01/17/2009: "People Want To Buy. Give Them a Reason and They Will."

I notice when I write a favorable five-star review for a book on Amazon, I generally get mostly positive responses. That translates into more votes for me and a higher score. (I'm number 251 as I write this.)

On the other hand, when I write a less than glowing review, I get lots of negative votes. That is, people voting against my review.

It does not matter one whit whether or not my review is spot on and accurate, people want to have a reason to buy, to believe. This is especially true when I review a book by Suze Orman or Ann Coulter. A negative review pits you against these folks in the eyes of the reader and they want to believe in their beloved author, their friend.

People really WANT to buy the book. When I give a negative review, I'm taking that reason away from them. So, they don't like me. They don't like my review.

So, what does this tell us about selling in general? Simple. If you give people a reason to buy, they will. It's like the guy who goes into an automobile show room. He wants so much to buy that really cool car instead of the sedan the family could really use. But, why should he buy it? How can he justify the purchase? If the salesman can provide that justification, he'll make a sale. If he can't, he won't.

Often, I'll be on a Web site. I'm on the brink of buying an ebook. But the copywriter (or whoever wrote the sales copy) just doesn't take the copy far enough to convince me. He or she has left one question unanswered. They have left one concern unmet. They have not given me quite enough of a reason to buy. So, I don't.

Remember my Amazon experience. PEOPLE WANT TO BUY. THEY WANT A REASON TO BUY. THEY DON'T LIKE BAD REVIEWS. Give them a reason to buy. Back everything you say up with proof, with testimonials, whatever you have.

Don't lose customers and clients because you can't give them the very thing they want that will cause them to buy from you.

Famous copywriter, David Ogilvy said, "Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything." Try to make yours part of that hard-to-achieve one percent.