Tricky sales tactics will scare prospects away (Photo by WxMom)
All the talk of trick or treating this time of year got me thinking about the messaging in our marketing.
The Trick…
You receive an email offer for a white paper that promises to deliver the “The Five Steps to Improve Professional Services Profitability.” You complete the download form and, with great anticipation, open the PDF. To your disappointment, all you see is a three-page sales pitch outlining the five-step process this firm uses when you sign on as a client.
This type of tricky tactic gives me the heebie-jeebies.
The Treat…
Now imagine downloading the same white paper, but opening it up and finding 10 pages packed with industry insight and research you can directly apply to your business. It feels a little bit like opening your candy bag and seeing a big bar of Charleston Chew (I’m a sucker for the vanilla flavor).
The Next Day…
When the phone rings, which call are you more likely to take: the person following up to the first, “sales pitch wearing a white paper costume” or the person following up to the value-filled paper asking you if you would like to meet to see how this research can apply to your business?
The experiences your prospects have with you throughout the marketing and sales process are a preview of what working with you is really like. If you want prospects to see you as a trusted partner, you need to build trust through each and every interaction. And what better way to do that than to treat them with the valuable research and insights.
So, this Halloween, don’t scare your prospects away with tricky sales tactics—that’s not the way to build trusting relationships. Bring all your sales pitches and materials disguised as white papers and articles to the graveyard and bury them. They do not belong here in the land of the living.
