I attended a seminar the other day at a local trade show and one thing they mentioned almost in passing that inspired me was the critical concept of “selling your hits.”

Hmmm… “Sell your hits” – what could that mean?

Simply put, when you talk down the road, you talk down the road. Adjust your marketing and sales conversations and materials to reflect how your product or service helped someone get what they wanted.

Now how do you do this? Well, here are 3 techniques that, when applied effectively, can lower your marketing costs and energize your business.

1. Let the ‘Testimonials’ pave the way

To better illustrate this technique, let me share with you a line I use often that goes something like this: “If I tell you I’m great at what I do, at best you’ll take it with a grain of salt.” , but if an impartial third party tells him that I am excellent at what I do, he will tend to believe him. In other words, people tend to give more credit to what another person says about you than to what you say. about yourself.

So take every opportunity to get testimonials about yourself, your team, your product, your service, or your business in general. The collection and effective use of testimonials should become a key marketing strategy for your business.

2. Use ‘Stories’ to get your point across

Storytelling has been around since the dawn of mankind and, when used correctly, can illustrate your point better than almost any other way. Stories have the power to capture and engage the listener in a soft way, not the hard sell approach that people often shy away from. Stories also have the unique ability to take complex ideas and make them easy to understand, without a dissertation on the subject.

My best advice here is to model other great storytellers. Take one of my favorites, for example, Mark Victor Hansen. Just look at his Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books. Essentially, each chapter is a story that effectively illustrates a point that touches, moves, and inspires its readers.

So you might be tempted to say, well, that’s easy for him, but I’m not Mark Victor Hansen. Now maybe you potentially are or not, however my point is that this is a very easy skill to learn, people aren’t born with it. They develop it by continually practicing and perfecting it.

3. Share ‘case studies’ to illustrate what is possible

Case studies are a sure way to give your prospect a mental picture of what is possible for their business if they ask you for help. These are particularly good for those prospects who need to see it for themselves to believe it. Case studies illustrate tangible solutions – they tend to instill a deeper level of confidence in your prospect that you can do it for them. Essentially, you have a track record of success to fall back on.

Now when you use any or all of the 3 techniques we just discussed, remember that just like telling a joke, timing and delivery are critical to your success. For example, placing a testimonial in your sales letter in the right place where you’re looking to establish credibility is key to getting your prospect to keep reading.

These techniques can also play a critical role in humanizing your business and offerings, putting real people behind your messages. For example, instead of bombarding a potential customer with all the possible services you offer and the features and benefits of each, try using a short story to simplify a complicated solution you implemented for a similar customer. Or how about using a relevant case study in a sales presentation that illustrates how your service helped a customer with similar needs as the prospect you’re presenting to.

Try to integrate these techniques into your daily marketing and realize the positive residual effects they can bring.

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