« Can a Team Write a White Paper?
For your listening pleasure… »

Are You Trash Talking Prospects?

By Michael Stelzner

Do you find it hard to engage with prospects or customers? If so, keep reading…

I was recently on the phone with Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies.

I explained a project I am working on and she said, with great excitement, “You MUST read this article I wrote.”

What follows is perhaps one of the best lessons on why we fail to engage.

It is simply a letter from a customer.

Here are some excerpts from Jill’s original article:

Dear Seller,

I only have a few minutes, but I understand you’re interested in what you can do to capture my attention and entice me to want to set up a meeting with you.

Let me say this loud and clear right now - you have no idea what my day is like. You may think you do, but you’re missing the boat. Until you understand this, my advice to you makes no sense.

I got into the office early this morning so I could have some uninterrupted time to work on a major project - something I can’t seem to squeeze into the normal business day, which is filled with back-to-back meetings.

But, by 9 a.m. all my good intentions were dashed. My boss asked me to drop everything to get her some up-to-date information on a major reorganization initiative.

Starting to get the picture? Welcome to my world of everyday chaos where, hard as I try to make progress, I keep slipping behind.

Did I mention my how many emails I get daily? Over 100.

In short, I have way too much to do, ever-increasing expectations, impossible deadlines and constant interruptions from people wanting my time or attention.

And now for the good stuff:

Which gets us back to you. In your well-intentioned but misguided attempts turn me into a “prospect,” you fail woefully to capture my attention. I’m going to be really blunt here: I could care less about your product, service, solution or your company.

I’m not one bit interested in your unique methodologies, extraordinary differentiators or one-stop shopping. Your self-serving pablum, while designed to lure me into your clutches, has the exact opposite impact.

Think about your life. You know that this could have been you writing this letter.

Now put yourself in the shoes of your prospects. They are just like you.

So my question to you: What can be done to get the attention of a person like this?

SocialTwist Tell-a-Friend

If you're new here, be sure to signup for my newsletter and join 20,000 others. You can also follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!

Receive email updates when new articles are posted.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 am and is filed under Lead Generation, Marketing, Writing White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • What can be done to get the attention of a person like this?

    I would call this person immediately after receiving this correspondence and would be compassionate about their circumstances, prevent a negative impact on my brand while at the same time handling a potential customer applicably, its how we deal with people that sets us apart.

    As far as marketing, well I only use referral and web marketing so people come to me, wasting time with this type of marketing, well, I'll leave it to other businesses to do. Its easier to sell to someone who needs your service as oppose to someone who is not interested.
  • Hi Michael,

    So many companies don't get this!

    In 2008 and beyond is the companies that provide massive value first that will win the long term relationship game.

    People are to busy to be sold to these days. They want value first.

    Great blog.

    Scott Wilson
  • It's all about listening to the client and their needs. The relationship between you and the client is far more important in the long run. The approach must be strategic in order to gain trust before selling any product, service, etc.
  • My answer is to not sell anymore.

    Yep. Stop selling and start providing value.

    How about educational stuff?

    This is one way to be sure you get your message across

    Mike
  • For someone so busy, they certainly didn't mind to stop and take the time to complain (once more, I'm sure) about how horrible life is for them. Who has time to complain like that and who has the time to sit and listen? Isn't that kinda crazy?

    Christine
  • Anjum Zubairy
    Dear Mr. Stelzner,
    I wish there were more people like your friend's client, who took the trouble to tell people what sickens them. I am a technical writer who also tries his hand at 'white papers' and so on. The problem for me is the amount of chest beating junk the companies force one to write.

    Right now I am writing about an offering, which could be written in two paragraphs. But the manager wants the same stuff to be 'tweaked' (rather twist) so that it could be spread over three full pages!

    I am generally given to understand that what sells is buzz. However, if you go through the websites you come across the same stuff- 'unique methodologies, extraordinary differentiators or one-stop shopping'. As she says all self-serving blarney over which one's eye glazes over.

    I thought this kind of stuff is merely painful for the writer, but I am happy to see that it is equally irksome for the readers. Hopefully the marketing guys will take notice, and understand that keeping things simple may work. Why can't one just identify the problem a client may face, and propose how one is going to solve it, and throw the junk about 'cutting edge technologies' and so on out?
  • Wow - I can tell you from personal experience that Jill's article hit it dead-on.

    Having worked my entire professional life up until a year ago as a corporate marketing manager, I had front-row seats to that kind of environment. And it's not the odd day here and there - it's virtually every day. Fires to put out, meetings to discuss what the next meeting will cover, last-minute sales presentations, it doesn't end. I know when I was the person being called or pitched to by outside reps, I had a similar attitude - if I need your services, I'll call you. Don't call me. Don't bother me. Ever. Again. (okay, I wasn't that direct, but you get the point)

    And while it may sound self-absorbed to some, face it: we're all pretty much wrapped up in our own world, with our own problems and deadlines and agenda. It doesn't matter that we can help someone do something...there's still something in it for us.

    I like Jim's suggestions for trying to break through the barrier. It's difficult, and not going to get any easier. I think the best course of action is to empathize, keep showing your prospect that you really do know what their day is like. It may take a while, but if you're persistent, you'll be the one they think of first when they can finally come up for air and get some help.
  • Your header got me to open this e-mail and invest a few minutes of my time. You immediately evoked a response: Am I working against myself... etc.

    This advice is not new. But it's welcome nonetheless. We've all heard variations of the adage, "Put yourself in the other person's shoes." That's a difficult task. I'm a psychologist and fairly adept at seeing others' perspectives. One-to-one, in my office, I'm OK. But in everyday contexts I often misunderstand or understand only the easy stuff.

    Thanks for the reminder.
  • Jim
    Part of the problem is that on any given day, anyone of our prospects or customers could feel like this. We just never know.

    So how to write something that will "maybe" break through the aggravation just enough to get their attention. (I think that's a concern with all marcomm).

    The problem is that it's very self-centered thinking (oh woe is me). You have to break through that.

    You can either try being forceful:
    Hey! You think you're the only one with problems. Of course you are overworked, stressed out, and every time you feel like you're beginning to get ahead, the boss adds another "need it yesterday" assignment. So what? Welcome to the global economy. Unfortunately, you're not being paid to feel sorry for yourself, you're paid to solve problems. And to solve the myriad problems you have to deal with takes more than just recognizing them, you have to take action to deal with them. In the area of xxx, I can help.

    Or possibly a more subtle approach:
    Ever have the feeling that you are taking two steps back for every one you take forward? Do you try your best to accomplish all your tasks but only seem to have more heaped on you every day? Do you come in early and leave late just so you can have some time to work on your projects because the rest of your day is filled with nothing but relatively fruitless meetings? I understand. I wish I could wave a magic wand and solve all your problems at once (wouldn't that be nice?), but I can't. But problems are not usually solved en mass, they are tackled and licked one at a time. I can help with one: xxx.

    Of course, maybe neither one would work - you just never know. But if you've sent several lead gen or marketing letters and had no result, maybe a more direct "in your face" type of thing wouldn't hurt.

    So now, since they're busy, you just bulletize your solution. Either you get their attention and they respond, or you don't - but the idea is to keep is short and to the point.
  • Jeff Ogden
    Jill is exactly right. My company sent over 4600 webinar invites and got three responses. But they are to arrogant to look in a mirror.
  • Jeff - I'm not gonna say what I would do, yet... I want to hear some ideas from other folks... - Mike
  • First Michael, thanks for my morning guffaw. :)

    Once I knew her attitude, I'd avoid her like the plague. I realize this probably puts me in the minority, but I stopped doing crazy, self absorbed whack jobs long ago.

    If there's a way to get into her good graces, there'd still be that last question to answer:

    Does she stop being herself in person, or does she limit her scariness to the written word?

    You've hooked me on this. What would you do, Michael?
  • That is a great letter - I love things like this that can help to change your perspective. I find that looking at things in a different light can really help to create great results and this gives you the opportunity to consider exactly what the person on the end of the phone is feeling and thinking when you are trying to sell them!

    Thanks for sharing this - it gives me a few ideas in my own work!!

    Kind regards, Dan
  • Good Layout and design. I like your blog. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. .

    Jason Rakowski
blog comments powered by Disqus