In order to fully improve your sales pitch you really need to tap into, not only what you customer wants, but needs they haven’t thought of yet, here’s an example of how to discover them. Here’s an old story I learnt a long time ago whilst studying marketing.

Long time ago a young man entered a BMW dealer’s salesroom to look at the latest 3-Series. He had cash, and he was eager to make a purchase decision. But he could not choose between buying the BMW or a similar Mercedes from the dealership next door. A salesperson approached him and soon noticed the man was indecisive and suggested that he maybe able to help…

“Tell me what you prize most about the 3 Series,” said the salesperson. “It is a very fast car with an incredible speed that is why I like it.” said the customer

After asking a few more questions regarding the customer’s lifestyle, the salesperson discovered that the young man was in a new relationship. So what did the salesperson do? The obvious, he changed is tone accordingly, to use the young man’s weaknesses to help him in his cause. He told the young man how delighted his new partner would be when he returned home with this new sporty saloon! He created a mental picture in the young man’s mind of him and his partner driving to the shores in the 3 Series.

How all his buddies will envy his life because of the car? And immediately the man realized it and the salesperson continued nailing his story. Before you realize it, the young man handed over the cash to the BMW dealership, in general he was bought into buying the car by the salesperson! The salesperson discovered the young man’s inner desire and took full advantage to help his cause until the young man realized that the 3 Series is more important than his money.

I know your outlook… the young man stated he like the car since it poses an incredible speed, didn’t he? True, he did. However, in reality what he wanted was a car that would delight his partner, buddies, and in his thoughts to make them adore him even more! In his mind he compared speed with excitement. Not that he wanted unlimited speeding tickets, but because he thought that excitement would make him more appealing and admirable. The young man was helped by the salesperson to realize this fact. And the latter knew how to use the former desire to force the sale. Now, where does the research come handy? Well, an excellent salesperson knows which question to pose to the buyer that will help him uncover the buyer’s inner desires. Sadly, when you are creating a copy for leaflet, you do not have that comfort. Therefore, it is extremely important to know beforehand the wish, desires and needs of your prospective customers. If you have not done your research, your potential customer will keep their cash rather than spend it on your products. In short your leaflet fails because of poor marketing research. It has been stated numerous times: people hate to be sold, however, they enjoy purchasing. And they make the purchase based on passion only.

Then they pardon their resolve with a reason, even after they are already convinced. So be certain to defend your passionate pitch with sense to boost that justification at the close. And while we are on the topic, lets us discussed a little about viewed ‘hype.’ Most ‘conservative’ promoters have considered ‘hype’ as the thing of the past, it does not work anymore. What they should discover that hype itself is not that successful. Some inexperienced copywriters frequently add lots of adverbs, adjectives, exclamation marks and bolding in their leaflets as they try to compensate for their lack of research or for not completely understanding their potential customers. If you do your work correctly, some adverbs or adjectives are not needed in order promote your sale. However, I think you would concur that supporting your copy of leaflet with some evidence and credibility will go a lot farther in persuading your potential customers than ‘sweet words’ alone. I stated sweet words, since there are specific adjectives and adverbs that have been known to make a difference when used. But, when they are repeated too often in leaflet they become less influential and mislead your prospective customer.

Dean Williams

Dean Williams is a design and marketing blogger working for Print-Print Limited, promoting business and building brands through quality print marketing. If you’re interested in small business promotion then please get in touch hello@print-print.co.uk