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Gold Medals? Or Alligators?

Written by: Sandy Schussel

Article Overview: Some clients want to buy what you offer to chase after gold medals. Others are running from alligators. Make sure you’re selling to both.

Gold Medals? Or Alligators?

In the Great Swamp Race, two runners led the pack.

Fred was running this grueling race through twisted vines, muck and mire in the alligator-infested swamp, motivated by his desire to win the gold medal by crossing the finish line first. Ted, on the other hand, might have started out with the same intention, but his speed and determination at this moment came from his desire not to be eaten by the alligators waiting hungrily for dinner along the swamp trail.

If you were selling running shoes to Fred, your best approach would be to help him picture the glory of crossing the finish line ahead of the pack. But Ted would not respond to that effort at all. To sell running shoes to Ted, however, you have to talk about the alligators.

If you are selling services to a potential client or patient, or if you're selling an idea to your employer, you probably have been selling only gold medals-talking about all the wonderful things to be gained by accepting your offer:

This will help you retire comfortably.
This will get you the best possible price.
This will make you feel great.

But if you're only selling gold medals, you're missing all of the people who are running from alligators. For them, your message should be more like:

This will keep you from having to go back to work a few years after retirement.
This will help keep you from being trapped into accepting terrible offers.
This will keep you from feeling run down.

The problem is that you often don't know whether your prospective client is concerned about gold medals or alligators. While you can try to find out through great questions, why not simply suggest both:

This will help you retire comfortably and you never have to worry about going back to work after you do.
This will get you the best possible price, so you never have to be trapped into accepting terrible offers.
This will make you feel great, so you never have to feel run down.

Want to grow your business or get ahead at work? Talk about both gold medals and alligators.

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Article Tags: alligator, alligators, desire, finish line, gold medal, gold medals, great swamp, grueling race, intention, muck and mire, prospective client, retirement, runners, running shoes, swamp trail, ted, twisted vines, wonderful things



Related Forum Posts
Congratulations - Hi Shri, Congratulations to your win. Next time you will go for the 'Gold Medal'. This does not happen everyday. All the hard work is paying you off. We wish you well for future projects you have in mind. Be encouraged! Kindest Regards Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!"
Starting New Business Venture would like some tips - Hello I am new to this website and just want to say its awesome!! currently I am involved in a new business venture, I am new to the business world and I would like some extra help on this subject. Our company specializes in Custom Gold Foil Printed Ribbon, and Personalized Products (Napkins, Buttons Etc). so if anyone has any ideas of where to go, who to contact, or even if your looking for these types of products yourself, let me know and any tips to help me out it would be greatly appreciated.
Re: Customer protection or sales loss? - Hi Beat, I prefer to buy online to save money or obtain discontinued/rare items. For instance, I recently bought a demo Prince Speedport Gold tennis racquet for $157.51 USD (including shipping to my friend's condo) on eBay, while another seller had previously turned me down because he/she insisted that the PayPal account's address match the shipping address. That same racquet retails in Canada for $305.04 CAD after taxes. A lot of my friends don't have PayPal accounts and don't like giving their credit card number to "smaller" online vendors, so I'm often limited as to where I can shop.
Think like an Association - Hey Sebastian, Maybe you could try thinking like an Association... I would study the structure or formats used by other Associations. What are they doing to add value for their members? The BBB plays a monitoring role for consumers by gathering data about business' that are behaving badly. And they're pretty successful at it too. Maybe you can offer a 'Platinum Program' that franchisors buy into. Accredited members only. Criteria could be strict: 1. Age (stability): 10+ years 2. Satisfied franchisees: 85% + satisfaction 3. Size (stability again): 250 units 4. Strong profits 5. Great management -Maybe a 'Gold Program' for those Franchisors that aren't quite at that level, but can strive to reach it... -Top 100, 500, 1000 Listing for qualified members... maybe a slap at Entrepreneur.com and their biased top 10 lists... -Maybe act as a monitor like BBB? -Maybe team up with FranSurvey OR do something similar for each member (not sure about Fransurvey's rep, but I like the concept) There's so much discontent within the franchising arena that I think if you were part of the solution, then you could create a win/win with your Association. The only downside is that this power can get abused if there aren't good checks and balances within the association.
Business Card = Money $Machine$! - Chris, I'm not sure the line of business you are in but something to consider. I got this idea from Dan Kennedy's Gold Inner Circle Newsletter. He stated in addition to just stating what you have to offer you also need to position your business cards to get people to actually contact your place of business so that you can capture their details and keep in contact with them. By keeping in contact you build trust and credibility and usually after 7-8 contacts they can potentially become a paying customer. How do you do that? Dan suggests offering intriguing, valuable information that helps a customer save money, relief from a particular stress or fear etc. but it has to be free so that they are encouraged to make contact with you. This works for B2B and B2C. B2B have been providing numerous whitepapers for a while now addressing different ways they have helped other companies with similar problems and end with how their product/service helped remedy the situation. Has anyone toyed with including "An Irresistible Offer" on their Business Cards? e.g. Free one hour consultation on your website to identify ways to increase your Lead generation by 40%"


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