In their book (which is great by the way), “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing,” authors Al Ries and Jack Trout make a great point when they state:
“You have to BLAST your way into someone else’s mind!”
Think about that for a moment. Buyers are bombarded with marketing and sales from all sides. Almost all of it is mediocre or average in terms of making a real impression or turning their heads. The amount of noise and clutter is astronomical these days.
So, how can you break through all that and “blast your way into someone else’s mind?”
Well, for starters, just acknowledging this issue is key. People sell to me all the time, and I must say that while they do a nice enough job, most of them do not blast their way into my mind.
But when they do, they certainly stand out, often leading to a sale. Like, for example:
- The car salesman who, after I visited the showroom to kick some tires, rang my doorbell the next day and asked me to take a spin in the car I was looking at.
- Or the salesman I was having lunch with one day who I told I liked boxing, and when I got back to the office there was a book on Ali/Frazier on my desk.
- Or the fellow who was trying to sell me cleaning services, then showed up at one of my buildings with a crew to snow shovel, including himself, during a storm when regular crews were having a hard time getting around.
It’s not easy to think of ways to blast your way into someone else’s mind, and you certainly do not want to be obnoxious about it, but the point is well taken.
It’s hard to stand out, but you have to keep trying, or you will wind up in the twilight zone of selling . . . in the pack.
