My first job out of college was that of copywriter for the Western Auto catalog (basically the Kansas City version of the Sears catalog copywriting job). I had knocked on the doors of just about every advertising agency in the area believing that I could land a job. Finally one senior ad exec came out to visit with me, explained that he wouldn’t hire me because I had no experience. Frustrated by hearing that, I asked him how I was to get experience if he wouldn’t hire me.
His response changed my life. He told me to get a job as a catalog copywriter because that’s where all the great copywriters got their start. “Writing catalog copy”, he explained, “cleans all the B.S. out of your system.”
That’s how my firm approaches the messaging that will become our talk tracks.
Good messaging helps get good appointments. It’s really that simple. I know we’ve gotten our clients some outstanding meetings by being able to deliver a targeted message that cuts through the noise surrounding busy B2B prospects.
Getting to good messaging is the challenge. Much of the language we encounter is marketing-speak heavy and talks only about the client. The messaging process becomes one of distilling the language down to a talk track the callers can verbalize without putting a prospect on the defensive.
A teleprospector basically has about 10 seconds of speaking before the prospect agrees to listen, and another 10 seconds to set the hook. The person on the other end is only hearing about every 3rd or 4th word, so you must make sure you choose your key words carefully.
Some clients balk at seeing their verbose language get cut down to morsel-sized bites, but I know how hard it is to engage a contact with whom you’ve never spoken.
