Don’t Fool Yourself...Your Customers Don't Care About You!

None of these things have anything to do with their businesses or their jobs—jobs they’re trying to subtract from, not add to. In their minds, you are really just another addition—another slice of their time, time that is already in short supply.

Back when I recruited, my candidates had to figure out what impact they had on their last employers. How did they make them money, how did they save them money and, most of all, how did they make their bosses lives easier? Those who focused on the latter, almost always got an offer.

All of the sudden, employers looked at these candidate differently. What effect could the person have on their lives (personally, as well as professionally)? Maybe this candidate would be someone they could depend on so they could see their children play soccer after school or attend their school play. These are things that matter at the end of the day

Print, or whatever you sell, may not have the same impact on someone’s life that a new employee would, but that doesn’t mean you and your product can’t make an impact. You just have to figure out what that is. How you can fit into the story that is your prospect’s life, and how you can make it a better one?

People don't buy features, they don’t really even buy ROI. What they buy is what that ROI will do for them and their lives, most often their lives outside that office they’re sitting in. The best way to learn this is to listen. By listening, rather pitching, you’ll find out what’s important to them, and what they’ll react to.

I wrote a post on personal blog a couple of months ago about “The Talking Stick.” Read it, and you'll get my point.

It amazes me how telemarketers can be so arrogant. They think that schwag they’re pushing is so important as to merit calling me unsolicited at 9:00 at night. I didn’t give them permission to call me, let alone at the climax of NCIS.