Old versus the new…Short, sweet…
Old versus the new…Going with the latter
You can remember a time when that drill had to be plugged in to the wall outlet. How about the days before smart phones, or especially a time when the back door to most restaurants was actually unlocked? Yep, times have changed and with those advances have come both challenges and benefits. But what about the new back door?
Truth is it can be even more open … and revealing.
Sure, it was easy to scope out weaknesses in the competitor’s performance when you could peek at things before approaching the buyer. But back then the idea of being able to learn a lot about a prospect from social media sources like Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter would have seemed like science fiction! Today those tools have replaced the unlocked back door and frankly let us gather even more valuable info than that sneak peek ever provided. So, here’s the question: Are we really using all of the modern tools at our disposal?
If those repeated Yelp reviews complaining about a lack of cleanliness are something you can see, you can believe so has the operator. If folks are complaining about wet silverware being provided, ditto, the buyer knows it too. And the positive comments about a particular dish are perhaps exactly what you might mention to garner a positive emotion in that otherwise remote buyer.
It may have been convenient, but maybe that back door was too easy and perhaps too limited. The new back door is different, but in a different way it’s even better.
Short, sweet…And persuasive
That opening favorable attention comment and the “elevator pitch” have a lot in common. The latter refers to being able to explain the benefits of your business in the minute or so between the elevator doors closing and reaching the target floor. It needs to be compact and yet complete. The opening comment likewise needs to be short, sweet and in addition, intriguingly persuasive.
That last one tends to be the challenge. To accomplish it we need to strike a chord that’s a little bit mysterious and yet at the same time a just specific enough to offer the tantalizing possibility of a benefit the buyer might find downright irresistible. The trick is to couch that idea in the broadest terms possible and yet with just enough specificity to persuade that buyer to want to hear more.
Think of it offering a benefit that will win the business, but instead of explicitly making the offer, we want to be a bit vague and create just enough curiosity to be invited to continue.
Assuming we’ve succeeded in that first step, the rest of the sale might just proceed a lot more smoothly. With favorable attention won, we’re poised to unveil that benefit, then explain how our services and products can deliver it. And after gaining agreement that they do, we just might get that elusive order!