EMPATHY MARKETING: WHAT YOU'VE GOT TO USE IF YOU REALLY WANT
TO SELL MORE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS AND RETAIN THEIR BUSINESS
by Dr. Jeffrey Lant
When I started my Sales & Marketing Success Card Deck a few
years ago I labored under the blissful delusion that all I
had to do to make my business a success was to:
## get quality response lists;
## print superior looking cards, and
## get the deck out on time.
Given the additional fact that I was (and still am) charging
the lowest rates in the entire industry, I thought that
would be sufficient.
Oh, baby, how wrong I was!
I've since learned that what I really had to do was all the
above and...
## tell my customers how to create cards that would draw
higher responses;
## give them guidelines on how to produce response packages
that would enable them to close more of their leads;
## screen their leads on the phone so that they'd only be
dealing with better quality prospects, not flatworms, and
## become telephone closing whizzes.
In short, I discovered that my job wasn't about producing a
superior card deck (important though that it): it was about
helping my advertisers close more of the leads I was able to
generate for them.
On the basis of this insight, my card deck prospered. As you
know, the last few years haven't exactly been boom times in
American business; the advertising sector has been
particularly badly hit. As an advertising sub-section, card
decks have taken a real walloping. The industry is about 50%
smaller now than when I entered it. How have I fared? Well,
my deck now publishes about 94 cards per issue... and is one
of the two largest in the entire country. Why? Because I
took the time to learn my lesson about the business I was
really in. Empathetic marketing, by forcing me to learn what
would really make my business grow, saved my b ---.
Unfortunately, LOTS of other business people just haven't
figured that out yet, with predictable results.
I'm thinking, for instance, of the president of a network
marketing company I know. The guy thinks he's a world-class
marketer and has no hesitation bragging about his prowess in
this department. What's his job? Recruiting people into his
MLM, keeping them there, and selling product. From all three
activities he derives his income.
Every month our marketing guru puts out a 20-30 page
publication that goes to all his members. Sadly, because the
guy doesn't have a clue about empathetic marketing, it's
virtually a complete bust with the bulk of the pages going
for the same advertisements he runs every month for his own
products.
Now consider for a moment where he draws he income: from
recruiting new members, from retaining old members, and from
these members selling his products. Common sense, if nothing
else, suggests that departments of the magazine should be
devoted to providing crucial details on how these three
objectives could be obtained. What about the following, for
instance:
## specific lead generation advice... how to use direct
mail, space ads, card decks, and more to get leads;
## lead closing advice... including specific suggestions on
how to close by mail, in person, on the telephone;
## guidelines on how to produce and use effective client-
centered marketing communications... what needs to happen so
that all letters, flyers, brochures, deck cards, space ads,
etc. work?
Get the picture?
By the same token, detailed information needs to be included
about how to keep people in your MLM organization.
## how do you work with them;
## what kind of specific advice do you give;
## how can you structure inexpensive sales contests and what
kinds of prizes can you provide to stimulate enhanced
recruitment?
And what about this?
## specific guidelines on how to more effectively and
quickly sell each product produced by the company?
## how to sell products via direct mail, by telephone, in
person, etc.
In other words, the network marketing president (who
constantly preens himself on just how smart he is about his
subject) should be running a company that's focused on
helping his members make money. But what do you get instead?
## monthly pictures of the MLM president -- the president
walking his dog, the president walking along a beach with
his wife; the president with his children. God help me, is
the man an ego-maniac, or what?
## page after page of basic descriptions of the products he
offers... the same pages he printed last month, the same
pages he'll print the month after;
## sappy little columns about how to handle the investments
that'll be necessary with all the new money he's helping you
make!
BUT NOT A SPECIFIC WORD DESIGNED TO HELP MAKE THAT MONEY.
This man, of course, knows nothing about marketing except
the word itself. He knows nothing about the needs and wants
of the members of his organization, despite his
protestations. And he certainly knows nothing about running
a company in the fiercely competitive period in which we'll
be for the remainder of our lives.
What's sad, however, is that this benighted creature is in
no way exceptional. His blinkered selfishness and self-
defeating behavior is the rule for those who haven't yet
discovered empathy marketing and rigorously implemented it
in their business lives.
You don't want to be like this, though, do you? That's why
you're going to follow these sensible suggestions...
#1 Understand Your Real Business
As I confessed to you, when I started in the card-deck
business, I wrongly thought that putting out a good deck was
all there was to my business; I came to this conclusion
easily, not least because all the other publishers in my
industry firmly held to the same (stupid) idea. But then I
wised up... when I started thinking about my real
business... the fact that I had to help my advertisers
achieve their true objectives (which wasn't just getting
leads but making sales) or else I could never achieve mine.
Now it's time for you to do the same...
Say you're a copywriter. Your business isn't just supplying
marketing communications. It's helping your clients make
sales by using the improved marketing communications you
create. Do you think your job is finished when you hand over
the paperwork? Or do you go that extra step further than
will help ensure your clients' enhanced success?
Or say you're a marmalade manufacturer like the R W Scott
company. Your job isn't just to deliver a tasty marmalade...
but to tell all your buyers how to use it. Yet the jar I'm
holding in my hand right now leaves all the idea making to
the consumer, who presumably knows a whole lot less about
marmalade than the company that produces the product every
single day.
Or take our poor network marketing executive. His business
is helping make his members (and therefore himself) richer.
His business is not just turning out a magazine... or
producing products... or running an expensive lead-
generating service. It's showing his members how to use
these things -- really use them -- and so benefit.
#2 Get Over Yourself: Get Into Your Prospects/Customers
Empathy means shifting the center of your operations from
your own selfish carcass to the all-important "other guy,"
your prospect, your customer. It means dropping the pictures
of yourself and your dog, dropping the focus on your
features, amputating everything that's about you... unless
and until you have done everything you can for the benefit
of the customer.
My competitors in the card-deck business, for instance, all
think they're swell guys. Without missing a beat, they'll
tell you just how wonderful they are... how many years
they've been in business, how many sales reps they've got...
even how many telephones they use in their boiler rooms.
Gentle reader, WHO CARES!
This kind of focus is wrong, not just because it's selfish
(which is bad enough), but because it stifles business. Your
business is now and will always be about your prospects and
customers. It is not and will never be about you. Thus, the
minute that you adopt empathy marketing as your standard,
you'll notice a salutary transformation of your business;
you'll notice that your business picks up and that people
are more interested in what you've got and how you can help
them. OF COURSE! The reason is obvious: you're no longer
about you... you're about them.
#3 Brainstorm What Your Prospects/Customers Need From You To
Achieve Their Wants
Around here I spent a lot of time brainstorming what my
prospects need to become customers... what my customers need
to stay customers. I prod myself continually to come up with
ideas that will assist them... and them push myself to
implement them. I'm going to tell you: this pushing, this
implementation which means extra work, are by no means a
total joy. When you do this, you're going to add to your
responsibilities, increase the amount of work you do. Let me
give you just one illustration.
As all the world knows, I'm now top sales person for a
network marketing company, Personal Wealth Systems, Inc.
While working this opportunity it became obvious to me that
lots of the people I recruited needed telemarketing
assistance because they either hated making prospect calls
or were lousy when they made them. I didn't particularly
want to get in the telemarketing business but to achieve my
objectives (easier prospect recruitment; more success after
recruitment) it became necessary to add this service.
Equally, it became obvious to me that it was necessary to
provide my recruits at regular intervals thoughtful
commentary on key issues they were facing in developing
their organizations, issues like:
## how to generate more qualified leads;
## where to place space ads and card-deck ads;
## how to use the telephone more effectively to close more
prospects, etc.
I could, of course, have let all these people figure all
this out for themselves: every MLM company in the country
seems to feel that that's the way to run a business. But I
know (and now you know) that this isn't the way to run a
SUCCESSFUL business. Hence, I became a newsletter
proprietor, putting out a 6-8 page newsletter every 30 days
for the members of my organization. In short, I realized
that if I was going to get what I wanted (enhanced income
from these sales people), I was going to have to extend
myself, brainstorm new ways of meeting their wants and
needs... and implementing them.
#4 Don't Wait For Others To Do What You Know Needs To Be
Done
To my intense chagrin and disappointment, the more I deal
with American business people the more I realize we have
become a nation of slugs. Even where people know what needs
to be done to assist their prospects and customers (the
first great insight), they don't bother to take the
initiative to do it. Oh, they give lots of "reasons" why
they can't act, including:
## I'm too busy;
## I don't have the authority;
## I don't have the money;
## I don't know what to do, etc., etc., etc.
Let me tell you something: only the weak, sniveling,
uninspired, downright lazy, and pathologically self-
destructive use these excuses. Sadly, that constitutes the
substantial majority of American executives. But not, I
trust, you.
You and I both know that if the deed's to be done, we're the one.
## Instead of complaining about how busy we are, we assess
our schedule and see what we can lop off. Truly, I'm the
busiest person I know, but I pride myself (as you must pride
yourself) on never uttering the vapid sentiment that we're
busy. To be in business in late 20th century America means
we're busy... but it also means we must become expert in
jettisoning unessential tasks, in pruning, delegating, and
just plain letting them pile up undone... in favor of
everything that's going to turn more prospects into
customers and keep more customers buying longer.
## Instead of taking pride in how powerless we are (which
is, after all, the true human condition for virtually
everyone), assume responsibility. No one is going to flog
you if you bring in more business; no one's going to berate
you for keeping more customers and getting them to buy more.
And, if they do, it's time you were out of that cave anyway.
Go ahead people like you will always find your way.
## Instead of bemoaning your lack of money, assess all your
assets. Businesses, for instance, have lots of assets
besides money, including: stock, equipment, data bases of
names, personnel. How can you reshuffle your deck to produce
the desired results? Note: my network marketing exec
constantly complains about how busy he is, yet I know for a
certain fact he's off on vacation over four weeks a year and
leaves his office at 5 p.m. on the dot, often earlier. Thus,
he makes it perfectly plain that his own wants are far
superior to those of his customers and dealers. Do the exact
opposite from what he does and you're well on your to more
success!
## Instead of complaining that you don't know what to do,
learn. I don't know about you, but I didn't come into this
universe as an expert in marketing; I wasn't born knowing
how to close people on the telephone, or publish a card
deck, or produce a newsletter. I learned. People are
constantly saying to me, "Of course, it's easy for you to do
these things..." That's rubbish. It's easy because I took my
brains and my time and sat myself down and learned. I bugged
experts to gather details. I burned the midnight oil. While
the grasshoppers cavorted, this ant sweated the all-
important details. If it's easy for me now, I put in almost
a half century of hard work to get to this point.
#5 Implement Your New Client-Centered Procedures ASAP
The difference between people who are going to succeed with
empathy marketing and those who aren't lies in a single
phrase: DO IT NOW!
Once you discover that something you're doing is not client-
centered, the appropriate moment to end it is NOW. Not
tomorrow, six weeks from now or at the vernal equinox. NOW!
## Is your telephone answering machine message about you
instead of about your prospects/clients? Redo it NOW!
## Is your basic brochure about you, your products, your
services... instead of about all the benefits you can
deliver to prospects? Change it NOW!
## Do you go home every night leaving a ton of phone
messages unanswered, a lot of people hanging because they
needed to hear from you today, but you were just too damned
arrogant or disorganized to get to them? Call them NOW!
See what I mean? One major reason I'm a millionaire is
because my client-centered focus is absolute, total.
Now take a guy like reputed network marketing authority Kent
Ponder. He called me recently about doing a joint-deal. He
asked for materials by overnight delivery and told me he'd
have a decision by a precise date. I did what he wanted. He
didn't. Thus, when he didn't get back to me as scheduled, I
contacted him. Instead of coming up with an answer, he went
through the all-too-familiar American business litany: he
was busy, had people to see, places to go, etc. In short,
flatulence. What's more, instead of offering either 1) a
precise time when he'd be ready to talk turkey, he 2)
lambasted me for following up in a professional way. It's a
typical flatworm tactic the disorganized habitually use to
cover themselves: blame the organized one!
Folks, I don't know about you, but I don't take this
nonsense... and neither should you. I made it clear to the
creep that I'm a client-centered guy and as such I like to
deal with other client-centered people. I don't offer
excuses... and I don't want to hear any either. Net result:
Ponder sent me one ponderous fax after another each one
telling me in ever more ludicrous ways that he was a person
of consequence (why, to impress me, he even provided a list
of the square footage of all the office spaces he'd occupied
in his life... as well as the coveted list of the people
he'd had dinner with in the last 20 years: I kid you not)!
However, he never did get around to providing the details he
said he'd have to me within two weeks. Obviously, proving to
me just how important he was was far more important than
behaving in a client-centered fashion, that either doing
what was necessary to meet my objectives... and, I must
stress, get himself the business.
Sadly, that is not only the bloated Ponder's problem, it
epitomizes much of American business. But not you. You know
now that when you discover that your business is not living
by empathy marketing, you're going to change things -- fast.
Unlike Ponder, you're not going to defend the futile status
quo; you're going to move like lightning in the direction of
total empathy marketing. If someone takes the time to make a
suggestion about how to improve things, you're going to
listen. Not, like my network marketing exec, defend the
indefensible. In short, you're going to do the most
important thing any adult human can do: you're going to
grow... and you're going to improve by learning.
Conclusion
Empathy marketing isn't just a series of procedures you can
learn by rote and implement like a robot. Far more
important, it's a state of mind. It starts from the
proposition that your success is predicated on the success
of others; that your business will prosper to the extent
that you empathetically enter into the lives of your
prospects and clients, understand what they want and need,
and extend yourself to provide it. It advances the
proposition that your importance is a reflection of how
others see you, not how you see yourself. And that you will
grow in stature as you grow both in understanding the wants
and needs of your prospects and customers and doing what is
necessary to cater to them. Is this what you do now? Or do
you, like Kent Ponder and so many other so-called business
"authorities", feel you're done your bit merely by telling
everyone what a grand expert you are... instead of extending
yourself each day to your prospects and customers to prove
it?
Ponder defended his ego... and lost the contract.
What are you going to do?
*****************************************
Dr. Jeffrey Lant is a hands-on marketer with one objective:
showing you how to sell more of your products and services
now. Profit from what he knows through books like MONEY
MAKING MARKETING: FINDING THE PEOPLE WHO NEED WHAT YOU'RE
SELLING AND MAKING SURE THEY BUY IT (285 pages, $39.50);
CASH COPY: HOW TO OFFER YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES SO YOUR
PROSPECTS BUY THEM... NOW! (480 pages, $38.50 postpaid),
and NO MORE COLD CALLS: THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO GENERATING --
AND CLOSING -- ALL THE PROSPECTS YOU NEED TO BECOME A
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$44.95 postpaid). Get them and free details about Jeffrey's
quarterly Sales & Marketing Success Card Deck (100,000
circ) by calling (617) 547-6372 with MC/VISA/AMEX or
writing 50 Follen St., Suite 507, Cambridge, MA 02138. Ask
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