Why Everything You Know As a Marketer Might Be Wrong

All of us have a belief system that governs our behavior.

Most of these systems are not rooted in the way the universe actually operates. They are, instead, propelled by:

Myths

Rumors and gossip

Fuzzy logic

Unexamined assumptions

And lots of guessing.

Almost every single consultation I've ever been paid for included an extended session where I had to beat the assumptions out of the client.

"No," he'll say, "I didn't try that tactic, because I just assumed that..." is what I hear the most. Followed by complete nonsense pulled out of thin air, backed up with rumor and myth.

Start paying attention to the nonsense flying around you.

Hollywood is one of the worst offenders. Screenwriters for generations have been writing about stuff they have zero real clue about.

(So you keep seeing heroes getting shot, slugged in the head with bats, and falling twelve stories to the sidewalk... only to shake it off and go back to win the fight. For example.)

Congress is a mix of fools and geniuses. Both engage with their constituency at the lowest intellectual level possible. One group just does it on purpose... but they're still playing to the myths and rumor mills.

(Time after time, researchers have discovered that average -- and otherwise good-hearted -- Americans will recoil and reject the Bill of Rights when it's presented to them without explaining what it is. Scary. But if you're gonna succeed in politics, you gotta understand how the voting brain functions.)

And my favorite example (cuz I come from this kind of family): Your arrogant, know-it-all brother-in-law will get so angry discussing what he "knows" about the world that he will insult you, offer vague threats, and feel totally justified calling you an idiot if you disagree.

Or if you have the gall to ask where he gets his facts.

"Just look it up," is what I heard at family functions growing up. "It's a fact. I guarantee you it's true."

The kicker: Nowadays, you can simply Google any question and get immediate expert-supported facts.

Growing up, I used to pull out the dictionary and encyclopedias and triumphantly present the actual correct answer to what was being angrily discussed.

What I learned: Presenting facts -- even unimpeachable stacks of figures, statistics, quotes and conclusions -- couldn't dampen the enthusiasm another person had for what he "believed" to be true.

When selling something, you cannot leave anything out of your pitch.

Or your prospect will fill in the gap from his vast internal storehouse of misinformation, rumor, myth, "common sense" and -- worst of all -- his own guesses at what "should" be in your sales argument.

Great marketers and copywriters use long copy formats (in written ads or websites, auto-responder email series, videos, and speeches) because they know they're supplying "buying reasons" for both the rational side of their prospect's brain...

... and his irrational side (which often dominates the internal conversation).

The next time you try to persuade someone to do something -- buy what you offer, leave his name and email, come to an event, whatever -- just throw in a few nods to the roiling nonsense you suspect is inside his brain.

What you know -- for a FACT -- is true about what you offer...

... may (in fact) be utterly polluted by what your prospect believes is true about it.

So you need to know what he's thinking... and you need to address it in a way that is satisfying to his need to fill in the gaps.

Remember: People are actively looking a reason -- factually true or not -- to say "no" to your offer.

Saying "no" means they can relax and get on with their day, continuing to believe there is no good solution to their problem.

This is why you explain -- with vivid stories and action-oriented case studies -- stuff like return-on-investment, the outrageous value being offered, the limits of the opportunity, and all the wonderful ways his life is about to change.

Including lots of sound-bites he can use to remind himself, his doubting spouse, and his skeptical neighbor why this was such a great decision.

When you leave gaps in your sales pitch, you lose control of the process.

Rookie marketers and copywriters do this all the time. They take for granted that their prospect understands the offer and product the same way they do.

And so they leave too many easy outs for the prospect to say "Oh, that's not for me, because..." followed by whatever belief sways them.

When you control the conversation, he can't assume anything, or go anywhere in his head you don't want him to go.

Side note: When you get really good at understanding the mindset of your prospect, you CAN leave vast holes in your pitch.

It's called going blind, because you're purposely avoiding explaining things in too much detail. The prospect has to order and receive the product to relieve his curiosity.

This tactic has as many iron-clad rules as the more common straightforward pitch.

A blind ad is all about managing the void. You control the "gaps" presented to your prospect much like great musicians control the "spaces" in cool jazz.

You block all exits and direct your prospect's imagination in the direction you want it to go.

You know he's going to fill in the gaps. So you give him plenty of good ammo to do so, by playing on the myths, gossip and other flotsam and jetsam in his mind.

It's all about self-knowledge -- understanding what you do not yet have covered, and going after it.

We'll have to do this again, soon.

John Carlton's 25-year career is legendary... as an expert copywriter, a pioneer in online marketing, and a teacher of killer sales copy. He knows marketing inside and out. To read more from John (including accessing the 5-years-deep archive of hard-core tactics and insight and advice, for free) just dive into his globally-read blog:

http://www.john-carlton.com.

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