Believability

Believability

 

“Do you think my Ford will pull that Mobile home?” The prospect asked Tommy Malone, the lot salesman on duty that night. Tommy nodded sadly, “I wish I could say it would sir, but I’d be lying to you if I did. You would have to have at least a 1 and ½ ton pick up to do that job.” “Well, what do you know about that the prospect turned to his wife and said, “Those other three salesman said we could do it.” – Robert Trailins

 

Here’s a story that Trailins used to demonstrate what I’ve come to call THE DAMAGING ADMISSION. Few products, services or offers are perfect and potential clients and prospects are adept at sniffing out the imperfections, so hiding them or ignoring them is usually a grievous mistake for a number of reasons.

 

I recently approached a bank who try and make us believe they are inspired, motivated and involved. My request was simple, I didn’t ask for a 2 million rand loan, I didn’t demand to speak with the boss, I didn’t demand any special treatment. I was told that my request was important to the bank and that I have a favourable answer by tomorrow- my knee jerk reaction was to say “You don’t have to let me know tomorrow, please let me know within a week. – That was over two months ago.

 

In advertising we walk a delicate line between telling too much truth vs not telling the truth. In between is telling the truth in the most appealing and positive way. I have decided that concealing a flaw in the proposition crosses the line into ‘not enough truth’ and while it may boost initial response, the gain will soon evaporate. – More returns, complaints, loss of customer retention, negative press etc. But beyond those considerations lies the most interesting ramifications of truth telling or disclosure of the flaw when selling: it can create greater believability and trust than ANYTHING else you do.

 

Credibility emphasizes years in business, heritage, number of customers served, that sort of thing. It used to matter. In financial services, for example, wealthy investors insisted on doing business with “old” firms. NOT SO TODAY. Today, it is possible for credibility to help your cause but not to, on its own, swing a consumer’s choice in your direction. Today, we are totally results driven and orientated. When you understand that today’s buyer is results obsessed, then you can grasp the distinction between credibility and believability. The consumer must believe you can deliver the results they want. It doesn’t matter to them whether you got into business last week or 100 years ago. Proving results becomes infinitely more important than proving or advertising anything else. 10 great testimonials beats 100 years of history hands down.

 

The late Gary Halbert once said “the answer to every problem in life is a great sales letter”-  Banks however should realise the fine line they cross with there advertising slogans. Some people may actually want them to deliver on their promises or take their business somewhere else

 

 

Detective Dave

Committed to multiplying your income

Mastermind Members Reminder

Do You Sell Crap?

Dan Sullivans definition of Selling is “get people to intellectually engage about a future result that will be good for them. Then get them to emotionally commit to take action to achieve that result.” As marketers our job is to establish trust.  All human beings are walking around the world with the question “who can I trust in their minds” Report is trust with comfort  here are some elegant ideas from Gary Halbert  “Become a high integrity marketer . This means don’t sell crap like so many companies do. Create tremendous value and sell products and services that work. Knowledge without action is useless. Apply the knowledge you learn. In order to sell you must have a product or service, a sales pitch and a delivery system

Be warned: The The Rule of 72 Will Halve Your Money!

What is rule of 72? – Let me quickly explain – “If the inflation rate is 8% (do not use the current inflation rate, use the 20 year moving average which is 8%) you divide 72 by 8 = 9 In other words it is going to take approximately 9 years to half your money in terms of real buying power or within 9 years  you must double your money to keep up with an inflation of 8%  It is therefore imperative for the long-term investor to make sure his portfolio is properly structured to accommodate this phenomenon.

Lost Opportunities

Isn’t it amazing the people in the so called powerful seats of SA rugby manage to spoil a party just as it’s about to get going. Surely SA rugby committee has at least ONE brain between the 21 of them and would be able to see the value rugby could bring to SA if only their pea size brains could see a little further than their own pockets and serve preserving and serving attitudes

 

Will the next couple of years be regarded as the wasted years rather than the years when sport bought together a nation, reconciled political differences empowered the masses with rugby fields, facilities, coaches and hope. Surely One of the buffoons on the board could see beyond his own agenda and use the opportunity our world cup winning champions gave us to initiate change for the betterment of all in SA. Politicians and SA rugby could have used the euphoria to start community project initiatives with sport and rugby being the bonding power.

 

Hoskins has nothing useful to say about how his inept board are going to use the euphoria to transform rugby into a truly non racial sport, he says nothing about the plan to use the Springbok emblem and making it a brand worth millions. His only comment is to bring up some lame old history defending his cronies decision to summon a coach who is on a tour to appear before the board and “explain himself” Hoskins then who goes on to state “The truth is Jake managed to annoy and alienate some very powerful men in SA rugby.” Yes there is a business lesson here.

 

Lets see how powerful they actually are:  Their enormous pay cheques, their first class travel and hotels, their ability to hob nob with the who is who of powerful business is directly proportional and related to the results displayed by the manager, squad and 15 men on the field at any given time. The Value of brand “SA Rugby” AKA Springboks is determined by the results of the team. It has absolutely nothing to do with sitting in a board room waiting for phone to ring of some powerful company like SASOL and naming the price for the enquiring company to have their name emblazoned across the Springbok shirt. How hard do you think it is right now to get sponsorship for the boks? Sorry correction how hard was it the day before Jake was given the red card?  We must be the laughing stock of all English, Australian and NZ supporters, as soon as we get a winning formula we have some idiots Fix what’s not broken.

 

They say Jake Alienated the board and they can’t work with him, see the problem is that Jake doesn’t need to change, he brings pride, commitment and most of all results and a winning formula. It will be a fine day in SA history when politicians and sporting bodies realise we, the people are not here to serve you. The object is that you, serve the will of the people.

 

We want results that we can be proud of regardless of the colour of the person who wears our jerseys. Remember the reason why these buffoons of SA rugby have the opportunity to sit in five star hotels drinking French Cognac and brandy in Paris at the world cup final is because of the coach and teams performance. It has nothing to do with the administrators’ skills, I far as I can see their only influence on the team to date has been negative. Its funny how SA soccer players are allowed to play anywhere in the world, yet as rugby player as soon as you want to earn a living elsewhere you suddenly can’t represent your country Hoskins even has the audacity to infer the board won the world cup in one of our daily newspapers.

 

If they can’t work with a world cup winning coach is it obviously because they want to be in control and meddle in things that should be left to the discretion of the coach. Clive Woodward wins the world cup for England and is immediately knighted by the Queen. We win the world cup and the winning coach is set out to greener pasture without so much as a thank you.

 

Surely any coach who has been away from his family for 2 months, has had his idiot employers looking for reasons to “axe” him, has been under incredible pressure to produce results for the nation, has had to build a winning team and has done so, should be allowed to take two weeks to consider his future. Surely he should be given a golden handshake and the job no matter what his price or demands are. If we can spend 21 million on a football coach who has never won a world cup. Surely Jake is worth the same price? SA rugby’s only foresight is to prepare a shortlist because who in their right mind is dumb enough to put up with their incompetence and shit anymore?

 

Here’s the business lesson when you deliver on your promises, when you produce results, when you have dogged determination in spite of criticism to succeed, when you have a plan, belief and faith in your ability you have a whole bunch of people standing at the bottom of a mountain crawling their way to you standing at the top. Most people see the VALUE you produce.

 

Yet on the other hand SA Rugby board who are paid their huge salaries by the masses who attend games, whose bonuses are determined by the amount of sponsorship collected, determined by the value of the brand,  determined by the results produced by the coach and players determine that it is in the best interest of SA Rugby to “push out” the only coach: who has managed bring us closer as a nation in spite of answering to a bunch of self serving buffoons who have managed to render NO VALUE to the masses whatsoever in the 12 years since the rugby boys last gave SA this incredible nation building opportunity .

 

A marketing coup for Sasol and a way to  make politicians and administrators understand they serve the people, and not the other way around, would  be to run a “census” at their petrol stations giving away R5.00 worth of free petrol to every citizen who fills out a survey asking a simple question “Who would you rather have serving SA rugby Jake White or the SA Rugby Board?”

 

 

Detective Dave

Committed to multiplying your income!