Know What They Want to Buy

- Hey everybody, Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute. This week, once again, I'm coming to you from my home; and this week, we are in my kitchen. So, I bought this house; it was a brand-new build. I bought this house in late November. And the very first day I walked through the house with my realtor, the builder happened to be here. And so he was walking us through the house, and he was pointing out all the things that he had done that he was proud of, and he stopped at this, my gas stove. And he stopped, and he talked about this in reverent tones: And it was this amazing stove and oven, it was chef-grade quality, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And all I heard was gas because I live alone, I'm on 220 planes a year, I think I can cook six things reasonably well, and I've never ever touched a gas stove before. So while he's going on about how amazing this is, which makes it sound sophisticated and complicated, I'm thinking, "Oh, crap! Am I going to be able to cook on that stove?" And he completely missed the clues and the cues that I was giving him, that he was talking about something that not only was I not interested in but sort of frightened me, right? And I think we're at risk of having that same kind of conversation with clients and prospects as we gear back up and go into sales mode again in the COVID crisis. So right now, our clients, our current clients that have hit the pause button, our prospects, the only thing that they care about is selling. They care about getting money in the door. And quite honestly, for most of you, you offer a wide array of products and services. You can help clients do some amazing, sophisticated things. But right now, all your clients and prospects want to hear is how we're going to drive dollars in the door. That for every marketing dollar, they're going to make two dollars on the backend, because they've got to justify to their board, or their CEO, or their wife if they own the business. They have to justify why they're spending marketing dollars right now; when everyone is hoarding cash, why are they spending money? And so one of the things I want you to be really cautious of is that you don't go on and on about all the sophisticated, amazing things you can do that right now may freak them out. If they don't understand it, if they don't understand how it's going to drive sales, anything you talk to a prospect or a client about right now, you've got to make it very clear, no dotted line; I want a direct line from what we're going to do to how the cash register's going to ring, because that's what your clients and prospects want to hear right now. So be mindful as you are selling, as you are helping and selling; that you are only helping and selling about the topic that they are ready to hear. Right now, they're not ready to hear you on long-term programs. They're not ready to hear you on things that don't deliver immediate cash in the bank, because that's what they're being held to in terms of accountability and so that's what they need to hold us accountable to. So be mindful that you don't give them the big gas stove speech when all they want to know is how you're going to drive more people into their store, how you're going to help them tell people that they're open for business, that it's safe to come in once your state unlocks the doors, or how they can do business with them online right now. All they care about right now is immediate and short-term sales, and so keep your pitches focused there. Then, once you are able to start demonstrating that, that's when you can start talking to them about the features and benefits of some of the longer-term things that you do for them, okay? So stay focused on their needs, don't get distracted by the parts of the business that you're super proud of or you think are sexy, stay super focused on what their worry and need is right now, and talk about sales right around the corner. All right? I'll talk to you next week.