Took the Nerd Girl to see Iron Man 2 yesterday.
Was a GREAT movie, too.
And I highly recommend it.
In fact, on the way home (after my “nerdgasm” wore off and I could think rationally again), something occurred to me about the movie that’s directly applicable to selling, marketing, copywriting or any kind of persuasion.
Here’s the skinny:
Iron Man 2 had some extremely good special effects.
But, they did not take away your attention from the story.
In other words, they weren’t the focus of the movie, the story was (as it should be).
And you know what?
That’s exactly how selling should be.
All the cool sales “fireworks” are well and good.
But what a lot of marketers do (and it’s especially rampant online) is get so caught up in the hot new sales and persuasion “techniques” their favorite goo-roo has been using (usually on them)… they forget about the REAL part that makes the sale:
Helping people solve a problem or eliminate a pain.
To paraphrase the late (great) Eugene Schwartz:
You want the person to look through your sales pitch like they are able to look through a glass showcase and see the product inside. If that glass becomes dirty, reflective or calls attention to itself, you’re dead in the water.
No sale for you.
And that’s what focusing on the tricks and tips do:
Dirty the glass.
Just like too much attention on special effects does to a movie.
Anyway, the point?
It’s not about us and our fancy tricks and tips, it’s about them — their problems, needs, desires and pain.
Focusing on THEM is the key.
That’s the whole secret to speeding ahead on the highway of selling and leaving your competition eating your dust (while making more of ye old green stuff, too).
You can learn more about selling like this at:
These principles have been used by some of history’s most persuasive salesman, marketers, copywriters, politicians and negotiators.
They’ve even worked for geeky pick-up artists.
And you know what?
I’m pretty sure they’ll work for you, too.
Ben Settle
