for this in his watershed book, Breakthrough Advertising.

He called this process of beginning with your prospect’s existing beliefs, and gradually affirming and extending those beliefs to where you need them to be, “Gradualization.”

Persuasion has been built on this principle since the beginning of time. The Socratic Method, which forms the bedrock of personal selling, is in fact a process of gradualization.

Imagine walking up to a group at a party. How would you enter the conversation?

You’d listen to what was already being said. And at an opportune moment you’d chime in with something relevant and interesting to add to the conversation. It probably won’t be “hey there babe, check out my six-pack abs.”

Well it’s the same with any online promotion. You’ve got to enter the conversation that’s already taking place between people’s ears, and chime in with something that gets them mentally nodding in agreement.

You’ve got to set up a “yes-set” by meeting them at their point of belief and echoing their dominant beliefs and emotions back to them.

They may not be verbalizing the word “yes” repeatedly. But nonetheless they are accepting your points one by one. And with each acceptance, you are building a bridge of belief that allows you to close the gap between what they believe at the point of contact, to what you need them to believe in order to do whatever it is you want them to do.

And each yes creates additional momentum until your prospect is agreeing with things he or she may not have initially agreed with  — such as the wholesale acceptance of your credibility as a seller, for example.

Are you with me on this?

Another big question when it comes the sequencing of your promotion is getting the timing of your initial call to purchase just right. Go for the sale too soon, without enough trust and familiarity and you’re going to be leaving serious money on the table.

Oversell on the other hand, and you’ll be buying it back from them before they have a chance to take their credit card out of their purse or wallet.

You need to think carefully about this, map out a detailed plan of attack, and then test a few different scenarios.

Here are a few of the most important things for you to consider.

• How familiar is the target audience with the product and the pitchman? The less familiar, the more interaction required to build trust and rapport and comfort with the product or service being offered.
• How much are you asking them to spend? The higher the ticket, the more groundwork you should be prepared to do and the more information you should be prepared to impart.
• How much behavioral change is required to adopt whatever is you’re selling? The more you ask your prospect to change, the more spade-work required before pushing for the deal.

In the process of creating your sales argument, it is critical that you consider all of the promises you’ve listed … all of the proof statements you’ve assembled … all of the questions and objections you’ve answered … all of your calls to action … and realize that you are putting them together with the following objective: To take your prospect from what he believes at the exact point he collides with your sales argument, to what he must believe before he’ll buy your product.

This is the rite of passage you must guide your prospect through with your sales copy, if you are to be successful. You do that by creating a stream of acceptances.

At each click in your campaign flow, your prospect must be nodding his head in agreement … seeing his existing beliefs affirmed and gently extended … one delicate step at a time … gathering momentum with each acceptance … until the ultimate conclusion to buy your product RIGHT NOW is reached.

Until next time, Good Selling!

Daniel Levis
Editor, The Web Marketing Advisor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE

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8 Comments »

1. Comment by Sheople Alert — June 10, 2009 @ 3:11 pm

   Read it, act upon it, DO THIS NOW!

   http://www.infowars.com/bill-to-audit-federal-reserve-now-has-207-co-sponsors/

2. Comment by John Luca — June 10, 2009 @ 3:14 pm

   I’m taking this one to the heart. Thanks for the great article on this salesmanship lesson Daniel!

3. Comment by Caleb Osborne — June 10, 2009 @ 3:20 pm

   Daniel,

   Once again another great post!

   I’ve been re-reading and studying Breakthrough Advertising lately, and it’s great to see you talk about Gradualization.

   As you mentioned, it’s amazing what happens when you put this concept into action over the course of the different parts of the campaign!

   Later
   Caleb

4. Comment by Brandon Zundel — June 10, 2009 @ 8:15 pm

   Great article! Thank you!

   As someone who’s experienced the “server crash”, I found myself wanting to read so much more, and was actually a bit disappointed to find myself back in the article than the fictional sales letter.

   Thanks for the reminder of how powerful a good story is, as well as leading with “the conversation already going on in people’s heads”.

   Kudos!

5. Pingback by ‘It’s Not Just What You Say… It’s When You Say It’ - ‘The Total Package’ — June 11, 2009 @ 3:42 am

   [...] It’s Not Just What You Say… It’s When You Say It… [...]

6. Comment by Terrance Charles — June 11, 2009 @ 12:46 pm

   One blog I always enjoy reading, great post and that’s true. Relating it as a story to lead in sounds much better first off than being direct and giving them no reason to care, good point.

7. Comment by Liz Monte — June 11, 2009 @ 1:59 pm

   Daniel, as usual, you have hit it out of the park.

   I’m about to start working on a new website for a charity. I was just thinking about how to approach the whole thing when your article landed in my inbox. You’ve given me some great ideas!

8. Comment by Susan Connors — June 14, 2009 @ 12:36 am

   Hi Daniel

   Thank you

   Susan Connors
   Australia