Is Selling A Sin (or just feel sleazy)?
As a marketer, I’ve always felt a little dirty being required to follow some expert formula when writing sales copy. While I don’t actually believe it’s a sin (that would be a little crazy), traditional marketing has always left me feeling the need for an alter call or a hot shower to clean off the sleaze.
I see sales as a byproduct of meeting a need, but meeting the need is the driver, not the afterthought. (I am pretty sure I’ll get some kickback on that statement alone-but hear me out.)
We’re all familiar with the language of sales letters, they inundate our inbox and pop-up ads on websites and social media. The art of persuasion is as old as the day is long and companies have been using ‘proven’ tricks and techniques for years. Books like, Everybody Lies, To Sell is Human, Secrets of Closing the Sales, and Spin Selling fly off the shelves by professionals eager to meet quotas and increase their bottom lines. Meeting quotas and increasing the bottom line are not bad things, but when they become the driving force behind how we run our marketing efforts and our businesses, we lose a critical connection to our ultimate purpose—to serve and meet the needs of people. (If your ultimate purpose is to make money this article probably isn’t for you.)
In January of this year an essay for AdWeek blames an “atmosphere of disbelief” in advertising and brands on the fact that today’s consumer “knows how the machine works.” In essence, the curtain has been pulled back and the public is not impressed with the manipulative tactics and psychological games employed by the industry.
In a recent article in Inc.com by Peter Yang titled, Psychology Says You Can Actually Sell Anything, So Long as You Use These 4 ‘Hidden’ Switches. (2022, Inc.com), Yang reveals that the best marketers in the world today view their profession “… not as an “art form” but rather as an exact science.” He goes on to say that marketing has been researched to death, experimented with, and studied to the point that the humanity of marketing is nothing more than a predictive algorithm to attract sales—not serve humans. Is there such a thing as too much technology?
I believe there is. We as humans have a unique superpower that computers don’t have. The ability to connect, have empathy, insight, respect, and presence in the moment. Most importantly, to communicate in a meaningful way that creates value, trust, and loyalty.
Credit: Tom Fishburne (marketoonist.com)
The four points that Yang proffers do touch on important aspects of marketing. Where we differ is that the key motivator he provides focuses on the sale—money. Decisions are made from a ‘get the sale’ perspective. What would happen if we made our marketing decisions based on serving our customers well? Would that look different, read differently, produce different results?
I can confidently say YES! The fact is that words such as lies, secrets, spin, and hidden all reveal a less than authentic motive and suggest manipulation. When Cheryl Bachhelder took over Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen in 2007 as the president and CEO the company was the worst ranked quick service restaurant (QSR) in the industry with a tanking stock of $4 a share. Because Cheryl was committed to serving those who she was charged with leading, for the next 10 years she reinvented how they did business. Her core value of serving others informed how she managed, made decisions, and interacted with people. By 2017 her service-minded policies had driven the stock prices up to $79 a share making the franchise one of the most profitable QSRs.
In a 2019 article for Focus on the Family, Cheryl shared, “It’s [servant leadership] embedded deep in my wiring now, to just care deeply about the people who are impacted by [my] decisions.”
American consumers are hungry for genuine authenticity, not computer-generated algorithms developed by scientists to manipulate our actions. Why craft wording that ‘hides’ an objective? I firmly believe that everyone that shops understands that businesses need to make money. We have smart, savvy consumers. We need to earn their trust, not convince them to trust us with the top five tricks to land a sale.
No amount of convincing is going to win a long-time customer if the product isn’t the best it can be, solves a problem for them, and is priced fairly. Three pop-up windows blocking a potential customer or client from reading your blog or browsing your online shop is not going to win them either.
Credit: Tom Fishburne (marketoonist.cm)
Turn your focus on producing the best product and offering the most amazing service you can. Honor potential customers with the respect by working to build genuine relationships with them, ask them what they need, how you can improve, and deliver on your promises.
How the consumer views your business, now more than ever, is the leading factor in whether they decide to make a purchase and remain a customer.
Check out the differences between Science and Service perspectives of marketing your business and you’ll see they both have the same goals, but in my experience, the Service-minded business corners the market on authenticity, value, and sustainability.
Science Marketing Vs Service Marketing
Science Says: Solution Switch: If you can convince your customers that your product is the solution to whatever problems they might be having, you’ll spark their interest and turn on the most important switch necessary to making a sale. Market the source of your customer’s excitement. Think top ten lists, mile-long landing pages with repeated claims, pop ups, and the holy grail of advertising: CTA (call to action).
Service Says: Focus on solving the problem by ensuring that your product or service is the best it can possibly be and serves the client well. Survey customers, do research and development that you share with customers, let the needs of the customers guide or influence product and service development. Don’t spend all your time developing ways to convince-let the work prove its value and share that.
Science Says: Become an authority figure. Trust is a necessary component of making a sale … The key to flipping a customer’s trust switch is to convince them that you’re an authority figure, someone who is trusted as an expert on the subject at hand. Trust is a powerful persuader. The moment we trust someone as an authority figure, we are sold on anything he tells us.
Service Says: Trust is earned, not a switch we turn on and off as though our customers were some mechanical device. If we are diligent on ensuring that our product/service is best, are honest about seeking to improve, say what we mean, and mean what we say, we will earn trust. We must be driven by the desire to be worthy of our customer’s trust. Trust is sacred in business and being confident in your expertise is important, but so is admitting where you’re not.
Science Says: Befriend your customer. The likability switch works on a high level with regard to a company’s image, but it’s even more potent when applied at the customer level. This mean … trying to understand customers and tailoring your product or service to solve their unique problems. It builds strong relationships with them, you elevate yourself above the rest of the competition because customers see you not as a greedy corporate identity, but as a friend.
Service Says: I agree with the impact of the likeability switch but when this is applied as a tactic to get a sale, what happens when things go wrong, and problems arise. This is where the situation often gets out of control. “Well, that tactic didn’t work like I planned.” Instead, when we move out from the core value and belief of service, that goal is what drives how we approach each situation good or bad. It comes from how we are as a business instead of a tool we use to garner sales. There is a difference. Operating from this core belief allows us to be fluid in our responses to situations as they are foundational and not transactional.
Science Says: People are skeptical about whether or not they’ll actually realize the benefits they hope to get from their purchase. Evidence answers potential questions that the consumer might have. Provide logical reasoning, quantitative data, or customer testimonials that validate what they were hoping to be true to begin with. Give them hard evidence proving that they will reap all the benefits they desire from your product, and you will easily win them over as eager customers.
Service Says: I have no issue with the evidence switch because when your driving motivation is to produce the best product or service possible and serve your customers well, it will produce outstanding results, build authentic relationships, establish value and trust, create both relational and financial capital.
In an effort to be “authentic” because that’s what the data tells us that consumers want, we’ve been drawn into an algorithmic automation in conducting business. Business, at its core (its most simplistic description) is about solving problems , serving others, and building relationships. Technology and science are helpful but they should never be the sole driver in how you show up in the marketplace.
I would love to hear your thoughts, so please comment below and share with colleagues. As always, if there is a topic you would like covered, let me know.
