Love – The Cornerstone of Soft Sell Conscious Marketing
ByThere are a lot of buzzwords being buzzed about in Internet marketing circles. The list includes “transparency” and “believability”. “Authenticity” is a very big buzzer.
I wrote a series of posts last year about some of these words and I included “interdependence” as crucial to understanding the necessity and value of Soft Sell Marketing.
But after a year I’ve come to believe, through Judith’s and my my own experience . . .
. . . that the most important word is “love”.
And since it’s not a word that’s used very often in marketing — it’s not a buzzword.
But at the base of, in the center of, and at the very heart of any soft sell transaction is an act of love. As we make clear in our book The Heart of Marketing – Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back this kind of love isn’t romantic love or familial love.
But it is a form of love within the business transaction because you — the marketer — provide value to your customer — the buyer — who is in need. Your customer appreciates your life-enhancing solution and returns this kind of love by honoring your value with the purchase of what you offer, using what you offer, experiencing the resolution of their need through what you offer, and referring others to your product, and returning for more of what you have.
The customer becomes a stakeholder who invests in your business by purchasing from you and referring to you because they know and trust your creativity, your effort, and the care you’ve invested in resolving the issue they need resolved.
That’s a form of love.
This commercial experience may never be thought of as love. And people may feel squeamish or even silly thinking of it in terms of love. But when commerce is conducted from a base of care and concern, consciousness and conscience then that’s what it is. Love.
So, when you’re considering how to create your next product or your next promotion please take a moment and feel the love in what you’re doing. And then design the product or write your sales offer from that feeling. There is a connection inherent in that love that brings all those buzzwords to life and makes them real—authenticity, transparency, healing, connection, awareness, persuasion, interdependence.
No longer just “marketing tools” but a genuine and sincere expression of your heart and the deep truth that we are all in this together.
Because It REALLY IS All in the Connection,
Judith & Jim
We still have 62 Internet marketing FREE gifts available at http://www.theheartofmarketing.com for anyone who buys a copy of our book at this site. And it’s less than fifteen dollars including shipping. As our dear friend Ray Edwards said:
“Have you ever felt that still, small voice telling you there was something ‘icky’ about your marketing? Have you ever wished you could sell more of your products or services – and still be in alignment with your spiritual values? This book shows you how. Read it and be impressed. Put it into action, and be transformed.
~ Ray Edwards, Copywriter & Marketing Strategist, www.RayEdwards.com
You can get Ray’s FREE gift when you give yourself the gift of The Heart of Marketing – Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back at http://TheHeartOfMarketing.com
Not only is LOVE not a buzzword, but dare I suggest it’s the exact last word most people think about when they think of a business transaction or purchase…?
I almost deleted that word – transaction – but here we are talking business. And you know what, you are 100% correct. For us, soft sell marketers, love (at some level) is an important part of who we are, how we identify ourselves, and ultimately in the work we do.
It’s like one colleague told me not too long ago… He said, “Rory, I suffer from what I suspect you too suffer from…missionary zeal.” At some level, our work is about more than just the sale… It’s about more than the transaction.
For me, it’s about the interaction that takes place when collaborating with a client in helping them see their situation differently. I can’t say “treating the client” because I don’t do that work anymore… But that’s really what it’s about. It’s an exchange of information and compassion from one person to another… A lot like love!
Thank you both.
Rory
You’ve expressed that so very well.
As you know, every time we interact with another human we are, in essence, selling something, or trying to influence someone. For example, when we interact with our children we might be selling them on the idea of doing their homework or cleaning their room. Obviously when we interact with a potential client we are trying to influence them, or sell them on the idea that they will benefit from buying our product/service.
And so I suggest that the THE number 1 secret for excelling in business today is to Influence with Love.
And the reason it’s a secret is that so few people understand how important that is.
Thank you for sharing the concept with your readers.
Love
Kashonia
http://www.InfluencingWithLove.com
http://www.TheLearningLovingandLaughingProject.com
http://www.Kashonia.com
I don’t normally start a sentence with the word “because” but…
Because of your opening the eyes of many on love, it WILL become a buzz word to those who sense it from marketing companies who understand it. It’s more than caring, it’s doing whatever you can for whomever you can whenever you can.
I’m grateful for your work, for your genuine principle-based decisions in your programs and for your L-O-V-E toward those who are unlovable as well as those who are lovable in business. The saying “It’s not what we say that they’ll remember, it’s how we made them feel.” is so true.
Kellie Frazier
Connecting, LLC
Thank you, Judith & Jim, for the courage to use this four-letter word in a business article. It’s truly the greatest gift to share that selling and marketing as services are ultimately about love. From this perspective, one doesn’t close just because he can and get the profit or commission at any cost. Instead he realizes that to harm another ultimately harms himself.
I’ve also noticed that clients get really fascinated when they watch me get passionate about my training and coaching them. Passion is love for the work I do and the excitement I feel about helping them improve their sales and marketing so as to improve their business performance so as to improve the quality of their lives.
And finally, by working towards this love for one another in business, we follow the role model of our Higher Power.