“Good lies need a leavening of truth to make them palatable.” – William McIlvanney. Born Nov. 25, 1936.
People get upset when I compare marketers to liars. Or I talk about manipulation. And coercion.
Your hands are already dirty! Just own it! It's better!
But I digress.
Here is what you need to realize. Even IF you are telling the true truer truest truths in your marketing, the prospect still PRESUMES you are a damn dirty liar.
Until they buy and find out, your promises MIGHT be falsehoods from your prospect's point of view.
So it behooves you to understand how liars get people to believe them. Because until a sale is made and you deliver a win on the wager that prospect took in trusting you, your promises are vapor.
They are gambling until you prove you keep your promises after money changes hands. How can you make that gamble seem like a sure thing instead of a longshot?
You are identical to a fraud in their minds unless you convince them of two things:
1. They need to take a risk and buy – because the alternatives (including do nothing) are worse. You tell them this. You show them this. It becomes easier to believe, and less painful to contemplate.
2. That you will deliver on what you promised – because all he evidence is there that you can, and have before, and will again. Demonstrate it. Give real examples. This reduces their perception of risk.
But it's still a risk at first. Acknowledge this risk. Earn their trust with your first interaction, by daring them to try you, and satisfying their best expectations.
And that delivery literally sets the tone forever. All future interactions give you the benefit of the doubt based on that first performance.
After that, they DO trust you.
But before that, we use tricks. Same as con artists do. Third party testimonials. Endorsements. Credentials. Supporting data. Statistics. Anecdotes. Emotional manipulation. Fear agitation. Heartstring tugging.
We make our pitch palatable. If it was a lie, it would be a very believable one. It makes sense. The supporting details back it up. It FEELS like the truth. And so they believe.
So it turns out that even if you are a 100% ethical angel marketer, you will BENEFIT from learning how to con people into believing the true truths.
4 out of 5 dentists agree.
This is the number one product in this industry.
Billions of hamburgers can't be wrong.
Etc. Etc.