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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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Have you ever wondered why the word “pitch” has become the term for selling?

The salesperson makes a pitch; the words they use are a pitch; the listener is being pitched.

Why is the word “pitch” — an image loaded with negative feelings and expectations — universally accepted as the term that accurately describes what’s happening?

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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Antonio Damasio, a world renowned neuro-scientist, argues that we use emotion to assign value to people, things, and events. And it is as a result of assigning value that we make decisions.

Emotion first, reason second.

Sound familiar? It should.

There’s an old adage that’s taken as gospel by marketers of all stripes. People buy emotionally and justify logically. In other words, heart first, head second.

So why do we say this is a Soft Sell Confirmation?

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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Even if you’ve had nothing to do with marketing or sales you’ve no doubt heard the phrase “closing the sale.”

For example, when you purchase real estate, the meeting where the documents are signed is called a “closing.”

The transaction has been completed, product delivered, and money has changed hands.

To close the sale is the objective of every sales person.

But think about it, what does “closing the sale” imply?

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the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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In Part 1 we looked at the first level of the marketing/sales transaction – the external level — dollars-given for solution-rendered.

Now let’s look at level two — the internal transaction.

Assume you are a marketer. Given that:

As a marketer you offer a product or service that can solve, or at least help solve someone’s problem. And your marketing efforts are purposefully designed to attract those who can benefit from your solution. But in this case, let’s ratchet up the consequences, because the move from level one into two is a matter of consequences.

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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I bet you didn’t expect to hear the words “spiritual,” “evolution,” and “marketing” together in the same sentence. But after you read this post you’ll see just how well-matched they are . . .

And you’ll see just how meaningful and beneficial this matching will be for you.

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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There are deep and significant changes emerging in consciousness — changes that will transform the way we humans live, love, and market our goods and services.

As a reflection of those changes we bring the idea of Soft Sell, Heart-Based Marketing to public awareness – marketing with consciousness and conscience.

For a different take of the source of these changes, the impulse arising from deep within the human psyche and the culture we produce, click this link and listen to a brief audio by Barbara Marx Hubbard.

She is the founder of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution as just one of her many contribution to the evolution of human consciousness.

You can discover more about her by going to:
BarbaraMarxHubbard.com.

But Before You Do, Click Here and listen.

Because It’s All in the Connection,

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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The Internet has opened many and varied ways for consumers to search for, select, and buy what they are looking for. It’s no secret that, as a result, the consumer has more control over the process than ever before. This profound shift in the producer/consumer relationship has led to equally profound shifts in the way marketers need to market on the Internet. Now the word “relationship,” and the connection that implies, carries more emotional and profit-filled meaning than ever before, and is truly at the heart of the seller/buyer exchange.

To go to the heart of Intimate Marketing, we’ve scheduled Justin Livingston, known as the Magnetic Marketer, as one of the speakers during our “Bridging Heart and Marketing” conference. He will show those who attend how to create an emotional connection with their customers that lasts – and it’s all about intimacy.

According to Justin, marketing, in its simplest form, is ‘lead generation’. You send your marketing message to as many people as possible, allow them to ‘self select’ or ‘choose themselves’ as being interested in your product.

His point is that intimacy is inherent in the customer’s self-selection process. The customer/prospect is agreeing to participate instead of being coaxed, cajoled, or coerced into making the purchase.

They do so through their own conscious choice, their own willful agreement – because they know, more and more, what control they have over the process, especially on the Internet.

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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First, let’s focus on the word “marketing.”

Marketing is a results-oriented enterprise. No results, you’re out of business.

But results don’t have to be achieved at the expense of your own integrity and the integrity of your customers.

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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The need to create urgency in the prospect’s mind is a core belief in the sales industry.

Simply put — no urgency, no sale!

If the prospect leaves your store (offline or online) they are never coming back. So you’d better do something to fire up their nervous system or they will not take action and you lose. That’s dogma in traditional sales.

But it is true that urgency does galvanize the need to make a decision, and that need definitely does facilitate sales. The question is — where is the source of that urgency? In the seller’s need or the buyer’s.

If the sales person believes that he or she must get a result right now or else, there’s an inherent, sometimes conscious, oftentimes unconscious desperation that creates reckless, non-thinking, certainly non-listening behavior. The seller’s urgency is imposed on the buyer which subtly decreases the value of the product and ratchets up the fear of loss.

That kind of urgency causes the buyer to recoil in self-protection, standing up to resist the pressure, and with good reason.

But, what if the urgency was centered in the buyer — in a pressing problem that needs to be solved, or an intense desire that wants to be fulfilled? Urgency from inside the buyer calling out for action. What then?

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Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
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For most people the idea of “sales” comes with images of snake oil salesmen, used car dealers pounding on a car hood during Saturday morning television, and even “getting robbed” and “taken to the cleaners.” Certainly not a pretty picture of one of life’s basic activities – selling.

And unfortunately, there’s a lot of that on the Internet.

We’ve talked with our colleagues and our Internet marketing students about the typical tone online sales copy and they routinely say they feel put off, offended — one woman even used the term ‘violated.’

They hate the ‘hype’ and exaggerated claims, the sense of false urgency, and the in-your-face style. Some of them even feel they can’t really get out there and market their products and services without feeling like they’ve sold themselves to the devil.

But . . .

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