I hate liars and I’d be willing to bet you do too.
So why, oh why is this “marketing guru” lying in his latest newsletter?
This guy has done almost EVERYTHING right. He’s listed high on Google for some GREAT keywords. He has the word “marketing” in his domain name and he appears to have some GREAT products. (The only recommendation I would make if he were my client is that he put in place an affiliate program.) He’s got a compelling offer and you have to sign up for his newsletter to get a report that sounds like it has REAL value.
Actually, that was the first “oops” in the process. When I got his “free, valuable white paper” it was nothing but a long sales pitch for his many ebook products. However, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and continued to open his newsletters, hoping to see something of value there.
See, an email newsletter is a GREAT tool for ANY online business person to use. It’s conventional wisdom that it takes 8 “touches” before a customer will make a purchase from you. That’s the whole POINT behind the whole e-mail newsletter system. A visitor comes to your web site, subscribes to your newsletter and then begins reading what you have to say on your topic of expertise. After reading your pithy and pertinent newsletters for a few days or weeks or months, finally you will have built up enough TRUST with them to have earned their business and they’ll follow the link to your product and buy, buy, buy. It’s a delicate process.
Julie Andrews sings..”Getting to know you… getting to know all about you….”
So why, oh why, would you open your first SIX contacts (a.k.a. newsletters) with a lie?
The offending practioner opens each of his email newsletters with the following:
“Have you read my latest resource? Just a reminder in case you haven’t read it yet. It’s only online for two more days.”
The thing is, this is how he’s started the last SIX emails with that exact same sentence. It’s the same link and it never expires. I just visited it now, a full 10 days after he sent it and it still works!
Maybe it’s a man thing. I mean, one of my favorite comedians is Bill Engvall and he has a bit where his wife catches him lying about smoking. In her way of thinking, if he would lie about something so insignificant as smoking, then how can she trust him on the bigger issues such as marital infidelity?
During Bill’s bit, he reacts in disbelief. How did his wife get from smoking to infidelity? “Evil Kneivel couldn’t make that leap.”
So maybe it’s just a woman thing, but when someone who is trying to sell me something lies to me about how long a link will be live, I begin to doubt whether I can trust him with my financial information. Gee, maybe it’s best that I used my hotmail address to sign up for his stuff. Maybe with that lie, he’s just earned himself a place in the JUNK mail folder.
Guys, you should know that as my 19 year old daughter and I watched Bill’s skit, we both looked at each other and said, “Yeah. I can see the connection. If you’d lie about little things, you’d lie about big things.” After all, character is what you do when you think no one can see you.
It maybe it’s just that I’m a “girl,” but I don’t think it’s a huge leap to worry about whether this guy will charge my credit card for purchases I’ve never made based on the fact that I can’t trust him to tell me the truth about how long a link will be live!
The devil is truly in the details. In sales, the marketing guru’s closing technique is referred to as “The Impending Doom Close.” It’s really old school and if you want to see it in action, visit just about any used car lot in the area and try to walk away without making a purchase.
“I had a young couple looking at that VERY car this morning.”
“That one is going to the sale tomorrow, so if you want it you’d better get it now.”
The problem is, when you drive by the car lot a week or two later and still see the car sitting on the lot, if you didn’t know it when the line was being applied you do now… you can’t trust that dirty slimy rat’s word! If you can’t trust his word, how can you trust him with your money?
Make sure you let your potential customers know that they can INDEED trust you with not only their time, but also their money!
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