Massachusetts voter revolt! Forget to romance customers…and they’ll walk

Filed Under Direct Marketing, Marketing Tools

I must be honest.  This little scribble has nothing to do with the fact that, in a staggering loss of support of the democrat’s health care policies, Scott Brown – a Republican – won Teddy Kennedy’s seat in the U.S. Senate yesterday.

Well, almost nothing …

True, the fact that the most liberal state in our union just sent a conservative to Washington could be construed to mean that, “the times they are a changing”.  And, we could see abortion activists turning the other cheek and terrorists calling to have tea with U.S. leaders.

But I digress; this is NOT my point…

Marketing and politics are a lot like romance.

If Merriam-Webster dictionary is right when it says, romance is “trying to influence or curry favor with someone especially by lavishing personal attention, gifts, or flattery”.

Then the odds are not looking good for the Casanova who, when spotting a hot prospect, walks up and says “Hey, do you want to go out with me” right off the bat.  Usually this approach results in a response something like, “No, I don’t know you. Get away from me” or perhaps a slap depending on the girl.

So how do you romance, sell, or otherwise convince somebody?

It’s not something that happens overnight, most of the time; you have to work at it. You have to earn trust.

Have you ever tried to sell something? Selling something even as simple as Girl Scout cookies still takes a little finesse. Granted the Girl Scouts have the “cute factor” working for them which gives them an advantage. However, they still have to convince people to buy.

If you think about a time somebody tried to sell you something and they started things off by saying “Hey, you should buy this” chances are you probably walked away.

Why? Because you were skeptical. They hadn’t bothered to establish any type of relationship with you. There was no reason for you to trust them.

You were probably asking yourself questions like:

• Why should I trust this buffoon? I don’t even know him.
• Why should I believe what this absolute stranger has to say?
• I wonder if this guy is an ex-con.
• I wonder if he plans to steal my credit card information when I pay for my stuff.

Whether your goal is to make a sale, secure a date, or win voters over to your way of thinking you must first establish trust.

So how do you accomplish this? What works for me is first trying to get to know the person. Find out what interests them, what makes them tick.

Developing a relationship with them, romancing them, bonding with them are the first steps. Then and only then, will you begin to earn and build their trust.  Once you overcome this hurdle the gates will open and they will be more willing to listen to what you have to say … purchase what you are selling … or vote you into political office

Successful alliances form when the person trying to sell you gains your trust first. Once you feel confident the person you are talking to can be trusted then the fences come tumbling down.

Do we need health care legislation? YES.

The problem is the democrat’s health care bill got so caught-up in the, political parties us-against- them war, the democrats forgot their votes were supposed to represent the voice of their constituents not their democratic fraternity. As a result they lost the trust of voters and lost the seat that gave them a majority in congress.

The lesson here is when you want to close the sale don’t forget to build trust with your voters so you may romance them into buying what you are selling … or simply what you are saying.

Technorati Tags: Direct Response Marketing, Marketing

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