Fact: your customers don’t exist to give you money. I know it sounds crazy, I know it’s probably quite a revelation, but let’s get real here. Other people don’t exist to put dollars in your pocket. I know, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true.
Unfortunately, so many marketers promote products and send out email updates with the opposite assumption. They think that the reason why people joined their mailing list in the first place is because these people wanted to be marketed to. They have this assumption in their mind. They might not be completely aware of it, but all their thought processes and actions are informed by this faulty assumption.
Let me clue you in on an old sales truth. Old school sales people who crush it all day, every day, will tell you a very simple truth. They bet their life on this truth, and this is what makes them millions of dollars year in, year out. This old school sales truth can be summed up in one sentence: to get what you want, you must first get others what they want.
That’s right. Sales and marketing are all about serving others. I know this is crazy, I know this is almost an alien concept because almost all the marketing materials you get out there give you the opposite impression.
They lead you to believe that the key to success in sales and marketing is all about having the right tools, having the right techniques, and having the right willpower to get people to do what you want them to do. In other words, it’s all about you imposing your will on others. It’s all about extraction.
This is a serious problem because that kind of mindset is not enough to overcome one key reality of the human condition. The key reality is that we all ask the same question.
Be completely honest with me here. Do you ask yourself this question, “What’s in it for me?” Chances are, you ask yourself that question at least several times every single day. It may not be loud and clear, it may not be unequivocal, it might even come in many different disguises and forms, but it’s always there.
It is crucial to the human experience because it is directly linked to self preservation. Everybody asks this. It doesn’t matter how educated they are, it doesn’t where they’re from, everybody has this. And if you ignore it, you are not going to sell anything.
Zero In on the Benefits of Your Product
A lot of list marketers and email promoters fail because they just zero in on the features of the product. If you’re selling a car, you get all excited about the anti-lock brakes, the sleek design and all the bells and whistles that the car brings to the table. But you overlook the fact that people who want to buy that car are looking for specific benefits.
You have to speak that language. You have to zero in on that range of benefits so you can connect with people on a human to human real level. This is where personalization comes in. You have to step in and get them to imagine themselves enjoying the benefits.
You’re no longer focusing on the bells and whistles. You’re no longer focusing on the jargon or the sales talk. Instead, it becomes real. It’s about a personal benefit. It’s about meeting a deep psychological need.
Let me be clear, there’s no compelling reason why people should buy BMWs, Ferraris, Maseratis and Lamborghinis. You can buy a Kia to get you from Point A to Point B. But when you direct the need for transportation to a deeper level of personal truths and psychological hunger, you get a sale.
People who buy luxury goods want to feel that they’ve arrived. They want to feel that all their hard work has been rewarded. They want to feel like they’re somebody in a world of faceless anonymity.
Appeal to these psychological triggers. This is how you personalize your mailing lists. If you fail to appeal to WIIFM, you will FAIL.