Page 191 - THE DO-IT-YOURSELF LOBOTOMY Open Your Mind to Greater Creative Thinking

182 SELLING CREATIVE IDEAS REQUIRES ITS OWN CREATIVITY

Lose the Battles to Win the War

I see people holding onto the little things that really don’t matter in
the end.

In so doing they often wind up losing the war, as in not making the
sale. I see advertising copywriters die on their swords for body copy. I
like great ad text as well as the next person, but look at the readership
scores. Nobody reads body copy. Okay, correction: Maybe 15 percent
of people read a well-read ad, but only 2 percent of people read body
copy on the average ad. Don’t die on your sword. Don’t draw your line
in the sand over individual words or other execution details.
In other areas, when things get torn apart in the selling (or non-
selling) process, ask yourself, “Is the basic concept going to stay
intact?” Great, then let go of what didn’t sell and go back and rework
the details. I’m not saying you can’t explain your details better and
come back later and have some answers on details, but don’t kill the
whole idea because some of the details died.

When the Close Ruins the Deal
I so often hear about salespeople going in for the close, and I’m sorry,
but I believe that is an old-fashioned concept that doesn’t treat the
sellee as an important player.
To me that’s often manipulation and an unfair tactic, going in for
the kill. I don’t mind asking for the order under many conditions, but
under just as many conditions I recommend not asking for the order,
particularly relative to truly creative ideas. I recommend saying, “This
is the new idea; now before you commit to a yea or a nay, why don’t
you think about it?” You can walk out of the room for 10 minutes; you
can call back tomorrow. But you don’t have to have the answer right
now.
Putting people on the spot to answer definitively yes or no often
forces them to state a conservative answer, the easy answer, which is
often no, maybe not, or I don’t think so. Because, particularly when you’re
showing new ideas, people are a little uncertain. We’ve talked about
the fear of coming up with new ideas; well there’s fear in buying new
ideas, too. And often the early reaction is a fearful one. So don’t put
people on the spot. Don’t force them to make a decision when they’re
in a fear place.