Marketing & Selling: What’s Love Got to Do with It?

Successful marketers have long known that, while human beings pride ourselves on being rational, we really buy for emotional reasons.

Sure, we like to explore a product's features and weigh them for their merits. But in the end, it's how we feel towards a product, the sales situation, and sometimes even the salesperson, which propels us to pull out our wallets — or not.

Effective marketing and selling requires “love.”

Three Kinds of Love That Are Essential in Marketing and Sales

1. Love of self

It all begins with love for yourself. Self-help gurus tell us we can't love others unless we love ourselves first.

Same thing is true in business. You need to have an unshakeable belief in yourself before you can succeed, perhaps in any endeavor, and not just in marketing or sales.

You have to be passionate about your product and your business first, before you can be successful. If you're only in it for the money, it will show, and your success will be limited.

Passion is the energy that will propel you to charge through whatever challenges, problems and hurdles you encounter in your business. Without passion, you may make money, but you won't find joy.

Guy Kawasaki, in Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, says your passions make you more enchanting. That is, being passionate makes you a more effective change agent.

2. Love of your prospects and customers

You must also have a genuine love for your prospects and customers. This means always looking out for their best interests. Does that mean you should give your stuff away instead of charging for them?

Heck, no! If you didn't get paid, how would you be able to produce the best product, program or service to meet your prospects' and customers' needs?

For example, increasing my rates was one of the best things I've ever done FOR my clients. It meant I didn't have to take on so many clients at the same time. It meant I could spend more time and energy working on each client's sales and marketing materials. It meant I could buy graphics, plugins and other elements to make their copy convert more. It also meant I had more resources to invest in my continuing education and training to become a better copywriter and marketer.

Loving your prospects and customers means you have a genuine desire to serve them, to help solve their problems and be an instrument for them to achieve their goals.

It means acknowledging respecting their objections and boundaries. You guide them towards a sale – when they're ready – rather than manipulating them into it.

Again, this kind of love will show through in everything you do: in your emails, your sales pages, and in your products. It will show in your sales conversations.

If you're trying to follow a particular marketing strategy, and it doesn't feel right to you, if it makes you feel like you're being manipulative of your audience rather than being of service to them, then just don't do it!

There's plenty of marketing advice out there. You'll find so-called gurus telling you to follow no-fail tactics. Some of them will come from an authentic desire to serve your market. Others will be all about the money, the quick sale, even at your customer's expense. If it doesn't feel right, then it probably is not right.

3. Your prospects' and customers' love for you

The third type of love essential in marketing and sales, is your customers' love for you.

Usually, by loving yourself, being passionate about your business, and loving them first, your prospects and customers will learn to love you back.

That is, they will recognize you as someone who is knowledgeable in your industry, likeable, and trustworthy.

But you can do even more to make yourself more “loveable” to your prospects and clients. For starters, be sensitive to their situation. This will endear you to them.

For example, in your marketing materials, remind prospects of their current pain. What's the problem that's making their lives miserable?

And then paint a picture of what life could be like, with your product, program or service. Be explicit about how you can help them solve that problem and get closer to their goals. Remind them what it would feel like to finally live their dreams.

Finally, when they do buy your stuff, always over-deliver. Wow them with a product, program or service that delivers more than you promised. Always produce the most remarkable work you possibly can.

Your prospects and clients will love you, because you know them so well, you speak their language, and you have their backs covered.

What's Love Got To Do with It?

TONS!

Don't hide behind dry, formulaic marketing materials and approaches. Let your passion and love shine through.

Is there love in your business? Does it show through in your marketing and sales strategies?

How can you increase the love?

Let me know what you think in the comments below. And if you liked this post, please spread the love by tweeting it, or sharing it on Facebook.

photo credit: Dramatic