Since you’re selling to human beings wouldn’t it be great to know the five secrets that have the greatest influence on your customers? What I’m about to share with you will make you the Svengali of Sales in your niche. I’m going to put them in the order of use in the marketing process, but they can overlap or be switched around to fit your situation.
What happens in nature when there is a vacuum? Right. There is an attempt to fill that void, and human nature also follows that law.
- Filling the void – When someone does a person a favor or gives them something of value for free, this act provides an imbalance in the relationship. This creates a subconscious pressure on the recipient to give back in some way. This is what’s known in marketing as filling the void.
- Reciprocation – In marketing the word “FREE” has the most response of any word in the English language. That’s why marketers use it over, and over again. Everybody likes something for free, don’t you? Even though “free” means there is no obligation or cost, the recipient does feel obligated. If something of real value is given to the person, an imbalance is created – a void in nature – that needs to be filled. Maybe not immediately, but if that person has gotten great value and use from the gift, there will be a nagging sub-conscious motivation to reciprocate in some manner.
You’ll find that some people just don’t seem to reciprocate, and it could be that they didn’t appreciate the full value of your offer. This is why it’s so important to make sure when you are offering a free gift with a promotion, that your customers are made aware of the full value of what they’re receiving.
How To Increase Patronage with the help of Promotional Gifts
What really makes this work in marketing, though, is that you make your “free” offer available when your customer takes action. Now it can be a very small one like filling out a customer card for you (which gives you their name, address, and email address), or accepting your product on a 30-day trial.
- Getting your customer to like you – Have you heard the phrase, “if a customer knows, likes and trusts you then they’ll buy from you”. Well, you’ve gotten them to know you with your “free” offer, the next step is to get them to “like” you. The quickest way I know to get someone to like you is for you to let them know that you like them (reciprocation, again).
Now, not ALL people are going to “like” you and you’re not going to like all your customers, but if you take this approach you’ve a lot better odds of finding customers.
When you’re writing your ads and marketing letters always write as if they are a personal note to a real, live, breathing friend. Use plain talk as if you’re talking to your best friend, and not “hi-tech technobabble”. Keep it simple!
- Trust – I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone say “TRUST ME” it reminds me of a snake oil salesman and makes me do anything but trust them. So how do you get your customers to trust you? Take a leadership role with them and tell them what they should do to take action and buy. You must be or present yourself as an “Authority” figure. An expert in your field and the only one they should buy from as proven by the endorsements of your other customers, their friends and neighbors.
If your offer is made in a letter, than include some endorsements from others, mention articles written about you, books, articles, newsletters that you’ve written, etc. It is interesting that most people don’t want to make a decision, and it’s better that you give them an action plan to say “yes”.
- Scarcity – This is one persuader that really motivates humans to action, and you must create and manage this to your advantage in every offer you make.
People want things that solve their problems or make them feel good about themselves that are of good quality. They want it even more – if the quantity is limited in some way. Remember the law of supply and demand? If the demand for a product is high and the supply is low, then the price that’s charged will be accepted readily be it high or low. (Sounds like buying gas for your car, doesn’t it?)
Even if you create the “perception” that there is a limited quantity available, a limited time frame for availability, or whatever you conceive to use, you’ll find this a catalyst to action for your customer.
Of course, it goes without saying that you always include a guarantee of some kind in your offers. I always like the “no questions asked” type of guarantee for 30, 60, 90 days or even a full year if it fits for you. With this you’re emphasizing your credibility (trust) by saying you’re going to be around for a while. I’ve found that most times there are very few takers to the guarantee policy you offer, and if there is – you don’t want to keep an unhappy customer anyway.
Be sure to include all five of these tips in all of your offers (ads, sales letters, presentations, etc.) and you’ll see dramatic results and an increase in your business.
All the best 🙂
