Listen, There’s No Need To SHOUT!

This a guest post by Nick James

Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product
developer. During the last 5 years Nick has sold in excess
of £1.6 Million Pounds worth of products and sevices
online. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week email at:
http://www.Nick-James.com

“Listen, There’s No Need To SHOUT!”
“Selling ISN’T Yelling!”

You may have heard that line before. But, what you may not
have heard is that Selling IS Yelling, in some arenas.

That’s right.

Let me show you what I mean.

Say you’re a fruit seller in amongst a gaggle of sellers in
a crowded market place environment. In all probability
you’ve got to use your lung power to attract the wandering
passer by in to listening to, and then buying what you’re
selling.

(The old Zig Ziglar (sales trainer) line comes to mind
here, where he says “timid sales people have skinny kids!”.
How true.)

What if you’re on the stock market trading floor as a
jobber? That’s a place where you’ve got to invest in some
serious bellow from the belly in order to get heard.

Or how about if you’re in the funfair amusement industry
where you’re continually blaring out to possible punters
“ROLL UP, ROLL UP, TRY IT OUT!”

Let me be quick to mention that I’m not suggesting that any
of the above professions or occupations are bad or lowly in
any way. They’re not.

Though, the title of this article is to do with you
communicating with prospects and customers that doesn’t
require Yelling, in order to sell.

Yet, how many times do most businesses FRUIT STALL YELL to
their prospects, only to find that it falls on deaf ears?

See, even though good products and services are much needed
by the consumer, it can be a right turn off because of HOW
the message is received in our senses.

I remember an ad written by Charles Saatchi (of Saatchi and
Saatchi Advertising) whose client was one of the charities
appealing for funds.

Now, in order to draw attention to the desperate plight of
those needing the funds, Saatchi used the following to
attract attention to the ad (and, it was in the Times or
The Guardian newspaper!):

“LISTEN YOU LITTLE SH*! YOU NEED TO STOP DOING WHAT YOU’RE
DOING AND PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!”

(The whole line may not be word for word correct, but, the
first FOUR WORDS definitely are!)

Let me tell you, any intention I had of giving any funds
quickly faded away, vanished into the night like a shadow.

Like it or not, we all want to be communicated to with a
little respect, kindness and commonsense courtesy, am I
right?

Most businesses say, “Buy From Us, We’re The Best”. Why
yell that out? Everyone else is doing the same. Why not
PROVE you’re the best? Why not let the reader or prospect
decide?

What’ll happen if you say instead something like, “We don’t
know if we’re the best, but we’d sure like for you to find
out if we can help fix your problem. Here’s what a dozen
other people have to say about us!”

Can you see the difference?

It’s that simple shift, that little subtlety, the
difference that’ll cause joy to ring out, or… trigger the
alarm bells to signal “DANGER AHOY!”

Though, having an alarm bell loudly tringing away is one
way to POSITIVELY YELL that things aren’t working!

What can you do to stop the YELLING and focus on SELLING to
your prospects and customers?

CLUE: Whatever you notice, put it to work, quick. Fleetness
of thinking and quick to implement will reap multiple
rewards.