“The best advertisement for the mountain is when it snows in Boston and New York.” That’s what I was told as I rode up the lift with one of the ski patrollers and while it made sense, it didn’t.
You see over the last week, the skiing had been fine at my local mountain, but we hadn’t gotten any new snow to speak of. The big storm that had hit New England had hammered the coast, dumping over two feet or more from Boston to New York.
So, even though we had no new snow, and the skiing was just okay, the word was people would be heading north to ski in droves and the mountain would be mobbed.
And they were right. That weekend was one of the busiest I’ve ever seen for a non-holiday weekend. Over 4,000 skiers spent $80+ for a day of skiing.?Which, if you think about it, defies logic. The best skiing is when the mountain gets snow not when it snows in Boston or New York.
But the reality is skiers will drive 4-5 hours for a weekend of skiing when it snows on their city, even if the mountain hasn’t gotten any new snow in days or even weeks. And then typically in March, when the mountains are getting the best snow ever, and spring is coming to New York and Boston, hardly anyone heads north to go skiing.
It makes no sense. And it’s not just skiers whose buying seems illogical.
Most people avoid buying stocks when the market is at rock bottom and prices are dirt cheap. Then after prices start to soar, the majority of people go buy crazy. Which as I’m sure you know is backwards.
The simple point I’m making is that if you base your marketing just on logic, even though you’re selling to smart people, you won’t generate nearly as many sales as you could.
The key to selling is to know what triggers your prospect to buy. What are the small handful of emotions that prompts them to buy and then use those emotions to increase sales.
And no, I’m not talking about manipulating people, just using the right triggers in your marketing copy, the ones that trigger sales.
If you’re a skier – snow is one. If you’re a recent retiree, financial security is one.
Think about it this way.
Every product or service has a small handful of triggers that prompt prospects to buy. Identify these for your products and services and you can easily increase leads, sales and profits.
Think you know what they are?
1. Write them down.
2. Call a recent client and ask them why they bought your product or service.
And let me know what you find out.
To your success,
Charlie
P.S. Not sure what emotional triggers to use? You’ll find hundreds of examples detailed in Writing Copy That Sells. Get them here >>
February 11th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Charlie, we went to Salida, CO (we’re from Texas) even though they said the season was so dry and they haven’t got much snow in the entire winter. Consumer-wise, I think some of the main reasons why people still “buy” even though it’s not logical at a certain point are:
1. It’s habitual.
2. They don’t do a lot of in-depth research.
3. They would “experience” the product or service before the season ends.
In our case, we had a really dry Friday. Sunny, no snow falling in sight. Then the next day, we just had the most abundant snow shower that lasted the entire day. So the trip was worth it.
February 11th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Charlie, we went to Salida, CO (we’re from Texas) even though they said the season was so dry and they haven’t got much snow in the entire winter. Consumer-wise, I think some of the main reasons why people still “buy” even though it’s not logical at a certain point are:
1. It’s habitual.
2. They don’t do a lot of in-depth research.
3. They would rather “experience” the product or service before the season ends.
In our case, we had a really dry Friday. Sunny, no snow falling in sight. Then the next day, we just had the most abundant snow shower that lasted the entire day. So the trip was worth it.