SubscribeEmotional Selling on Weightloss
This blog was written on April 13th, 2008
Companies that help consumers achieve ideal lifestyles have really taken advantage of emotional selling to compel consumers to use their products/services. Two categories I feel really take emotional selling to the next level (sometimes unethical) are Weight Loss and Match Making.
These categories are close to heart for most consumers and marketers realize this. To paint a better picture, I’ll use real life examples. This blog will focus on weight loss campaigns.
Media portrays happy people as being super model thin. A size 4 or 6 is no longer skinny and a size 2 is close but not good enough, but size 0 is healthy. Marketing campaigns for liposuction, weight loss programs, diets, gyms, any product/service that helps people look thinner/ lose weight will make people feel inferior and inadequate as a motivator to use the product/service advertised to get rid of this feeling. They give consumers hope that by trying this new diet, they will finally be happy and thin.
My real life example: I was at the Head to Toe Women’s Expo this weekend. A personal trainer at one of the booths told me he’d test my body fat. Being that I’m health concise, I figured why not? After he measured my body fat he categorized me. The first category was FIT. The second category was HEALTHY. The third category was AVERAGE. He told me I was AVERAGE! For goodness sakes! I work out 5+ times a week, eat (fairly) healthy, am a size 2 and according to this personal trainer who was trying to sell me on his service I’m AVERAGE and need some work to reach HEALTHY and FIT. For a second, he really made me feel inadequate and self conscious about my extremely healthy lifestyle! I started thinking of what I else I could do to reach this HEALTHY level. When consumers start thinking like this way, they will spend money on any product or service that many help the reach their ideal.
Talk about emotional selling! People just want to look good and feel good about themselves. People want to feel loved and accepted for their body image. When a company goes as fas as to make you believe you need to change something about your lifestyle, not just to be happy, but healthy, they really delve into your intrinsic desires. The result of this is usually a successful emotional marketing campaign because consumers will shell out the cash!
OH. You work in Sales…
This blog was written on March 26th, 2008
To begin my blogging career, I’d like to overcome an objective that often arises when I tell people I work in “sales”. I’ve noticed a slight disconnect if I use this word to describe my occupation. People have a tendency to tune me out, walk away, hang up, and even look down on me. It all goes back to the “car salesman” stigma. The Urban Dictionary defines a car salesman:
One of the shiftiest occupations a someone can take. Car salesman earn commission from whatever they sell and will lure, lie, mislead, con, deceive people into buying a car. This is especially true when it comes to used cars.
What people need to understand is that ultimately EVERYONE works in sales. Whether your title implies “sales” or not, if you own a business, are trying to make a living, are an ambitious entrepreneur, you are in sales. Your ultimate goal is to get consumers to buy your product, use your service, attend your event, get your employer to notice you, give you a raise etc. In order to do this, you must “sell”. Although I am a Marketer, I can only provide my service if I sell you the resources you’ll need to execute your marketing campaign.
I am selling a service that you want to buy so you can SELL your own service more effectively and grow your business. By buying my service which helps you grow your business, I am also growing my own (note the mutual goal).
Instead of viewing salespeople as the enemy, consider the fact that you too are in sales. In many cases, the seller has a resource or product that will be extremely valuable to help YOUR SALES.
