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Stop Selling, Start Serving

Guest post by: Jeff Ogden

Article Overview: Choosing words that are 100% self focused are a big mistake.

Stop Selling, Start Serving

A social media software firm I'll call Socks Social (not their real name) once wrote a guest post for this blog. But this is not about that guest post - it's about a blown opportunity by using self-serving language. (Jill Konrath of SNAP Selling also talks a lot about self-serving language. Check out this post - Are You Losing Your Prospects at Hello?) A man from this firm send me a nice Christmas greeting. I know them, so I wrote back to thank him. Then he responded:

"Thanks Jeff. Let me know if you want to chat in the new year about Socks Social."

Excuse me? Why would I want to subject myself to your sales pitch? Am I to guess at the potential value to me and my business?

What if he had instead wrote?

"Thanks, Jeff. Let me know if in the new year you'd like to chat about Find New Customers, your goals for the new year and to see if Social Social might help you."

I'd probably accept that meeting. But I'm not taking a meeting to discuss your company.

I urge you to take a close look at the language your salespeople are using. Is it self-serving like this or buyer oriented?

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Article Tags: b2b demand generation, b2b lead generation, btob demand generation, btob lead generation, demand gen, demand generation, demand generation companies, demand generation company, find new customers, lead gen, lead generation, lead generation companies, lead generation company, sales lead generation



Related Forum Posts
Re: What is your biggest challenge? Today? - [quote="GT Bulmer":10b1rb6o]sounds like keeping one foot on the dock and one in the boat, doesn't it?) I've had suggestions of interest from other high profile potential clients but I have chosen not to pursue them at this time.[/quote:10b1rb6o] Hi GT, Who knows, perhaps you'll need to take that leap of faith and "burn your bridges" (of escape/going back) like Dale Carnegie suggests in "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" to get to the next level and reach your income goal. Complacency and comfort can be death.
Decide your market first - Stop for a second and decide exactly who it is that you want to sell your product to. Once you've done this you'll have a far better idea of where to find them and what it is that they're interested in Cheers
Betting on the law of averages - Dale Carnegie says "As the years went by, I gradually discovered that ninety-nine per cent of the things I worried about never happened... The most famous insurance company on earth-Lloyd's of London-has made countless millions of dollars out of the tendency of everybody to worry about things that rarely happen. Lloyd's of London bets people that the disasters they are worrying about will never occur. However, they don't call it betting. They call it insurance. But it is really betting based on the law of averages...don't happen nearly so often as people imagine" ("How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" 67 & 68). In the past, I think I spent an additional $130 for "3 Year Return to Depot Service and Technical Support" when I bought my Dell laptop and $30 for 2 years of replacement protection for my glass desk. While I've had to call Dell for technical support for my laptop on a few occasions, I've yet to replace any glass panel on my desk.
Other Great Books... - Feel The Fear And Do It AnyWay - Susan Jeffers How To Stop Worrying And Do It Anyway - Dale Carnegie ('What's the worst that could happen - the worst?' Then prepare yourself for that and reality is such a relief!).
Re: Kevin's Case Study #10 - When to become an entrepreneur? - When the bug bite you. A lot of successful entrepreneurs started in their teens or at school. Selling sweets to fellow students or lemonade to firends in the neighbourhood.


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