Talking about a new campaign, a client’s sales director recently said to me, “I’m the guy you call when the customer says “no.”

It got me thinking … this guy’s on fire!

We proceeded to have a productive conversation about all of the ways the company’s product solved problems, and provided ROI, for the customer.  Manna from heaven for a marketer!

And, an instant and provocative perspective to apply for evaluating content and promotional ideas – even brainstorming new ideas.

The first question to ask yourself:  How TRULY hard-hitting are the reasons you have for how your product or service fits your market?

If you were to use “no” as the answer to your company’s main pitch, where do you go from there? (A great question for sales training!)

To probe further:

• How well are you appealing to your customers’ pain?
• What about the ROI they can expect from buying your product or service?
• How are you DIRECTLY addressing the real-world issues they’re facing?

Taken one by one and measuring against “no,” do all of your marketing and communications with your target stack up?

My guess … there is always room for improvement.

The Passion, or Human, Element

The purpose of what we marketers do each and every day is to find the most effective ways to educate, inform and persuade.

What I got from this sales director was passion, pure and simple. Passion and enthusiasm are almost as important as the facts we can present to support our sales pitch.  Passion comes from knowing our subject – not just the skinny about our own products or services, but our knowledge about the customer’s reality.

Passion also comes from personality.  We’ve all interacted with some really tremendous sales folks, and some not-so-tremendous.  How our pitch is presented, whether in person or some communications vehicle – can also convey that passion and personality.

So, what’s your company’s marketing personality? Is it coming across?  Can you better leverage it … capture a single rep’s passion … make it more interesting or fun … make it better than it currently is?