Yesterday I said that marketers love fools. It is logical, because there is a saying: “A fool and his money are easily parted.” Does it mean that marketers are dishonest? No, I don’t think so. I do think there are dishonest marketers, as there are dishonest people in every occupation – but that would be as far as I am willing to go.
Many people believe all marketers are dishonest and can tell stories to proof it. The development I referred to yesterday, many people losing money hand over fist blames the marketers. It is easier to blame the marketer than to admit that you were a fool! But in most cases I don’t think the marketers were dishonest.
We must understand something about a good marketer and a good salesperson (I wish I was good at it). I will try to explain with a story. My youngest daughter is an excellent salesperson – born that way. My middle daughter (I have three) is not a salesperson, but very creative. So the middle daughter started making bead necklaces and jewellery and the youngest sold at school. As happens in many businesses, there soon ensued a fight between marketing and production, because sales outstripped production by far. That is another topic.
I asked my youngest daughter how she did it. This was her reply: “It is actually very easy. I like my product. I show it to people and I am very enthusiastic about it and then they are very enthusiastic about it and they buy two or three.” (She was 12 years old at the time!) The key phrases: “I like my product” and “I am enthusiastic”.
I think a good marketer and salesperson is optimistic by nature. So with the sales person’s infectious optimism and enthusiasm, we get involved and in the end nobody can stop us from buying. We will fight to sign the contract. Good sales people …
I am very, very analytical so this is easy for me. I always want to check that it makes “logical sense.” But many marketers are not like that. If a developer tells them it is a good deal and that the price will treble in a year and rent will be astounding, they believe it. They don’t challenge it. And it is NOT only in property sales. Some people just go out and sell. They believe the company and it is not their job to check what the employer claims. So they believe the claims the employer makes, even if it is unrealistic. It just fuels their enthusiasm. And they get many buyers so excited that they JUMP on the bandwagon.
That is what I call the marketing hype – the cloud with free food, beer and wine served by topless girls – there has got to be a catch! Just separate the facts from the hype, and decide on the facts. That is wise, and you do want to buy wise, don’t you? The salespeople out there should give me good marks for this tie down!
Tomorrow I will tell you about the time when I was not a fool.