After more than a decade of selling and "being sold", I'm a bit tired. I mean, I like a good sales pitch as much as the next guy, but sometimes it's a bit ridiculous. Whether you're dealing face-to-face with a sales person, landing page, or brochure, the true Art is no knowing that you're being sold.

I mean, it's one thing to say, "buy now and receive a 10% discount" and it's entirely something different when someone understands you need, diagnoses your problem accurately and advises you on a solution that would alleviate your pain.

Many marketers have lost sight of this!

When you design your next marketing piece, I want you to ask the question, "Am I diagnosing a problem and recommending a solution?" If the answer is "no" then you're probably selling. Don't get me wrong, there's always a time and place for hard core selling but the process works much better for all involved if they're not "being sold."

I was given a great example of this during a course I recently took about solutions selling through direct sales and marketing approaches. The story goes something like this. You're out in Colorado on a ski trip and have a terrible fall. You try to get up but every time you put weight on your leg you feel excruciating pain. The medic comes and brings you down the slope to the infirmary. The doctor looks at you, your leg, and says, "We're going to have to operate"! You're freaked out and start asking a lot of questions but the doctor is unresponsive saying he's seen this dozens of times - "off to the operating room!" How do you feel? Compare this to a different doctor, same scenario.

This time, you go to the infirmary and the doctor says, "Hi, I'm doctor so and so, what's your name?" You reply. Then the doctor says, "Tell me what happened?" You give him a full account and he recommends some x-rays and explains, "I think the best course of action is to take some x-rays and see exactly what we're dealing with." In no time the x-rays come back and he says, "It looks like you've broken your leg, here are your options... I recommend we operate and that will fix the problem." How are you feeling?

I don't know about you but I not only trust the second doctor, but I believe that surgery is the right course of action (confident in the buying decision) and would probably use this doctor again - if I'm feeling better after the surgery.

A long post today, but I want you to be thinking about how you market, sell, and meet the needs of your customers! Be genuine.. it goes a long way in building a customers base and remaining profitable.