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They don't want an expert...

by ewenmack
13 replies
Yeah I know I'm an annoying pest.

First you've been told to be an expert at
something so you can be the only logical choice
to a highly likely buyer.

Problem is, you still got to bridge the gap
from what's in your head to what's in your
buyers head.

Here's a fill in the blank formula to keep you on track

1 Name the person you are calling out.

Say you are an audiologist and sell hearing aids.

Ask yourself who most need hearing aids.

It would be those older than 65.

Take it a step further and ask what else you know about this person.

Well we know women complain men go deaf to women when
it comes doing certain things around the home.

So the headline calls out to this woman.

It would say...

To The 65 And Over Woman Who's Husband
has Gone Hard Of Hearing

Here's what we've done, the right person knows just enough to stop
and find out more about this. And that's all that's needed at this first step.

Imagine if you're in crowd, are tall, bald and wear glasses.

Over the din of noise you hear a voice say...

"Hey you, that tall bald guy with glasses, I want to talk with you".

You couldn't but stop and be drawn to the voice.

And so is it's the same with your ad.

Next step is...

2 What he gets.
This part gets to the point of what you are offering
for this highly likely buyer.

It's about him, not about you.

Start with the word get.

Plain as it is, but it's hard to go wrong.

For the hearing aid example we would use...

Get Your Husband A Free Hearing Test.

Nothing promised or claimed or hype.

This part is just about what they get
nothing more.

The final step...

3 Reason why. This part is to answer the readers question,
"why?". Why should he get...

This is where you start with the word "so".

So Your Husband Will Never Have An Excuse
From Not Hearing You Again!

Now we are talking her language.

Now she thinks you've been eavesdropping in
her one sided conversation.

Now she thinks you are a great help for bringing this
to her attention.

Sometimes you have to add more to drive home the benefit.

"Therefore" and "which means" are great starter workhorses
to guide you in making the benefit clearer.

So this little ad writing formula again is...

Call out the person you are after...

Start with "Get" so the offer is all about them...

Finish with the benefit part with the word "so".

This fill in the blanks formula is especially suited to
where you are limited by space.

And here is the short ad opening for the audiologist selling hearing aids...

------------------------------------------
To The 65 And Over Woman Who's Husband
has Gone Hard Of Hearing

Get Your Husband A Free Hearing Test

So Your Husband Will Never Have An Excuse
From Not Hearing You Again!
------------------------------------------

Best,
Ewen
#expertso
  • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
    Good content Ewen as usual

    So do you think these ads should only seek to sell to those who are already 'sold' and are just looking for whom to spend the money with ie your targeted headline it either resonates with the reader or it most certainly wont.
    How about the ads when it's promoting newer things, things people maybe aren't aware of, aren't aware that they need or could benefit from, new products, new services (at least to the reader) .

    I mean if I am flicking through a publication the headline of an needs to hit me for me to read the content, but lets say for example I don't know I'm diabetic ( I'm not or at least I don't know I am!) but I have just had a couple of fainting issues or whatever happens to diabetics when they first contract it, obviously the ad headline to make me stop would be something about just started fainting but that may not resonate with the majority of the target market as they've gone through that phase or have learned to deal/ eradicate it by diet etc , so what then when education is also needed.

    The above might not be a brilliant example but its early here !

    Genuine question as many business owners don't know/realise what they are leaving on the table by not better utilising many of the marketing strategies and it needs more than making a profit, increasing sales/ conversions approach as everyone does that whether they offer basic websites or fully integrated cross platform specifically targeted marketing solutions
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    Mike

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    • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
      Originally Posted by mjbmedia View Post

      Good content Ewen as usual

      So do you think these ads should only seek to sell to those who are already 'sold' and are just looking for whom to spend the money with ie your targeted headline it either resonates with the reader or it most certainly wont.
      How about the ads when it's promoting newer things, things people maybe aren't aware of, aren't aware that they need or could benefit from, new products, new services (at least to the reader) .

      I mean if I am flicking through a publication the headline of an needs to hit me for me to read the content, but lets say for example I don't know I'm diabetic ( I'm not or at least I don't know I am!) but I have just had a couple of fainting issues or whatever happens to diabetics when they first contract it, obviously the ad headline to make me stop would be something about just started fainting but that may not resonate with the majority of the target market as they've gone through that phase or have learned to deal/ eradicate it by diet etc , so what then when education is also needed.

      The above might not be a brilliant example but its early here !

      Genuine question as many business owners don't know/realise what they are leaving on the table by not better utilising many of the marketing strategies and it needs more than making a profit, increasing sales/ conversions approach as everyone does that whether they offer basic websites or fully integrated cross platform specifically targeted marketing solutions
      Great questions Mike!

      Now we are getting sophisticated in the approach by nature of those questions.

      If we peel it back to the initial question,
      "who", then we can decide which group we would
      like to target.

      As in those that are fully aware of the problem, product, service.

      An example can be computer repair.

      Going after those who have their computers gone down
      is one group.

      The next group that may slightly be aware they have a problem
      with their computer running slower than what it used to be.

      This can be a warning sign it's about to crash.

      It's not if, but when.

      There is no reason not to target both groups, but not in the same ad.

      Which brings us back to being relevant to the reader.

      It's Google's catch phrase.

      Say you have a spa chemical company.

      And now the nights are getting cooler.

      Timing is right to talk about getting the spa
      right for relaxing
      after a hard day at work.

      No mention of the chemical being the best, it's ingredients
      or made by a company with high ethics.

      See a expert would gravitate to those last things.

      Doesn't bridge the gap to being useful.

      Best,
      Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author Matthew North
    I don't see how credibility or being seen as an expert ties in with this post at all.

    Or how what you've shown refutes the trust-based selling paradigm that has been introduced over the last twenty or so years. Care to explain?
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    • Profile picture of the author mjbmedia
      Originally Posted by Matthew North View Post

      I don't see how credibility or being seen as an expert ties in with this post at all.

      Or how what you've shown refutes the trust-based selling paradigm that has been introduced over the last twenty or so years. Care to explain?
      to me being an expert may resonate more in a B2B scenario, but what Ewen is saying, or at least what I got from it, is that people normally aren't looking for experts , they are looking for unique ideally or at least apparently tailor made solutions to their specific issues.

      If you are running a marathon and you get cramp are you looking for an expert on muscle fatigue or just someone who can push your leg and help alleviate the immediate suffering.
      Now if you are a business and you need something special done then you may well seek an expert but you may also respond to a non expert whose approach totally resonates with who you are and where you are/want to be
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      Mike

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      • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
        Typically an expert cannot communicate
        in layman's terms the benefits of what he offers.

        A clue is starting with talk about him
        instead of the reader.

        If there is an attempt to show the benefits it can
        often come across as self serving, unbelievable and hype.

        So I wanted to lay out a plan to keep
        people on track to run on.

        Especially beneficially when one has limited
        space to work with.

        Best,
        Ewen
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        • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
          Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

          Typically an expert cannot communicate
          in layman's terms the benefits of what he offers.

          A clue is starting with talk about him
          instead of the reader.

          If there is an attempt to show the benefits it can
          often come across as self serving, unbelievable and hype.

          So I wanted to lay out a plan to keep
          people on track to run on.

          Especially beneficially when one has limited
          space to work with.

          Best,
          Ewen
          I can say from my own experience this is true in the IT world. The experts have what is called "the curse of knowledge", meaning that they know what they know and assume that everyone else on the planet should know it too. But business owners and department managers do not know the technical things the IT experts do.

          One reason I was brought in by an IT firm for a bizdev manager job was to bridge the gap. The company owner and lead tech people were aware they had the curse of knowledge, and they needed someone from "outside" to explain to business people what their products & services did...in business terms. I wrote a lot of white papers and had many conversations. Just because a certain product would improve a client's speed or security or costs in an obvious way to the IT experts didn't mean that it was obvious to the business people at all.

          So in a practical example, you could put an ad up with a headline like "Improve Your Network Speed By 60%!" and the response from the executives would be to ignore it. Only the tech person would care. The business-minded exec wouldn't think that way. But tell them "This Product Will Block Your Employees From Surfing Facebook During Business Hours" and now we have their attention. A lot of them knew this was happening and that it was a huge time and productivity waster. The product might do both things (and more), but the executives only cared about the one benefit, which was the one they could see. See the difference?
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        • Profile picture of the author shane_k
          Good post!

          Originally Posted by ewenmack View Post

          Typically an expert cannot communicate
          in layman's terms the benefits of what he offers.
          If this is the case then maybe a thread title along the lines of "How to communicate so your prospect/customer understands you" or "Why talking like an expert can lose you sales" might have been a better choice.

          Personally I don't believe you need to be an expert in what you offer as long as you hire people who are experts to get the job done. But that is another thread altogether.
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          • Profile picture of the author ewenmack
            Originally Posted by shane_k View Post

            Good post!

            If this is the case then maybe a thread title along the lines of "How to communicate so your prospect/customer understands you" or "Why talking like an expert can lose you sales" might have been a .
            Shane what I did was use a pattern interupt.

            Another words went against a common held view point
            to grab attention.

            Not for attention by itself.

            It has to have a connection to
            the point we are wanting to make.

            See the distinction and what I set out to do?

            Best,
            Ewen
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Good stuff, Ewen. I just hope my wife never sees an ad like that. Sometimes hearing deficiencies are, as they say, selective.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ron Lafuddy
    Ewen, big opportunity today for someone to develop a poly-
    carbon replacement for the old tin funnel that grandpa used
    to hold in his ear when he wanted to hear you. (flesh colored
    of course.) What do you think?

    Kidding aside, great example of targeting your audience and making
    it all about them. If there was room for it, perhaps a small story or the
    elements of a case study, that the target could relate to.
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  • Profile picture of the author Bayo
    Thank you for your post.

    It's very down-to-earth and shows one thing that quite a few people are allergic to accepting i.e. what we do is a real business that has to follow certain process steps.

    More posts like this that say it as it needs to be said are definitely welcome.
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  • Profile picture of the author misterme
    I'm reminded of an interview I heard on the radio recently on a science show with the Director of some NASA space probe that was in the news that week. So you'd expect the Director to be all facts and figures and complex explanations and jargon - but no! The guy knew how to speak to an audience. He spoke in every day terms a kid could understand, and it wasn't about tech stuff at all, at least, he wrapped it in a very enthusiastic child like wonder way.

    Like he was asked why taxpayers should spend so much money on repeat trips to the moon since we've already been there. And his answer (which I paraphrase here) was: "You know, we love our astronauts, don't we? And we don't want them to get hurt or die. They're our heroes! And some day, imagine! They're going to fly to Mars and tell us what it's like there. They're going to find things we don't know about and make discoveries.

    But we need to practice first before sending them so far away, because if something goes wrong on their flight to Mars, then they'll be too far away for us to rescue them. So if we test things out first by going to the moon a few times, and something goes wrong, they're close enough for us to send a team to rescue them."

    That didn't sound like an expert per se... but it did sound like someone who knows their stuff. And it was enthusiastic and it made you think, and wonder what discoveries could be made, and made you feel the little kid inside you.

    While selling the point.
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