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Soft Sell Marketing Resembles Farming More Than War
By John Aberle | sales
By John Aberle | sales
If your expressions about selling sound like a military commander planning for a battle, you probably learned from someone who taught traditional sales and marketing techniques. Their terms sound like a military engagement: overcome objections, take control of the prospect, and conduct a marketing campaign (which I still use to describe the multiple aspects of a coordinated program to find and sell to customers). Internet marketers have added a new one, squeeze pages. What a controlling sound for something as simple as inviting you to sign up for an ezine (electronic newsletter), usually in exchange for a gift. It’s no wonder business people call “old school” sales and marketing tactics hard sell.
People who believe, like I do, that selling is a spiritual service prefer farming analogies to war and fighting because, like farming, soft sell marketing sales and marketing nurture and cultivate relationships with perspective customers. Like farmers who care about their crops, soft sell marketers care about taking care of their customers.
For instance, when it comes to objections, like the farmer who weeds his field so that the crops can grow strong and healthy, a soft sell salesperson treats the connection with her prospect with respect and engages in a talk about what the real concerns are and how they affect the goals the customer wants. She strives to help the customer buy – if it is right for the customer. After all, not all seeds planted yield a harvest even with the best care.
There’s tremendous nostalgia in America about the family farm. My mother’s family were dairy farmers in Wisconsin. I can tell you for a fact that I have no interest in that life. It’s hard work seven days a week. But I understand this romantic view because what we are really yearning for is the connection with something greater than us.
I love that about selling as a spiritual service because I make those connections with customers. There’s a joy in helping others, even when it’s helping them buy because that’s how they’ll get the solution they want and feel they need.
So stop waging war with prospects. Start farming instead. Prepare the ground; plant your seeds; nurture and water them with sales calls and marketing contacts to offer helpful information, suggestions, and ideas. Weed out the misinformation. And prepare for a thanksgiving celebration of gratitude for an abundant harvest.
If you like this idea of making connections through soft sell marketing and soft sell sales instead of battling for control, join me in Judith & Jim’s Soft Sell Marketers Association. We’re building a community together of people who want to make a difference in our customers’ lives.
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