How to sell without selling? This phrase sounds tempting for any business. Terry Dean throughout the book How to sell without selling. Step-by-step marketing formula to attract ready-to-buy clients… Create passive income and make more money while making a difference tries to give an answer to this question. Many marketers have already realized that the old sales methods are losing their effectiveness, so it is necessary to look for new approaches to potential customers. One of these options is the ability to sell without selling.
The point is to provide value to buyers before they make a purchase. The offered value must satisfy the needs and desires of customers. The use of content marketing will help you in this. Most likely, you are already using content marketing in your work, but you don’t see the desired results yet. What is the reason for this? Posting content for the sake of content is a waste of time, your content must match your audience, so you should study your potential customers and know their interests and preferences.
To learn how to sell without selling, Terry Dean suggests applying the following basic steps: the Golden Glove, Ideal Client, Strategic Myth, and The Authority Architecture ™.
So, you have to be convincing in everything you do and what you offer to your potential audience. Based on years of analysis of websites and other forms of advertising, Terry Dean and Dr. Glenn Livingston have developed a 5-step persuasion formula. They called it – the Golden Glove since each step can be correlated with the finger of your hand for clarity. You can apply this formula to various forms of marketing: websites, emails, webinars, videos, blog posts, presentations, etc. If you miss one or more elements from the Golden Glove, then there is a chance that the power of your persuasion will become much weaker.
Here are the five fingers of the Golden Glove:
Desperate Problem
The first finger of the Golden Glove can be divided into two consecutive steps:
1 – identify the audience you are addressing. Focus on your audience, and find out how they already feel about the situation when you are trying to convey information to everyone, without restrictions, then this means that you will not reach anyone.
2 – identify a pain point that you can help your audience solve. This is a Desperate Problem. Describe in detail the problem and the consequences of this problem.
The main question you are asking at this stage is Who is this for and what problem are you solving for them?
Unique Promise
Then you make a Unique Promise that stands out from the competition and focuses on the Desperate Problem that your customers are trying to solve. There are two most common advantages in the market: Price of Entry and Point of Difference. The author also advises using the following two methods to come up with your Unique Promise:
- Method #1: Make a Strong Guarantee
- Method #2: Create a Comparison Chart
The main question you are asking at this stage is Why should they choose your solution compared to every other option in the market?
Overwhelming Proof
It is not enough just to make a Unique Promise, it is necessary to back it up with Overwhelming Proof. The main forms of evidence are testimonials, personal stories, demonstrations, and scientific research.
The main question you are asking at this stage is Why should they believe the solution is for real, you’re a credible person to purchase from, and the solution will work for them personally?
Irresistible Offer
To strengthen your offer, you must show customers what benefits they will receive if they purchase your product, and also describe the guarantees that remove risks from the client.
Here are a few ways you can highlight your Irresistible Offer:
- Soft Offer
- Low Cost Trial
- FREE Shipping
- Fast Delivery
- Base/Deluxe/Premium
- Custom Offer
- Online Demonstration
- Payments
- Outrageous Guarantees
The main question you are asking at this stage is How can you make it more painful for them to walk away than to purchase your offer?
Reason to Act Now
Explain why the client should act right now, and what is the reason for such urgency. Perhaps it is a deadline for sales or a limited quantity of goods, the fear of loss has great power over people. But your application must be genuine, do not invent a fake deficit, and you must be honest with your client.
The main question you are asking at this stage is Why must they take action today?
By going through all the stages of the Golden Glove, we will be able to significantly increase the power of persuasion. But this power must be directed to the needs of your audience, otherwise, it will not work. Study what your audience already wants and help them get it. This means diving into the market and identifying your Ideal Client. When you know your Ideal Client, you will be able to talk to them in the same language, as well as demonstrate your empathy with them through storytelling. The Ideal Client is one person who represents your market, he has collected the main features of your target audience. All your marketing efforts should be directed at him.
The author suggests making an avatar of an Ideal Client, for this, it is best to use a visual image to appeal to a specific person and write his story. In some cases, you may have more than one avatar, usually, this happens when you have broken down your target market into categories according to Desperate Problem. First, focus on the segment that will be the most profitable, and then expand them.
As well as drawing up a portrait of your ideal client, the next element is also important – this is your Strategic Myth. Your Strategic Myth is a message that embodies your unique promises into a story that you share over and over again. That’s the reason you do what you do. This is an emotional hook that attracts the attention of your target audience and explains how you differ from your competitors.
In his book How to sell without selling. Step-by-step marketing formula to attract ready-to-buy clients… Create passive income and make more money while making a difference the author suggests creating your Strategic Myth based on the elements proposed by Joseph Campbell for The Hero’s Journey. The Hero’s Journey shows the changes that occur with the main character on his way to achieving the goal. The Hero’s Journey consists of 12 elements:
Since your journey is happening now and has not yet been completed and your business will continue to grow in the future, so Terry Dean advises you to focus on 8 components:
- The Ordinary World: Who are you and what has your life been like? This is the backstory. Your ordinary world is directly connected with the Desperate Problems that you help your clients solve.
- The Call to Adventure: What is the Inciting Incident? What kind of crisis or opportunity arises from which the story begins? Your Call to Adventure is an opportunity to leave the Ordinary World behind and do something more.
- Refusal of the Call: You did not immediately decide to accept the challenge, you were tormented by doubts and fears. Voice some of the same objections that your customers will feel. What ultimately made you move forward? You make it clear to consumers that you are facing the same problems.
- Meeting the Mentor: Who or what comes to your aid? This is what turned your failure into success. It can be a literal person who comes and gives you advice at the right time, or it can be books, resources, videos, or even just stumble upon the secret yourself.
- Crossing the Threshold: There is no turning back. It is necessary to go only forward. How do you do it in practice? The higher the risks, the more interest you bring to the story.
- The Ordeal: You face difficulties and overcome them. Your clients may have tried to succeed before, but failed. You face some of the same difficulties, and you even fail, perhaps several times, as you move forward. But there is some discovery, product, or service that matters. The number of problems you have to face along the way may vary, but it always leads to a final confrontation.
- The Reward: What new ideas have come to you as a result of your ordeal? What you teach or share, you have achieved through the trials you have faced. The most difficult sale is not that you or others have succeeded. It’s convincing someone that your methods will work for them.
- Return With the Elixir: What is your mission? What will you share with the world? It’s not just about money. This is your goal! You share your magic elixir with others to free them from their Ordinary World.
Customers see their own journey in your story. It gives them hope. Maybe they too will be able to overcome the difficulties in their lives. You will never change anyone’s mind by proving your point. But you can change their beliefs by changing the story they have inside.
Another step for mastering the technique to sell without selling is the use of Authority Architecture™.
10 basics of The Authority Architecture™
- Origin Story (Strategic Myth)
Origin Story (Strategic Myth) is the basis of all your subsequent messages, your content should not contradict the principles that you have already shared.
- Vision For Your World
Your vision of your world is your main goal to do what you do. This vision goes beyond just business, it should inspire people.
- Villain and a Polarizing Point of View
This refers to a Desperate Problem that you are helping your audience solve.
- Be a Likeable Person With Common Experiences
You can be an absolute expert in what you do, but if no one likes you, you will not succeed in business. One of the ways you can establish mutual understanding is through common interests.
- Personal Parables
A personal parable is a story that contains a profound lesson or illustration of your message. First, we make purchase decisions based on emotions, and we back up these decisions with logic. The story is a carrier of emotions. Your Strategic Myth is your biggest and most important story, but there may be other little stories from your life or business that you share.
- Simple Principles Of Life
Is your basic message simple enough for someone to repeat it to others? You have to reduce everything to simple steps that everyone can follow.
- Unique Language
When you create these simplified systems, also create the terminology corresponding to them. Terry Dean used the following terminology for his book: the Golden Glove, Strategic Myth, and Authority Architecture.
- Inner Circle Exclusivity
Each story has its own inner circle of characters. In business, you want your customers to feel like important people who are treated in a special way. And one of the best ways to do this is to have access levels or even an element of exclusivity.
- Super Powers
What amazing abilities do you use to help your clients? Check your reviews. Send a survey to your subscribers and customers, asking them what they rely on you for.
- Personal Flaws
By selling a product, you can increase the credibility of the offer by showing your shortcomings or telling about your failures. It’s not worth being perfect, it looks fake.
Using your unique Authority Architecture™ to make you a celebrity in your market, allows you to increase your bids and create long-term customer loyalty. So, to summarize, use the Golden Glove, determine your Ideal Client Avatar, and share your Strategic Myth and other elements of your Authority Architecture™ – these are the main steps to success. Terry Dean also in his book How to sell without selling. Step-by-step marketing formula to attract ready-to-buy clients… Create passive income and make more money while making a difference offers other tips for achieving the technique of how to sell without selling, all of them are also interesting and effective.
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