More Bullets vs The Right Bullet
Have you seen the movie League of Extraordinary Gentlemen?
It’s a horrible, horrible movie, but it helps make a point…
Sean Connery plays Quatermain, the impossibly accurate, sharp-shooting leader of an odd band of heroes. He takes a young gun-slinging American named Tom Sawyer (of course) under his wing.
Tom is a fast shooter and has a bad habit of firing off all his bullets at the bad guys, hoping a couple might find their target.
Quatermain teaches him how to make the impossible long shots by staying calm, and patiently taking aim.
I won’t spoil the ending for you… (although I’m not sure you can spoil an already rotten movie)
The Bullet Theory of Closing Deals
Whatever you’re selling, there are probably a bunch of features that make it pretty awesome.
Every one of those selling points is a bullet you may use to win close the customer.
Naturally we think:
“Surely if I fire off all of these bullets in rapid succession, and in the right general direction… one of those bullets is likely to connect… right?”
No grasshopper. Not right…
But I’m sure you’ve tried that…
So have I…
You run out of bullets before you know what the customer cares about, and the conversation ends with “Let me think about it”.
You’ve already blasted off every value building bullet point you could think of, with nothing left but to leave with your tail between your legs.
The best marketers & sales people understand that building value & closing the sale is more like being a sniper, than being a member of the A-Team…
(96 episodes – thousands of shots fired – 0 fatalities).
They know their customer’s wants, needs, hopes and aspirations, and tailor fit a very simple, concentrated message to what will emotionally resonate with this specific customer or audience.
It is about relevance and resonance rather than aimless rapid fire.
They set up their shot carefully through a ritual of the right questions for targeting, and then blast off the RIGHT bullets – straight through the heart.
Anatomy of a Bullet
I have to confess that I actually don’t know much about bullets…
But I do know this…
There is a Blasty-Bit and a Flying-Metal-Pointy-Bit…
(hopefully I’m not getting too technical here)
Let’s talk about the Flying-Metal-Pointy-Bit (the slug).
This is the feature of your product. Things you might read on a feature list.
On their own they have very little impact. Like a bullet with no powder. (I guess you could throw the bullet and get it in their eye or something)
Have you ever gone into Best Buy and asked for help to pick the right product? And then a pimple faced lad begins to read the feature cards to you?
“Thanks fer yur halp – but i ken reed.”
That’s a feature with no power.
The powder in the casing is what gives the bullet it’s power. The powder is the benefit, the solution to a real problem the customer faces, or the fulfillment of one of their emotional core values.
The more tangible and emotionally relevant you can make that solution, the more powerful the blast.
When Building Value – Aim For the Heart
There are few things we need in order to survive. Most of what we want comes from our emotional desires and are linked to things we value.
To build value for your offer, you need to connect it with one of your customer’s values.
It all comes down to aim…
The closer you can get to the heart, the less bullets you need.
The heart is where the BIG emotional values are stored. A great person of influence can drive the message to the emotional core of the audience. Then they connect that emotion with the action they are asking the audience to take.
It’s true mastery in action. For example…
If you are selling cars, you aren’t selling transmissions and tires. You’re selling Freedom, or Self Esteem, or Safety, or Family Vacations, or a Greener Planet, or the Ability to Provide, or whatever it is that uniquely resonates emotionally with your customer.
Aim for the heart!
