Generalities Don’t Sell

Written By Ted Grigg

It seems strange to lead with such a headline. Yet some of my clients expect me to get sales results for them with platitudes.

-We are the biggest.
-Our quality exceeds that of our competitors.
-People will love working with us.
-We will save you money.
-Our products will increase their revenue.
-We give them superb ROIs.

The list goes on forever and the client’s prospects fall asleep. The client complains that they can’t set up appointments with executives or that they are missing their sales targets. I wonder why?

It feels like I am pulling teeth just to get the facts.

-Why are you the biggest? How does that benefit your customer?
-What evidence can you give me that your quality exceeds that of your customers?
-Why would customers love working with you? Have they written testimonials telling you this? Can I have them?
-What proof do you have that you can save customers money? Give me a case study or actual data demonstrating this.
-By how much do you increase revenue? Do you offer a performance contract?
-By how much do you increase customer ROI? Can you give me specific examples?

The client eventually comes up with some useful information complaining all along that their company does not compile this type of information! This statement sometimes comes from clients that are selling multi-million dollar contracts!

So the net of this is a new headline for advertising that works.

“Specifics Sell”

Ninety percent of the success of direct response advertising relies on specifics. Specifics generate more leads and sell more products.

I’m not talking just about product features, but translation of those features into benefits. State the problem you solve and then prove it with specific results you typically deliver. Use testimonials, research and case studies to make your case.

Have you run into this issue in the past? How do you go about persuading your company or client about the importance of collecting the facts before attempting to sell their products or services?  

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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