Those of you that know me well will have heard me talking about the 'sh*t pen in the shiny box' quite a bit. It's a funny analogy, mainly because I very rarely swear, especially in my marketing.
Let's start at the beginning with this...
Have you heard the old sales lesson - sell me a rubbish pen? This is a classic in sales training... take something that has a low cost and sell it for a lot more. It's all about finding a person who really needs that pen... as if their life depends on having that pen. When you do this it is no longer about the pen, it's about what the pen enables them to do and the value associated. Think of a CEO who is about to sign a contract worth £1m a year. They are sitting at a table with the contract in front of them but they don't have a pen. They ask to use your pen... what is the value of your pen?
£1m - because without that pen they cannot sign the contract and without the contract, they don't get their £1m a year salary. It's not about the physical pen, it's the life-changing impact that pen has on the person that you want to sell. I could talk to you all day about selling outcomes and impact, but I'll save that for another newsletter.
Without that impact, it is just a pen with very low value. You have to sell the impact of the pen.
Where does the shiny box fit into this? This is about how you market yourself and your product/service. We all know how important marketing is in getting eyes on your business and the thing you are selling and it has never been easier to market to your audience.
Thousands of apps and websites exist to help you create graphics that wow your audience. To write compelling copy that keeps your ideal client glued to the screen. To find and target your ideal client on multiple social media platforms - for free, without ads!
There are millions of ways, within the online space, you can create a shiny box for your product or service... but deep down, what is inside the box never changes. The pen is still the pen. You can put it in a gold plated, handcrafted wooden box, but if the pen doesn't have an impact on my life (beyond allowing me to write notes when on a call with a client) it is just a sh*t pen in a shiny box.
Style over substance
This is where your sales process can take over and bring substance to your marketing. When you talk to one of your ideal clients you will find out what outcome they are looking for. From that, you can really have an impact on their lives.
Sales is not about convincing your clients to buy from you. It's about understanding who the person is, why they need help and how you can help them. It's about knowing exactly why and when they need that pen!
This is why it is vital that you create a sales process that sits alongside your marketing so that you can create, market and sell the worlds most valuable and impactful pen that sits in the most beautifully crafted box anyone has ever seen. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!