In our last episode, we discussed the fact that there are more ways to reach people now, than ever before. As a result, we’re all bombarded and it’s harder to get a response. In this episode, we’ll continue our discussion on Monetizing Your Message: Crafting Communication that Sells with a look at the direction of your sales message and the intent behind it.
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“Your arrows do not carry,” observed the Master,
“because they do not reach far enough spiritually.”
Eugen Herrigel, from Zen and the Art of Archery
What does that have to do with sales messaging? I would say, just about everything!
The messages we work to convey to the market, our prospects and clients often fail to hit the mark because, first of all, they don’t reach far enough.
There’s not sufficient drive, intent or energy behind the communication to carry it forward. That’s one problem. Another is that the communication lacks direction. If you don’t know who you’re targeting, it’s impossible to know where to aim.
Ask yourself this, who are you trying to reach? What do you want to communicate to that person and what is the goal or objective of the communication?
If you don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish with your messaging, then you probably don’t need to communicate right now.
What was the intent of your last social media post? What will be the intent of your next one? To express an opinion? To say what’s on your mind? To let them know what you’re up to? “I’m eating a salad.”
Well that’s a start. It gets the arrow launched. But to what effect?
If you want to craft communication that sells, you have to remain laser focused on the target — meaning the recipient of the communication. It needs to be all about them.
From the launch of your message, to the path it follows, to the delivery and receipt of it — like cupid’s arrow — it needs to be entirely focused on them.
What do I want them to think? What do I want them to believe and what do I want them to do?
Do I want them to read my social media post? Do I want them to click like? Do I want them to share it?
Maybe, but these things are largely superficial and not particularly helpful.
People have limited attention spans, so when we distract them with minutiae, they’ll begin to pay attention to what we have to say less and less. In fact, unnecessary communication is actually harmful for that exact reason… because it distracts them from what’s important, detracts from our credibility and positions us as someone who doesn’t value their time.
If you don’t know what you want your recipient to think, believe or do as a result of your communication, then there’s probably not a lot of reason to communicate right now.
Keep in mind, we’re talking about sales and business communication here. If you just want to share fun or interesting information with your friends, I’m not saying don’t do that. I’m just suggesting that it’s best to know what you want to have happen as a result of your communication before you release it.
Imagine you’re the captain of a sailboat and you’re heading out on an adventure. First of all, it’s best to know exactly where you want to go. You need a destination. Second, you need sufficient wind, that is, energy, to drive you forward. And third, you need a steering mechanism, a rudder, to keep yourself on course.
Rudderless communication is incredibly harmful to your business and sales efforts. Insufficient energy or intent behind your communication will fail to get it delivered. And if you lack a clear destination, a target and a specific result, then there is very little reason to launch your message in the first place.
If you have questions about how to better monetize your message and craft communication that sells, go to asktopsecrets.com and enter them into the box, I’ll be happy to address them in a future podcast. And in the meantime, think TBD: think, believe and do. What do I want them to think, what do I want them to believe and what do I want them to do as a result of this communication?
If you’re new to the industry and need to get grounded in the essentials of promotional products sales, visit us online at topsecrets.com/gettingstarted. If you need to get clients now with no distractions and no excuses, visit topsecrets.com/tsca. Or, if you’re a smart, focused, independent distributor doing a reasonable volume of sales, join the AIM SmartEQP community today at SmartEQP.com that’s SmartEQP.com.