One of the best persuasion lessons I ever done heard was 10 or so years ago, when Michael Senoff was interviewing the late, great negotiator Jim Camp.<\/p>\n
Sometime during the interview, they did a bit of roll-playing.<\/p>\n
(As if Jim was selling Michael gasoline)<\/p>\n
And, to make a point, Jim Camp said to Michael:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Jim Camp and I work with Phillips Petroleum, and we offer high grade gasoline at $3.70 a gallon. And you will find our additives to be of the highest quality. So don\u2019t you want to buy Phillips gasoline?\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
To which Michael obviously declined.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Because all Jim was doing was making claims.<\/p>\n
And, all those claims did was create objections.<\/p>\n
(Like a lot of today’s email and other sales copy do, not-so-coincidentally)<\/p>\n
So, he switched it up.<\/p>\n
Instead of pitching the gasoline, Jim asked Michael about his car\u2019s engine, asking how many miles he could afford to take off its life, asking if he\u2019d ever experimented with a higher octane and, if not, what held him back, and so on and so forth, and constantly bringing it back to Michael\u2019s car and not his gasoline.<\/p>\n
It was a great example of the difference between pitching and selling.<\/p>\n
And, pretty much the opposite of how the marketing proles write email copy.<\/p>\n
Well, guess what?<\/p>\n
In the November \u201cEmail Players\u201d issue I go into how to apply this concept of not creating objections in emails (or any other kind of copy) in depth, and in a way none of your lazy, flakebook addicted competitors listening to the nonsense on social media about selling are doing, or would even know how to do.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sending this puppy to the printer in 3 days.<\/p>\n
If you want to get it, subscribe here in time, while you can:<\/p>\n