A while back I went to a sales seminar by Jeffrey Gitomer. If you haven't seen him or read him, you're missing out. He is a helluva salesman and I promise he is unlike any other business speaker you have ever seen. Here is his upcoming public seminar calendar: Gitomer's Public Seminars
One thing he preaches, and practices, is having fun doing what you are doing. He has fun and he wins. And I don't mean he wins on some fluffy emotional level, I mean he wins sales. Lot's of 'em. So I got to thinking about how we could apply this fun concept to ads and marketing in the plastics industry.
What if our ads were fun? I don't mean silly or corny, but just fun. I've seen thousands of ads this year, and the only fun one I remember was an ad for Conair Resinworks (actually it is one of the only ads I remembered period). It's a centralized drying and distribution system...not super fun and exciting, right? Well, the folks at Conair made their ad fun and got their point across. You can check it out here: Conair's Cool Ad
See, it's not goofy or silly and you don't think to yourself, "I would never buy from those jokers." Instead it makes you want to learn more. Everyone who doesn't have a centralized dryer and distribution system probably sees a little of themself in the first part of the ad, and you can bet they would rather be like the people who installed Resinworks.
Ads are about branding and image, but they can also be effective icebreakers. And the best icebreakers are the ones that make you smile. If you make me smile, you are 1000 times more likely to get me to do something. Whether it is click on an ad, call you up, or take out my wallet.
And don't worry, your sales team will remind your customers about how serious your company is and how much value you add. You can work on changing that after you prove that your fun ads work.
So let's have some fun, make people smile, and turn friends into customers!
Nice article. Like Gitomer says: "sales is a game, and you're not having enough fun."
Wanted to let you know your post was featured on www.GitomerGroupies.com!
You might also like www.gitomerisms.com
Posted by: Don The Idea Guy | June 13, 2009 at 09:03 AM