“Crap. I’ve hardly made anything”, said Dave, as he dragged his hand through one of the cash bags.
“Maybe people don’t feel like being assaulted today?”, I offered, trying to help. “Why not take the rest of the day off… you know… come back tomorrow and see if people have more money then…”
“Can’t. I have bills to pay. I need to stop focusing on the money. and do the job. I’ll give it a few more tries…”.
So we sat, hiding behind a pillar, invisible to the passing throng of shoppers, waiting for the moment when Dave would strike next…
After a few moments, he began to rise up, like one of the predatory animals does when they’re ready to strike…
He pulled down his mask and grabbed his stick…
… it was “go” time…
– – – –
I have a whole bunch of copy and advertising books I regularly dive into.
I never read any from start to finish.
“I’m in a Sugarman kinda mood today…”
For the past couple of days, I’ve been dipping into “My life in advertising and Scientific Advertising” by that advertising legend, Miley Cyrus.
Only joking, it’s by Claude Hopkins.
It’s a great book, and I can’t think of a copywriter who HASN’T got this book in their top 5.
It’s also down to earth, so if you’re a business owner and know naff all about copywriting, you’ll still get great value from it.
Hopkins sold all manner of stuff, and lots of it too.
He was probably one of the first people to “sell without selling”, and the book is full of wonderful ideas of how you can do that.
Here’s a brief snippet that caught my eye today:
“I never tried to sell anything… I always offered a favor. Now I talk of service, profit, pleasure, gifts, not any desires of my own.”
Most people think of sales like a “Tug of war” – with you on one side and the customer on the other, each battling to win.
Hopkins was different.
He realised that when you sell like this, you’re making a selfish appeal to a selfish person.
How can you NOT meet resistance when you approach sales this way?
Rather than approach sales from a “here’s why you should buy MY product” standpoint…
… he looked at each prospect as a unique individual and asked “what do they want? How can I help them get it?”.
Not to twist the conversation back to his product in a sleazy way…
… he didn’t need to.
You see, he realised that helping customers achieve their goals was advantage enough.
When you do this, you realise there is no tug of war – you’re both pulling on the rope from the same side.
There’s no fight, struggle, battle, or “win-lose” situation.
You get to be the one that helps your customer get great results – and they notice that. What’s more, they appreciate it and want to reciprocate to help YOU achieve YOUR goals…
… so they buy from you.
My mate Dave was right – he was focusing too much on the money. He wasn’t thinking about helping his customers – in this case, shoppers – have a great time.
As a street performer, his job was to put smiles on people’s faces and help them have an awesome day out…
… not to crank out as many shows as he could to earn as much as possible.
So, stop worrying about the latest hack or trick to get sales.
Instead, spend more time helping your customers get results – you’ll find it pays off in the long run.
Have a good Monday,
John