When we talk about referrals, we’re talking about applied psychology.  It’s science in action!  And, the more effectively you apply it, the more rewarding your strategy will be.  Unfortnately, most sales people have not such strategy in place.  Duh.  If that’s you, let’s see what we can do to help you.  Think of getting referrals as simple psychology married to common sense and logic.

To turn your activities into a systematic strategy, just equip your current clients with the right language to use when they talk about you to their friends and colleagues. No politician goes into public without being well versed in his/her “talking points.”  All you’re doing here is giving the talking points to someone else.

The language you give them will include two connections: values and relevance. After all, you might share values but not be trained to help them. Or, you might be an expert in what they need, but possess vastly different values.

Ultimately, you want to give your clients a reason to talk about you with other people, and in order for that to be effective, they need to know what to say and how to say it.

Doesn’t that make sense?  Pam and I are writing a book on the psychology of referrals.  If you want to learn how to get more referrals, just send us an email:  michael@aboutpeople.com

I was so excited about Ogilvy’s contest for the World’s Greatest Salesperson (Sell a Red Brick on YouTube), primarily because I figured we had a good shot at winning (the We being creative hubbie Michael Lovas and several of our friends in the agency biz).  Michael and I grew up in Advertising and Marketing, then went into sales, then ultimately sales and marketing training.  This combo background, enhanced by post graduate work in psychology and social psychology has helped us develop a good set of strategies and tools for understanding customers and delivering what they want, when they want it, and how they want it.

No matter whether you’re in sales or marketing or advertising, it all starts with understanding the customer or customers, and by understanding I mean really getting inside their head, and their business if you’re selling b-to-b, so that you are able to add value rather than just sell them a product.  So my first step in my quest to become the world’s greatest red brick salesperson, was to find out who I was selling to.  Makes sense, right?

Imagine my dismay when I read the Ogilvy Brief and found this description of the Target Audience:

Target audience:

Who are we trying to convince: This is open for you to decide but it should be someone who could actually take action for consideration or purchase. Sure, construction, but who else do you think could use it?

Oh no – please don’t tell me you’re letting the salesperson summarily pick who they want to sell to.  I’ve seen this movie before and it doesn’t end well.

And it gets worse….

Wouldn’t you think the best judges for this contest would be actual customers and the best measure of success would actually be sales?  But no, not in this case. The judges are executives from Ogilvy, IBM and Salesforce.com, which is particularly interesting given the NY Times interview comment from Ogilvy CEO Brain Fetherstonhaugh, “Salesmanship has been lost in the pursuit of art or the dazzle of technology.”

As for actual sales being the measure of success, no such luck there either.  Again from the Brief:

What do we want them to DO:

Take action today towards buying a red brick for their use.

How do we want them to respond:

You have the option of how you want people to respond but it must include some kind of measurable response. Examples: Phone call, SMS, email visit web site, join relevant social network or visit store.

As you can see no actual brick sales are required.  You just need to email or text or join Facebook.  Are you kidding me?  Only an advertising agency could believe that joining a social networking site or texting is equal to a real sale.

So, what started as excitement has now dwindled into despair at yet another example of how companies continue to drink the same old kool-aid.  This contest will (actually already has) received a lot of good press (and maybe that was the point in the first place), but in the end it will not produce the World’s Greatest Salesperson.   At best, what you’ll see are some entertaining videos, creative advertising flash and neat-o uses of technology.  Wait, wasn’t that exactly what Fetherstonhaugh said they were trying to avoid?

In the past few months, I’ve become obsessed with Social Media Marketing. It’s very much like direct marketing (direct mail), but very different, too. I squeezed my brain trying to pinpoint the essence of the difference. This is important because until you get a handle on the psychological differences, you can’t be effective.

Here’s what I’ve discovered:

1. SMM is a totally different philosophy. It focuses on building relationships, not just buyers. This relationship-building process turns out to be the same one we describe in two of our books: Axis of Influence and the 5 Levels of Rapport.

2. Unlike every other marketing medium, SMM is totally dependent on good, clear writing. No graphics, no photos, no colors. Just good writing.

Question: what do you see as the differences?

- Michael Lovas

A few months ago, Pam and I were interviewed on two radio shows:

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/podcast.php?id=P1329

http://www.contacttalkradio.com/hosts/archives/eldontaylor.html 

During the Duct Tape interview, John Jantsch asked a question about using psychology in marketing.  We explained that the easiest way is to segment your target market by professions.  See, each profession attracts people who tend to have the same personality type.

For example, surgeons are cut from the same bolt of cloth.  They are people who want to be (need to be) the king of the mountain.  They want to tell other people what to do.   The must be able to make snap decisions and be right.  They have the Driver personality type.

Now, knowing that, all you’d have to do is appeal to that personality type to reach them more effectively.  If you approached them in any other way, they would filter out your message.

There are three or four different types of doctors.  Half a dozen different types of business people.  Several different types of financial people.  Each one is represented by a personality type, or a combination of personality types.  If you don’t have a solid understanding of personality types, you will completely miss out on this strategic psychological advantage.  So, isn’t it time to improve your knowledge?

Go to our website’s Store page.  That’s where you can find a description of our book Face Values.  It is the best book on the planet to learn about using types in your marketing and selling. 

Question:

Can the specific words you use in your marketing really make that much difference? Absolutely! When you purposefully choose the right words, and deliver them in just the right way, you give your marketing its best chance of success. The specific words can easily mean the difference between success and failure.

We’ve been analyzing marketing psychology for more than 20 years, and I can tell you from experience, it is almost always done wrong. The psychology is the exact point where most people screw up in their marketing.

The biggest mistake is mindlessly simple: they think their information alone is strong enough to inspire people to respond. That is just knuckle-headed thinking. However, in their defense, it’s all they know. They just did not learn the right way to approach marketing (and selling).

Logically, your goal should be to inspire people to buy from you – again and again. So, what picture do you need to place in your target market’s mind that will inspire them to take action? Most people seem to think that picture is a customer blissfully reading a contract or the user manual. Again – knuckle-headed.

So, what do you think the right answer is?

– Michael Lovas

On your website, people tend to actually read very little of your content. Instead, they skim, jumping from point to point in an “F” pattern.

Visitors to your site tend to look at the first headline and typically read all of it (if it’s not too long). Then, they drop down to the next big, bolded line and read some of it. Finally, they skim down the left side of the page looking for something else to grab their eye’s attention.

There are only a few of these studies, and they all come to the same conclusions:

· visitors read very few words
· those words are located in an “F” pattern

The wisdom and advice for you is this:

If you want to capture your visitor’s attention, you have to reformat and edit your web content to take advantage of how people read websites. You have to take advantage of the psychology, or you will be victimized by it.

– Michael Lovas

Open a sample of various websites, and you’ll most likely see the result of a person or firm trying to adapt a printed brochure to the Internet. It doesn’t work because people read them differently.

Brochures. In a brochure, people tend to look at your headline, subheads and bullet points. They will use look at those points to find relevant information. If they find it, they’ll read more of your content.

Web. On your website, people tend to read even less and skim even more. They jump from point to point in an “F” pattern. (Jakob Nielsen) They look at the first headline and typically read most of it. Then, they drop down to the next big, bolded line and read some of it. Finally, they skim down the left side of the page looking for something else to grab their eye’s attention.

If you want to capture your visitor’s attention, you have to reformat and edit your web content to take advantage of how people read websites.

Logic. Think in these terms: smaller chunks of information, preceded by a relevant subhead, all written to give the most important information first.

Like this info? This information comes from our new eBook. It’s so new that we’re still finalizing the content, and the working title is Words that Guide Minds. It is an intense class in how to use psychology in your marketing, specifically how to use words to motivate people.

Want a sample? Just send me an email: michael@aboutpeople.com. Include your contact information and this paragraph.

– Michael Lovas

I’m currently editing our newest eBook. The working title is: The Language of Yes – how to frame and phrase your message to influence and inspire people to say YES!

Phew! That’s a long title. But, the content is superb. I’ve been writing about psychological marketing since about 1991. That’s also when I began teaching people how to use psychology in their marketing. I learned the tools of the trade from writing stacks and stacks of direct response programs. From them, I learned what works and what doesn’t – all in the school of day-to-day hard knocks as the head writer for JCPenney.

Then, I began to study psychology very seriously. That was about ten years of daily learning. So, when I talk about linguistic structures, language patterns and mental filters, I know what I’m talking about.

I also learned that most copywriters don’t have a clue how to use psychology in their writing. They’re more interested creating in a catchy pun than slipping past the reader’s mental filters.

Truth Frame. Here’s an example of a little-known technique. I call it the Truth Frame. At the beginning of your marketing piece, say three things that are undeniably true. Just three things that are simple and obviously true. Then, link them back to you. That’s it. In this way, your reader starts off by dropping all red flags and extending trust to you. Thus, you just slipped past mental filters and entered the mental kingdom.

If you like this type of information, please let me know. Just send me an email, and I’ll personally send you a list of the most powerful and persuasive words ever assembled. Be sure to say you found me on this blog. Write to me at: michael@aboutpeople.com

– Michael

Pam and I were interviewed on two radio shows recently:

http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/podcast.php?id=P1329
http://www.contacttalkradio.com/hosts/archives/eldontaylor.html

During the Duct Tape interview, John Jantsch asked a question about using psychology in marketing. We explained that the easiest way is to segment your target market by professions. See, each profession attracts people who tend to have the same personality type.

For example, surgeons are cut from the same bolt of cloth. They are people who want to be (need to be) the king of the mountain. They want to tell other people what to do. The must be able to make snap decisions and be right. They have the Driver personality type.

Now, knowing that, all you’d have to do is appeal to that personality type to reach them more effectively. If you approached them in any other way, they would filter out your message.

There are three or four different types of doctors. Half a dozen different types of business people. Several different types of financial people. Each one is represented by a personality type, or a combination of personality types. If you don’t have a solid understanding of personality types, you will completely miss out on this strategic psychological advantage. So, isn’t it time to improve your knowledge?

Follow this link: http://www.aboutpeople.com/Catalog/index.php. That’s where you can find a description of our book Face Values. It is the best book on the planet to learn about using personality types (and values) in your marketing and selling.

– Michael Lovas

Pam and I were interviewed on a radio show this past week. One of the questions asked dealt with using psychology in marketing. We explained that the easiest way to start using simple psychology in marketing is to discover the professions practiced by your target market.

See, each profession attracts people who tend to have the same personality type. For example, surgeons are cut from the same bolt of cloth. They are people who want to be (need to be) the king of the mountain. They want to tell other people what to do. The must be able to make snap decisions and be right. They have the Driver personality type.

Now, knowing that, all you’d have to do is appeal to that personality type to reach them more effectively. If you approached them in any other way, they would filter out your message.

There are three or four different types of doctors. Half a dozen different types of business people. Several different types of financial people. Each one is represented by a personality type, or a combination of personality types. If you don’t have a solid understanding of personality types, you will completely miss out on this strategic psychological advantage. So, isn’t it time to improve your knowledge?

If you are curious about it, just go to our website: http://www.aboutpeople.com/ and go to the Shop page. That’s where you can find a description of our book Face Values. It is the best book on the planet to learn about using types in your marketing and selling.

– Michael Lovas