So, you thought this was a blog about sales. Why is there a picture of a cute baby eating? What does parenting have to do with sales? Actually, there are a lot of similarities. Mary Crampton shares:
If you want your ideal clients to be seriously interested in what you’re selling, you need to speak to them in their own language. And what is the language of clients? The language of clients is the language of results, described from the clients’ point of view, not from yours.
So, if you want to grow your sales and grow your clients, it often comes down to your sales pitch.
Have you ever tried to get a small, stubborn child to eat their vegetables? Did you succeed, or did the vegetables stay lonely on the plate while your child pushed them around with their fork and then pushed the plate away?
Or have you ever tried to get a small child to drink water, and eyeballed their stubborn face while you quavered inside at the realisation of the strength of their resolve to hold out for juice?
The sales pitch that saved my parenting
A long time when I was a young parent, I met another parent who asked her children in a happy, excited voice if they’d like some Sky Juice.
‘Yes, please!’
I followed her into the kitchen. I had to know.
‘What is Sky Juice?’
‘It’s water!’
From then on, I offered my children Sky Juice.
How does a story about parenting help with my sales pitch?
If you’re a parent, your children are your clients. When you’re offering them a drink, they probably really want juice. Even if you never have juice in your fridge, they will eventually hear about it and suddenly want it.
By pitching (no pun intended!) a simple drink of water as a glass of Sky Juice, you’re speaking the language of your clients. Your clients want to know that you can deliver the results they want. When you offer your children Sky Juice, you’re talking about the results that they want.
Your sales pitch only really works if you can truly deliver on the results that you say you can. If you offer your child Sky Juice but give them a drink of lemon juice, this will only work once. You’ll also damage the trust in your client relationship, and it will be almost impossible to ‘sell’ them anything in the future.
Think about what your clients really want, about the problems and fears that keep them awake at night, and about how your business solves these problems. Then tell your clients the story of how you do this, in language that they understand. They’ll be happy to take that glass of Sky Juice and enjoy it too!