The Best is Coming

How often have we said, "Next year is going to be different"? Seems like the prophesy is usually the only effort we exert in creating that better future.

Do yourself a favor: make January the month you are going to throw insanity out the window of your car as you barrel down the freeway doing at least the speed limit. Watch your rear view mirror as your crazy, bad habits smack the pavement and shatter into lovely little pieces. If you can't wait until next month, do it sooner.

Now, start to do sane things. Pull out that calendar or bring it up on the monitor. Fill those boxes with action plans:
- Send out a "how are you" greeting card today
- Contact a client I haven't heard from in awhile
- Do $X in sales by end of month
- Make 10 calls today
- Run a sales incentive for the staff

Have a plan, and make sure it's in print because, as a good friend of mine likes to say, "A plan not written is not a plan."

Good luck, and here's to a fantastic 2009!

Mike Spanjar
CEO/Founder
Bold Copy

People Want to Buy, and They Want to Take it Back

A few years ago, I purchased a Toro snow blower, one of those smaller ones that is pulled by the rotation of the hard rubber auger in front (those in tropical states are going, "huh?"). I envisioned myself owning one of those big mothers with the drive wheels and the steel auger with the giant mouth and the 20-foot throwing distance. But I bought the smaller one.

The reason had to do with the salesperson. He knew I wanted to go to the big box home center and buy a no-name tank for $400.00, and somehow he needed to convince me that a smaller machine costing $650.00 was a better buy. He told me about Toro's legendary quality and dominance in the market. He told me I was buying emergency equipment, and that the Toro name meant this baby would start EVERY morning, when I needed it most. We talked about reliability, low maintenance, and resale value. And in the end, I was convinced the little snow blower was a better buy than the big mother. I believed it for several years, even when I watched my neighbors buzz through snow drifts with their big mothers while my little machine choked. Still, I never dreamed of returning the Toro that first year, and I never regretted making that purchase.

Are you setting up your customers to return what you sold them? You may need to read over your contract or review your sales pitch, but be honest with yourself. This one's important.

I've heard some salespeople actually tell prospects, "If you're not happy, you have three days to back out of the contract." Or, "Just sign up for a week and get the free gift, then you can cancel if you want." Or simply, "You can always cancel if you're not satisfied." These assurances are uttered as PART of the sales process. Think about the contradiction.

Buyer's remorse is a response most of us develop after we've somehow been burned once. From finding a slightly lower price a few days later to discovering we bought a piece of junk and can't do anything about it, it's a lesson quickly learned.

Those of us who market or sell know this. But rather than working to overcome this response, many embrace it as though we want the buyer to have second thoughts. Instead, we should prepare prospects to remember tomorrow how they felt today when we shook hands. If your product is expensive or has fewer bells and whistles, there's no hiding this fact. Instead, tell them today why it's such a superior value. Welcome them to the Club of Smart People. You might even say, "Tomorrow, when you feel like you spent too much, remember what I said about X."

This applies to written copy, too. Avoid giving prospects an easy out. It's hard enough to close the sale sometimes. You don't want to lose what you've gained.

So look at your offers, examine your fine print. Make sure everything you convey supports the purchase tomorrow as well as today.

Life Needs Good Copy

Some of us are happy with how we do business, some know we could do better. Some of us are proud of our product or service, some know it could be greater.

Have you thought about how you feel about your company or the thing you sell? Can you be honest with yourself and ask the tough questions? If so, take this quick test and write the answers on a pad:

1) My product/service is:
a. The best, the one everyone wants
b. Not the above

2) My company is:
a. The company that sets the bar for quality, innovation, and sales
b. Not the above

3) As a person in control of the sales of my product/service:
a. I am focused, organized, and leaving others in my dust
b. I am not the above

What people hate about my quiz is that it's easy to get a poor grade. The ones who have a fighting chance are those who harness that angry emotion, kick themselves in the butt and think about how they could improve their product, their company and themselves.

Need a starting point? Think about your message in every thing you do, starting with yourself. What short message defines your reason for being? Set it in present tense. Example: "I love what I do and the people that surround me." Write it down, post it in the car and on your computer monitor. Say it every morning. Own it. Then move on to your product, your company, and everything else that's important.

Life needs good copy, and this is some of the best you'll ever write.

Are You Diluting Your Product's Value?

I don't know why, but I love TV commercials. And while my favorites portray people as having some crazy glitch, today I'm talking about those ads for products you've never heard of that solve some problem.

One of them sells a hearing amplifier that looks like a Bluetooth headset (so the wearer doesn't have to deal with the shame of wearing a hearing aid – of course, now this person simply looks rude, as in, "Hey, I'm too important to miss a call, and if this thing rings, our conversation is OVER.").

Another of the commercials hawks an implement that redirects those unsightly bra straps (the ground-breaking technology for this product dates back to the first Cub Scout scarf clasp).

What's the common thread in these ads? They give you a price – not $100, not $60, not even $59, but just $19.95! Then, as if to apologize for making it so expensive, they come up with a reward. In the hearing amp offer, they doubled the quantity – TWO embarrassing ear thingamajigs for $19.95! For the bra strap/scout tie clasp, they actually TRIPLED the offer.

It's a shame that, in the 21st century, there are still those simple souls that do a double take at these cheaply made ads, proclaiming, "Honey, fetch the credit card and the Elvis phone, this offer ain't gonna last long." But the message is something ominous that we in the ad business can learn from. By touting the product as exclusive, then dropping the price by 50 to 75 percent for no apparent reason, advertisers create the perception that the product isn't worth what it "normally" sells for. Worse, the price is so low, the potential buyer goes from thinking the product is worth trying to concluding there is obviously something wrong with it. A hearing aid for 10 bucks?

Before you label me naive, I know these ads still work. Perhaps you and I know the item is junk. Yet, some company will sell 10 freight containers of buy-one-get-one-free hearing aids. Darned tootin', they will. The product will go to suckers and those poor elderly folks in search of the fountain of youth.

But I'm guessing you sell something more legitimate, and possibly have a reputation to worry about. So please, don't go for the price drop, and never begin an incentive offer with the words, "But wait!"

Instead, show why your product, service or company offers a better value than competing brands. Help the economy both nationally and personally. If done well, you should see better margins and, equally important, you will be able to face that reflection in the mirror each morning.