The Art of Not Begging
I am a marketer. In marketing, there is is a mantra: Thou shalt not beg for sales, services, or customers (etc). It pretty much means that if you act like you want someone to do something too much, they won’t be willing to do it (except maybe out of pity which is a whole other discussion).
Speaking of which, Rand Fishkin said:
While this has been an emphasis of mine in my career, it recently dawned on me that this mantra applies to several unrelated aspects of our lives. I’ll leave it up to you, though, to discover how this fits into your personal life, as I’ll just explain why it’s important in marketing.
The Problem With Begging
In a marketing, you want to distill a desire for your product in people by using particular words and actions.
For example, in a pitch, you would never say “Thank you taking the time to listen to my message today”. It makes it seem like they’re doing you a favor.
If your product is truly amazing, then you want it to appear as if you are doing them a favor by introducing it.
When I was in advertising, I’d always open a meeting with, “Ladies, gentleman, I’m glad I had the time to come meet with you today; I’ve only got 20 minutes, so let’s get started.” — Ash Ambirge
You want to sell the benefits of your product so confidently that people are willing to beg you for it.
Switch Your Mindset
It’s always a difficult task to switch your mindset, but the moment you do, you become empowered. You switch from being the beggar to the philanthropist.
The customer then becomes the commodity and must prove why they are worth doing business with.
The Apple Approach
Imagine if Steve Jobs had got up on stage during a new iPhone launch and said:
“Thank you all for making time in your busy schedules to come and see our little phone. Our stocks are falling and we really need some cash, if you could make a small purchase it would help our company a lot”
That would suck. No one would buy the new phone. The launch would be a total flop.
Instead, what Apple has done is created a high end “luxury” item that is so “exclusive” (even though “35% market share” means everyone has one), people are literally lining up to get one.
The iPhone is no longer the commodity. We are the commodity, and we have to prove to Apple why they should do business with us either with our time (by getting in that new iPhone launch lineup) or with our money.
As you switch your mindset from begging to confident, you will find that there will be more people who want what you have. This, in turn, will only boost your confidence in your product and create a wonderful cycle.
Use a Checklist
If you are serious about changing your mindset, I’ve created a checklist for maximizing creativity and effectively change your mindset. If you follow these steps daily, you’ll be able to proactively create the business- and life- you want.
