Nobody cares

I'm great at "discovering" new things many years after other people have found them. For example, not long ago I "discovered"  Green Day, a 90s punk band that reinvented themselves in the noughties (or whatever you call the last decade) to create a fabulous Grammy winning album, "American Idiot" that has rocketed into my list of top 10 albums.

What's that got to do with sales and marketing?

Not much, except a recurring theme in the album is "Nobody cares." And it's a vital lesson for anyone trying to sell or market anything - because it's true, nobody does care, at least not at first.

If prospects don't know who you are or don't think they have a need for what you sell they don't care one hoot. They don't care about you, your product or service, your people, your awards, your new office, the fact you won a new contract, your existing customers, your product specs, how experienced your people are .... nothing.

What do they care about? Themselves. And, just maybe, what you can do for them.

But what do the great majority of web sites, marketing emails, direct mails, brochures, sales calls and adverisements talk about? Usually all the things that your potential customers DON'T care about.

Don't get me wrong, if you can show a potential customer what's in it for them, and it is something they really want, then they will care. They'll care a lot. If they think you have something they want, only then  will they want to know "can I trust these people, are they kosher?"

That's when awards, customer references, product specs, white papers, testimonials, etc become important, to establish credibility - after you have shown them what's in it for them.

So, if your marketing collateral is trying to get someone's attention and make them care, don't talk about yourself, talk about your client, their problems, their needs, their desires. Then, once they are interested, establish credibility.

Remember, the thought process that you, your client and anyone else goes through when they buy something is more or less this;

What is it?
What does it do for me?
Do I need/want it?
How does it do it?
Is it good value?
Can I trust the person selling it to me?
Can I afford it?

If you can answer those questions, in that order, your sales and marketing collateral will be doing better than most. And unlike the Green Day song you won't be walking on the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."