Comments on: How to sell by not selling: the secret of the cedar plank

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:53:05 +0000

@Martin: Yes. But it’s not always obvious what you’re really selling. Some day I’ll write about the “benefit chain” and how there’s a long line of connected benefits that go deeper and deeper psychologically. Knowing where to look on that chain to say the right thing is the challenge.

By: Martin Stellar

Martin Stellar — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:36:16 +0000

“What you’re really selling….” that froze my brain, Dean. Or set it on fire, you decide. Doesn’t that apply to all marketing, i.e. isn’t the feeling you want people to have when they buy, the real drive, the actual reason for them to buy?

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:37:28 +0000

Ted,
I know what you mean. I do an awful lot of lead generation for services and it’s all intangible. With things like insurance, giving people a “taste” is difficult, but then these sort of services aren’t about the service itself, but the sense of security or other emotion it creates. Once you figure out what you’re really selling, the taste gets easier to figure out.

And you’re right. It does take skill. A lot of it. Really, lead gen is about the simplest task in direct marketing, but it’s also the most poorly done by most businesses.

By: Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:15:42 +0000

I always envied marketers who had a tangible product to sell. But the jobs we get at DMCG tend toward the intangible and innately boring products like insurance, investments, SEO and fund raising.

The idea of involvement works well here as well, but takes considerably greater skill in my opinion.

Your article also deals with selling intangibles by translating the product features into key benefits such as saving money and insuring against loss of something precious. You also show the selling power of specificity.

But even with testimonials and strong benefit copy, nothing beats something that tastes good, smells good or feels like quality when the prospect touches and sees the actual product.

Another tremendous copywriting primer from the master. Thanks for writing this post.
.-= Ted Grigg’s last blog … Communication and Strategy not the Technical Marketer’s Strength =-.