Archive for soft sell marketing
Brain Entrainment — Proof of Buyer/Seller Identification
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Entrainment
Entrainment is a term being used in brain science, as well as in physics, biology, and psychology. Technically, it means that when two systems become synchronized and operate at the same frequency they are locked-in together to create a positive condition in which they are mutually supportive. Brainwave entrainment has been noted or used in one form or another for centuries, from Shamanistic societies’ use of drum beats to Ptolemy noting in 200 A.D. the effects of flickering sunlight generated by a spinning wheel (the modern day strobe light). One of the most vivid examples of entrainment between two people happens when they fall in love. They feel as though and everybody says “They have become as one.” On the other hand negative conditions producing negative emotions such as anger, coercion, manipulation, disrespect and domination create incoherence and disharmony resulting in the wide range of conflicts we humans witness and experience every day. Deadly Embrace There is a condition in the mainframe computer world called a “deadly embrace.”
This is a condition that arises when two (or more) separately active processes, like two software programs, interfere with each other in such a way that the network as a whole eventually cannot proceed. It becomes deadlocked. Outside the computer world, deadly embraces range from irreconcilable differences all the way to war — conditions of incoherence and disharmony to be sure. So what does all of this have to do with Soft Sell entrainment, hard sell, and buyer/seller identification? Read More→
Soft Sell Marketing Misconceptions – A Dime a Dozen
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Recently I read a blog post comparing soft sell with hard sell and the writer listed several of the many soft sell marketing misconceptions.
The Writer Wrote: “But in the race to present one’s personality to the client, it’s important to keep in mind that these soft factors are likely to result in new work only if the proposed soft sell involves something that the prospect or referral source actually believes will address a personal need. Much of the friendly, hey-I’m-really-nice marketing plans miss that mark entirely.”
This was my comment:
Misconceptions regarding soft sell have become a dime a dozen and it’s arguable they’re worth even that.
The idea that soft sell is — friendly, hey-I’m-really-nice marketing plans — would of course miss the mark. This notion arises from traditional hard sell marketers whose focus on Get The Check precludes them from really understanding the process of relationship marketing that serves the customer, serves the seller, and makes a profit.
To focus on presenting one’s personality, and under the pressure of being in a competitive race while doing it, can only be crippling, because it takes all of the real connection, the real emotion out of the process.
Presenting one’s personality is mechanical. To believe you have to present is a sure sign of insecurity and a lack of confidence that leads to thinking – “Oh I better present a good face if I’m going to make this work.” Used-car-salesman anyone?
First and foremost, clients are looking to have their problems solved – WIIFM – what’s in it for me. And yes, the best client relationships are built on a personal relationship but not at the expense of getting the job done.
Because It’s All in the Connection,
Jim
The Heart of Marketing, our #1 bestseller, will give you practical insights into how Soft Sell marketing can work for you — for your profits and your soul.
Soft Sell = Compassion: A Commercial Paradigm Shift
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Compassion and commerce may seem self-contradictory like an oxymoron: for example, 
“deafening silence” or “poor little rich girl.” Compassionate commerce seems to be a self-nullifying idea, at least in the way compassion and commerce have been understood and experienced.
So how can marketing and selling and compassion be a perfect self-supporting way to do business?
The definition of compassion that most people would agree with is:
A deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.
And that understanding suggests feelings like pity, charity, condolence, mercy, or sorrow.
From this point of view putting compassion and commerce in the same sentence subverts if not destroys the intention of each.
However, is there a way that compassion and commerce can be mutually supportive so that the marketplace can evolve in a more humane and loving direction? Read More→
Hard Sell Swerve: Dead End
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Recently I read a blog post comparing soft sell with hard sell and I thought the writer’s conclusion, although well intentioned, swerved off into a dead end.
The writer wrote: “Initially along with foremost, [sic] attempt to attract readers with a soft sell approach that offers useful, fascinating [sic] coupled with timely details. Eventually, it could lead them towards a buy decision.”
This was my response:
Your conclusion that “soft sell” leads to “eventually” takes you into a dead end.
Soft sell doesn’t mean wait forever. It means connecting emotionally with your customer, even through online marketing, and working to achieve the customer’s well-being as well as yours.
Otherwise you become the customer’s lackey which is not good for either of you.
Soft sell is a different mindset not a different strategy.
The idea that soft sell is a strategy or tactic comes from traditional hard sell marketers whose sole intention is the bottom line. A sincere desire to create a relationship as part of the sales process is incidental if not an irritation to someone whose focus is wallet-based.
But connecting with your customer or prospect in a way they can feel allows for trust and emotional safety to be created. So your focus must expand from the bottom line as your primary measure of success to include leading the customer to see the truth — which is whether or not your product or service is truly right for him/her.
This is not an “eventually” proposition. It is right here and right now. It is neither desperate nor is it surrendering the process entirely to the customer.
Your customer came to you because they needed something they could not provide for themselves alone. So you are the authority. Lead them to see what’s right for them. Sometimes it’s what you have to offer. Sometimes it’s not. But the connection you create will pay off because of your credibility and trustworthiness.
For more on Soft Sell, heart-based marketing and selling check out our #1 bestseller — The Heart of Marketing.
Because It’s all in the Connection,
Jim Sniechowski
Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, Jeff Zucker and Conscious Capitalism?
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You no doubt know about the flap at NBC regarding the moves made to return Jay Leno, whose show is on at 10 pm, to a later slot at 11:30. That led to Conan O’Brien’s deciding not to stay with NBC to say nothing of the staff he brought along from New York to Los Angeles.
Several days ago, Jeff Zucker, the President of NBC/Universal, during an appearance on the Charley Rose show, referring to the late night turmoil and the low ratings for both shows said:
“We made hard business decisions with no personal feelings because that’s what we’re supposed to do here.”
My first response was to agree. It’s all about the ratings. Low ratings = failure. And failure = hard business decisions.
But it’s exactly those “hard business decisions with no personal feelings” that create the aura that business is, at its heart, uninterested in people; and that business men and women are, at their core, devoid of heart.
Remember the famous line from the Godfather movies –“ It’s not personal. It’s just business.” Read More→
Respectful Buyers and Soft Sell Marketing
Posted by: | CommentsWhile we give a great deal of attention to the mindset and approach for sellers in the Soft Sell Paradigm, it’s also important to focus on the buyer’s side of the transaction. Because all too often buyers are not heart-based, not caring, not respectful buyers.
And, since Soft Sell Marketing is an evolutionary expansion, recognizing the buying-selling relationship as central to bringing consciousness into global commerce, it’s important to understand what it means to be Soft Sell Buyers! And to do that we must become more aware of how most people view their part of the sales relationship. Read More→
Paradigm Shift – Soft Sell Includes Marketer AND Customer
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Focusing on the Soft Sell paradigm shift, we’ve been writing a lot about Soft Sell marketers — conscious, heart-based, aware of their emerging sense of responsibility to their customers, as well as their responsibility to themselves in every transaction.
And we have been thinking about and articulating the principles and tactics of Soft Sell, relationship-based marketing.
But what about the Soft Sell end user— the customer? What responsibility do customers have in the Soft Sell paradigm? That’s what this post is all about. Read More→
Target Now Carries The Heart of Marketing
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Long gone are the days when people turned up their noses about the new chain store some referred to in a ersatz French pronunciation as “Tar-get”.
Now the Bull’s Eye — the logo for Target — often represents finding just what you want, at the price you want AND with the Soft Sell Marketing help you want right at Target.
And for us, it also represents Target’s online expansion into areas that they don’t specialize in their offline stores — like books — marketing books.
So we were delighted to see in a recent Google Alert for our most recent book title The Heart of Marketing — that Target now carries our #1 best seller The Heart of Marketing: Love Your Customers and They Will Love You Back (Morgan James Publishing, 2009) online!
What fun to see another new “wrinkle” in online marketing – reassuring us all that business online is continuing to expand and will continue to do so into the future – far beyond what we can imagine right now.
Take a look at http://budurl.com/thomtarget
Because It’s All in the Connection,
Judith & Jim
Guilt Free Marketing Is Good News for Online Marketing for Beginners
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Online marketing for beginners can be daunting. There’s a lot to learn.
But for most people wanting to learn online marketing, it’s not just the technology that’s an issue. It’s also the very issue of marketing and selling and doing it without guilt. Because most people coming online are service providers and they have no background in business. Instead, they are devoted to helping other people improve their lives.
So Soft Sell Marketing — in other words guilt-free marketing — goes hand-in-hand with online marketing for beginners. It’s a perfect union of values and ambition combined to nurture business growth for people who haven’t before even dabbled in the world of profit-and-loss, finance, or even paying commissions for referrals.
We’ve had so many coaches, healers, spiritual counselors, and even people like wedding consultants and home schooling curriculum experts tell us how guilty they feel when they have to even think about selling their services, much less confront the need to market what they do to get the word out there in order to grow their business online and off.
Charging for their services has usually been hard enough. And, as former psychotherapists we know that most service professionals under-value and under-charge for the transformative gifts they supply through their services to their clients. So add on to that what happens when they enter the realm of online marketing, for beginners it can be the equivalent of a moral nervous breakdown.
That’s why there’s been such a keen and growing interest in Soft Sell, Heart-based marketing, guilt-free marketing that is perfect for any spiritually-minded service provider or anyone else who wants to market from a position of spiritual integrity rather than just “get the money and run.”
A recommended resource about online marketing for beginners is our first book about Soft Sell Marketing – The Heart of Marketing.
Becasue It’s All in the Connection,
Judith & Jim
Hard Sell and Tyrannosaurus Rex
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Evolution is a very demanding task master. Either adapt to changing circumstances or follow in the footsteps of the Tyrannosaurus Rex – i.e. extinction.
The same process holds in every area of our lives. We either adapt and adopt or die — literally or effectively.
Evolution’s rule is now being felt in the area of Internet commerce.
—>>> Because customers have so much more access to information regarding the products they’re looking to purchase, and—>>> Because they can shop the worldwide Internet and have so many more outlets where they can buythe Internet has become a buyers-driven marketplace so that sellers have to be much more aware of the buyer’s needs.But it’s not just the buyer’s needs that have become prominent, but how the seller views the buyer and, as a result, how the seller treats the customer.Here’s what we mean. Read More→
