Soft Sell Marketing as a Spiritual Even Sacred Process

*****************************************************
Register now for Bridging Heart and Marketing —
the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.
*****************************************************

In our last post we said that “marketing your solution to a problem is a spiritual, even sacred process.” Here’s why.

Typically a marketing/sales transaction is thought of as dollars-given for a product-delivered. And that’s the way most people experience it. Why? Because our commercial culture has never looked at it any more deeply than that.

It’s a simple process. I give you a product, you give me money, end of story.

And most marketers don’t experience themselves as motivated by anything more than money.

But there’s more — so much more.

Let’s begin by assuming you are a customer. Given that:

Bring to mind a time when you had a problem you couldn’t solve and you had to look for help. It doesn’t matter whether the problem was serious — maybe even life threatening — or just an irritation you needed to alleviate.

When you found the solution and accepted it from the marketer, there were at least two levels of exchange.

Level One — You paid for it and took it into your life. A dollars-given for solution-rendered exchange.

That’s the external expression of the event, the physical one, the obvious one, the one everybody knows about, the one most marketers and consumers believe to be the sum total of what takes place.

And when your problem is minor — no consequences attached — most of what happens happens at the external level.

Say you need gasoline. You have the money. The gas station is nearby. You stop, fill up, pay, and leave. No big deal — unless, of course, the cost of the gasoline is more than you can comfortably afford — but you need the gas to get to work so you have to buy it. Then the picture changes, because the consequences are serious, maybe even severe.

As the gravity of the consequences that flow from your need increases so does the depth of the exchange.

Now let’s assume you are a marketer. Given that:

Level Two — 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.

Much of what’s done on the Internet focuses on helping people make more money. So we’ll use that as an example.

Someone needs more money and you say you can show them how to get it. What responsibility do you feel toward the hopes and dreams of those you call to make use of your solution? Most marketers would answer:

“Very little. I have no control over what people do.”

True. But you do have a responsibility for placing yourself out there as an attractor, a lure (in the best sense), a promise. You can’t get away from being the one who promised a solution. That’s where the depth comes in.

And let’s say your promise is real, your solution actually delivers what you promise so that more than mere hope is involved — your solution actually changes someone’s life. What’s the exchange about then?

That’s when it becomes spiritual, even sacred. Why? Because the person in need takes you, via your solution, into their lives. Not just physically, like the tank of gas, but emotionally — takes you inside, into their hope for something better, into their need to resolve the circumstances that brought them to you. That’s an internal experience, not so obvious but much more meaningful.

So when someone buys your money-making product and it works, their life is significantly altered for the better. Is that not sacred? Does that not become something of spirit?

And when that person gives you the money you ask for in exchange, is that not an act of gratitude? Their credit card payment sends far more than just “Thank You.”

Once we realized the depth involved in marketing and sales, marketing now carries a value far beyond anything we’d previously understood.

The recognition of marketing and sales as a spiritual and sacred process is the foundation for the conference we’re producing in February 2008 — Bridging Heart and Marketing — the first-ever soft sell Internet marketing conference.

So, if you’re a soft sell marketer who prefers a more inclusive, emotionally connected, business relationship with your prospects and customers — you’re invited to register for a free series of 10 tele-calls previewing our “Bridging Heart and Marketing” Internet conference that takes place February 22, 23, 24 at the Westin Los Angeles Airport. We’ll be sharing our spiritual approach and the soft sell wisdom of world-class Internet marketers. Just click on http://www.bridgingheartandmarketing.com — and join us.