Telemarketing: quite possibly one of the dirtiest words in the advertising business. Telemarketers are notorious for calling at the worst possible moments. They do everything possible to keep you on the phone long enough to hear their pitch, hoping you will agree to receive some free information. Once you do, you are stuck: you are on their list and will receive junk mail and “friendly follow-up calls” for the rest of your life. This advertising tactic works through sheer aggression: wearing you down until you buy in hopes that they will leave you alone. However, this method is slowly losing its effectiveness.

With the volume of advertisements that bombard us every day, it is easy to tune them out. Consumers are becoming less tolerant of aggressive sales pitches, angrily hanging up on disruptive telemarketers, warning off door-to-door salesmen with Beware of Dog signs and turning to the Internet for shopping where there are no salesmen. Car dealerships, once nearly as notorious as telemarketers for hiring pushy representatives, now advertise they have “no pushy salesmen!” No-haggle pricing has become the mantra in many car lot advertisements. Today’s consumer does not want a salesman, he wants a partner to help him make an educated buying decision.

Non-aggressive Sales Pitches and Advertising

There are several casual dining chain restaurants that are catching on to the partnership method of making sales. The waiter talks to you like an old friend, kneeling next to your table or even sitting down while he takes your order. While he is at it, he lets slip that the special tonight is his favorite and he cannot wait for the end of his shift to get a Maui Wowie Super Bomb Blast. You do not know how it happens, but shortly after the waiter is done taking your order, you are eating the very expensive and fattening special instead of the salad with no dressing you intended to order. On top of that, you are drunk on Maui Wowie Super Bomb Blasts and you still are not sure what is in them.

If the waiter had tried to “suggestive sell” the specials to you at the beginning of the ordering process, you might have turned him down, annoyed that his sales pitch interrupted your visit with your old college buddy. So, what happened? Instead of hitting you over the head with his sales pitch, he befriended you, appointing himself your partner in menu item selection, and slipped in his pitch to seem more like a treasured secret than a sale.

Blogs are another form of advertising through building a partnership with potential clients. After reading your advice and learning to trust you through your blog, they will be more likely to turn to you when they need whatever service you sell, rather than going somewhere with an aggressive advertising pitch. They will feel like they know you and can trust you because they have gotten to know you on an entirely different level from advertising.

About the Author

Strategic Profits is a privately held company headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla. Strategic Profits exists to help business and entrepreneurs online and offline with business coaching advice and tools that they need to succeed in the Attention Age. Visit the corporate Web site www.strategicprofits.com for more information or leave your questions and/or comments on Rich Schefren's blog at www.strategicprofits.com/blog.  To download, the free report this article is referencing visit, http://www.strategicprofits.com/finalchapter/.

Author: Strategic Profits Total views: 5 Word Count: 499

Copy and Paste Article Code.

Remember: The article body, title, author bio and links may not be changed or removed. By publishing this article, you agree to all the terms in our Terms of Service.

Rating: Not yet rated
Login to vote

Comments

Add Comment

More articles in this Category