MindValley Labs Internet Marketing Blog

Chet Holmes gave a ‘summary presentation’ of his book, and I’ll jump through a few of his points. To me, however, the most telling piece of advice he gave was this:

To sell anything to anyone, don’t sell your product

Now, that is counter-intuitive because if most people were to sell a pen, the first word out of their mouths would be, "Hey, I have this pen I'm selling..."

That is NOT how you sell the pen.

Chet Holmes says you should never sell the product. That's his #1 strategy.

What does that specifically mean?

There are a few reasons why he says that. The first is a quick pyramid. If you think about it, only 3% of people in the market are ready to buy Right Now, they’re actively in buying mode. There may be another 6% who may be willing to buy, 30% of people are probably interested in what you have (but they’re not in buying mode right now –they’re not searching to buy), another remaining 30% are just not interested – they’re not really looking for what you have…and the remaining 30% will never be interested.

When you’re talking about a product to sell, you are usually only talking to the tiny 3-9%.

That is a GIANT mistake, because you just end up not communicating to everyone else.

Chet Holmes figured out how to talk to the other people. This is his key secret:

1. Look at Market Data

Approach them with market information.

Why? Let’s take security alarm systems, for example. Market information might be something like, “Here are 10ways to reduce the risk of someone breaking into your home.” That is interesting, because if you were looking at a security system I would want to know how to lower that risk.

Or in Internet marketing, you might be talking about 10ways to do pay-per-click advertising or to maximize your profits on AdWords.

He has another insight that’s equally important.

We’ve all seen it on television. What do you see on TV?

2. Bad News that makes people say, “Wow!”

You hit them with bad information or bad news. I hate to say that, because that’s one of the reasons I hate TV –because they present you with bad news.

But, why is that? They share bad news because pain is 100% more influential in moderating human beings to take action than gain.

If I broke your leg, would you want to get it fixed? Seriously, if you broke your leg, would you want to get medical attention for it? Yes, you would want to get it looked at immediately. Would you do price comparison shopping of where to go if your leg’s broken? No, you wouldn’t. You would take immediate action because you were in pain.

If you were involve in an accident and you were taken to the emergency room, under normal circumstance you wouldn’t ask –you’d let them take you to whichever ER is closest. Pain really moderates people’s behavior.

That’s the other thing that Chet Holmes says. Don’t hit them with gain but with the pain of what could really happen.

Just to give you one of his examples, he shared some really powerful data points that he used to help one person who is in the nutritional supplements’ field.

1. Start with market data.

His case began, Did you know that the incidence of cancer has gone through up dramatically? The number of breast cancer cases have risen by 80% since the 70’s. Today, the lifetime risk stands at 1 in 9.

Every woman has some risk of breast cancer. About 80% of women who get breast cancer have no known family history of the disease.

3 to 4 out of every 100 women who are 60 years old today will get breast cancer by the age of 70, and about 1 woman out of 100 women who are 60 years old today will die from breast cancer by the age of 70.

2. Share bad news.

What you look for in the bad news is the “wow” factor. When you hear statistics like the ones mentioned above.

In the case of men, studies show that sperm counts in healthy men appear to have dropped by more than half in 50 years.

A survey of 1,350 sperm donors in Paris found a decline in sperm counts by around 2% each year over the past 23 years. Among men who died in 1981, 56.4% had normal, healthy sperm production. By 1991, however, this figure had dropped dramatically to 26.9%.

That is what’s happening. By throwing out these data points, you get people’s attention and they start listening to what you have to say. Men that want to have children are listening, and certainly, because of the compelling market data makes you want to pay attention.

In addition, scientists say that diet/ nutrition and modern lifestyle are possible causative / contributing factors. (At this point they have yet to mention that this person is selling nutritional supplements.)

What is causing it? Nutrition, and nutrients. Or rather, the lack thereof is contributing to the rise of these conditions. Isn’t that interesting?

Further research is then used to establish and prove the market data.

Imagine the surprise of going online and discovering that the vitamin and mineral content of vegetables has drastically dropped.

Some of the differences in vitamin and mineral content are enormous - a 50% drop in the amount of calcium in broccoli, for example. Watercress is down 88% in iron content; cauliflower down 40% in vitamin C content - all since 1975. The vitamin A in apples has dropped from 90 mg to 53 mg. Cauliflower has lost almost half its vitamin C, along with its thiamin and riboflavin. Most of the calcium in pineapple is gone-from 17 mg (per 100 grams raw) to 7.

That is really, really bad news, isn’t it? So how are you taking care of yourself? Even of you are eating your apples and carrots, from where are you getting nutrients? There's a big wow to discovering that your veggies don’t have enough nutrients to sustain you anymore!

What they have established is

1. Market data

2. Bad news –> a big wow

The answer to the surprising statistics of market data naturally follows as nutritional supplements.

That is a far more powerfully charged sales angle as opposed to approaching someone and telling them, hey, I’m selling nutrients. People may not be interested in nutrient pills, but they are interested in reducing their odds of having breast cancer; they’re interested in being fertile if they still want to have families, and staying in healthy for longer. That is why it is absolutely important that you hit them with market data first.

This is what Chet Holmes has done with the sales organizations that he has built to double their original size. This applies to almost any and all industries and businesses, whether you are in law, medicine, or any other profession. That is the power of market data –it makes objections pass away and opens the door and gives you permission to have a conversation.

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About the Author

Prior to MindValley Media, Mike was the Head of New Ventures Strategy at eBay where he conceived of the strategies that led to the investment in Craigslist, the launch of Kijiji.com and the acquisition of Skype. Mike has an MBA from Stanford and previously worked for the Boston Consulting Group. He is also a certified Google AdWords Professional.

Check out other posts by Mike Reining

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