but from a lack of personal excitement and enthusiasm about the product or service being sold .
“ Don ’ t allow yourself to get hung up on trying to be “ professional ” in your marketing . What most people say is “ professional ” marketing is B-O-R-I-N-G .” – Robin Robins
George romanced that stone by turning it into a diet program , demonstrating how the grill would “ knock out the fat ” and drain away the grease from meats he was cooking , helping him become a lean , mean , fighting machine . George also transformed himself into a very likeable character on set , using self-deprecating humor about his weight to win people over .
“ Romance ” Yourself First So , a couple of points to emphasize .
First , don ’ t allow yourself to get hung up on trying to be “ professional ” in your marketing . What most people say is “ professional ” marketing is B-O-R-I-N-G ( institutional ads , websites , and messaging that looks exactly like everyone else ). That ’ s NOT what you want . Advertising and marketing should stand out and be MEMORABLE . Anti-boring . It should elicit curiosity , build excitement , and tell a story . The reason our “ lumpy ” or “ object ” mail works is because it captures a person ’ s attention , making the follow-up marketing more effective .
“ Professional ” is also code for not bragging . Not sensationalizing . Not selling .
To be clear , I ’ m not suggesting you LIE . George didn ’ t lie about the grill removing some of the fat and making the food less caloric , but he did it in a way that was entertaining .
Second , and more to the point , YOU need to be romantically enamored by your own product or service , your company , and your customers . You can ’ t expect a product to sell itself based on its features and benefits or its useful nature . It ’ s not enough anymore . There is so much of everything in the world and so little true scarcity that simply selling features and benefits is inadequate to get the job done .
It ’ s up to the marketer and the salesperson to get people excited about something they might not already be excited about . That IS the job you ’ re getting paid to do .
Candidly , most ( if not all ) of the resistance to this approach stems not from a lack of creativity and salesmanship
It ’ s easy to get caught up in the mundane job of running your business . It ’ s ORDINARY to you because you do it every day and have been doing it for so long , it ’ s no longer new or exciting . You know all of its flaws and see all of its warts . Like a long marriage , it ’ s easy to slip in to the “ too familiar ” territory and forget why you found it exciting and interesting in the first place , taking it for granted and disrespecting the beauty of it .
This you must figure out . You have to figure out how to have enthusiasm and passion for your service and your work . You have to remain interested in and curious about your customers and serving them . You have to figure out how to sustain your passion when all hell is breaking loose and things are going sideways . This is YOUR job . If you can ’ t be excited about it , you can ’ t expect your employees and marketplace to be excited either .
In the End , We ’ re All Just Selling Stones
In my work , I ’ ve constantly been able to reignite my interest and passion by constantly growing and seeking new ideas and new strategies that I find fascinating . If you truly take an interest in your work , there ’ s always another level deeper in the most basic and fundamental things — onboarding a customer , solving a problem , handling a billing issue , and reducing friction and “ unwows ” in delivery .
I ’ m also fascinated with great marketing . I can ’ t read enough about it , see enough examples . I never tire talking about it , particularly with peers who have as deep a passion and excitement about it as I do , who can give me fresh perspectives . I also can ’ t look at a TV commercial or ad without instantly dissecting it , thinking about how I would make it better , how I would position it differently .
If you don ’ t have that much love and passion for your stone , you ’ re going to have productivity issues and a really , really hard time selling it to others .
Robin Robins is the IT industry ’ s most in-demand marketing consultant , sales trainer , and direct response marketing consultant who specializes in developing strategic marketing , sales and lead generation systems for MSPs , VARs and IT services companies .
Robin Robins is the CEO and Founder of TMT . TMT is the parent company of MSP Success .
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