Contact Us


The Referral Engine

The Referral Engine Book

Duct Tape Marketing

Duct Tape Book

Free Social Media for Business ebook

Social Media for Small Business
John Jantsch Marketing Coach
About John Jantsch

Recent Posts

Entire Archive

  • Categories

  • Categories
  • Question Everything

    Google Buzz

    Or, more to the point, question everything word you use to market your business and then answer every question in your marketing.

    People make buying decisions in ways that we may find hard to imagine. The mental, logical process and the emotional, feel good process come together at some point in every sale. The problem, though, is that this process is invisible to the marketer.

    Here’s my best advice for making sure that your marketing materials hit the logical and emotional mark. Every time a prospect or client asks a question, write it down. Collect these questions on an ongoing basis, make every sales person note the questions they receive. In a very short period of time you will see patterns develop. If you are getting some of the same questions over and over again you can bet that your marketing materials need to address the answer to those questions.

    The questions our prospects ask are often clues to what matters to them. So, forget about the new shiny features of your gizmo and address what’s really on their mind. Do it now, because some of your prospects won’t think to actually ask, they’ll just move on.

    It’s one of the reasons FAQ pages are so popular on web sites. Maybe you should create one for your sales team as well.

    Like this post? Share it with others
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • del.icio.us
    • Sphinn
    • Google Bookmarks
    • StumbleUpon
    • Digg

    Posted by: John Jantsch on Jun 22, 06 | 3:03 pm
    Category: Marketing Materials | Tags:

    View Comments
    • <pingback>...back to this blog post, John Jantsch wrote a post on his blog titled “Question Everything.”  Here’s an excerpt: Here’s my best advice for making sure that your marketing materials hit the logical and emotional ...</pingback>
    • "You very quickly get past the stuff the marketing department THINKS is important and home in on the stuff that the client and customers WANT."

      So true Matthew. One of my favorite market research techniques is called the 'Cup-O-Coffee' market analysis strategy. Here's how it goes. 1) Find a customer or prospect 2) buy them a cup of coffee 3) ask questions.
    • Excellent points! I'm going to start an FAQ for our Sales Team - well, they're going to start it.

      Indeed, it is invisible, but if you 'listen'. . .
    • <pingback>... Good post on John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing in which he urges people to ask lots of questions (obvious really) but he suggests a good way of doing it: Every time a prospect or client asks a question, write it down. Collect these ...</pingback>
    • I couldn't agree more. Asking questions and answering them is a fundamental and familiar way to talk (unlike press releases and most marketing collateral). I would also advocate doing lots of interviews when writing marketing material. Imagine that you're a reporter and interview people inside your client, interview customers, interview the woman in the street. You very quickly get past the stuff the marketing department THINKS is important and home in on the stuff that the client and customers WANT.
    • Good counsel, John.

      For one thing, prospects (and customers) like it when you ask questions and actually listen to them. (Instead of having all the answers!)

      Besides, like you say, you can learn a ton over time to incorporate in your marketing communications. It goes to the heart of knowing your prospect/customer.
    • Great points John. All the clues are there if you ask the only true "marketing expert," your customer.

      Another thing to add to ones note taking is to pay careful attention to the actual words prospects and customers use when they ask their questions.

      When your sales copy uses the same words your prospect uses, the emotional element is a lot easier to connect with.
    blog comments powered by Disqus


    Popular Searches

    Small Business Marketing Magazines


    Free - No strings attached - Business and Marketing Magazine Subscriptions

    Target Marketing
    CRM
    Internet Retailer
    eWeek
    Electronic Publisher
    Print Media and more


    Creative Commons License
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
    Attribution-NonCommercial
    -NoDerivs 2.5 License
    .
    Subscribe



    Subscribe to the Duct Tape Podcast
    subscribe via iTunes

    Duct Tape Marketing System

    Duct Tape Marketing System

    Duct Tape System - Complete small business marketing system in 14 workbooks and 4 audio CDs.


    Marketing Plan Pro powered by Duct Tape Marketing

    Marketing Plan Pro

    The Duct Tape Marketing System now comes as Marketing Planning Software. We teamed up with Palo Alto Software, the makers of Business Plan Pro, to bring you the most powerful small business marketing plan tool going. More info here . . .


    Referral Flood by John Jantsch

    Referral Flood by John Jantsch

    Referral Flood - How to create a flood of new business without spending one dime on advertising - by John Jantsch

    Subscribe to my weekly newsletter

    First Name * Last Name * Email *

    Connect Socially