Brochures should not leave you feeling cosy

The brochure was never intended to get you a sale. In fact, it can hamper it. Here are reasons why you should exercise wisdom in using the brochure (leaflet, pamphlet or such literature), if not shun it entirely.

The brochure is for marketing-not selling- purposes. Yes, there’s a difference. Marketing is general, selling is specific. Marketing is the Air Force that bombards from the air and flies back to base; selling is the army that goes to ground to capture the elusive warlord, immobilise the snipers and plant its country’s flag.

The (marketing) brochure says: ‘Our Pesa App gives you convenience as it allows you to transfer money from your account to your M-Pesa’. The greenhorn animatedly repeats this to the prospect and is lucky if he gets a sale.

The experienced seller is a foot soldier; he adapts the information to the specific situation he finds himself in. So, to the employee who has a side hustle, he says, “With Pesa App you can discreetly buy stock, and pay your staff while you work.” To another prospect that regularly sends money back home it could be: “With Pesa App you can send money to your mum any time, day or night, Sunday or public holiday. And you don’t have to worry whether you have money on M-Pesa or if there’s an agent in sight. So long as it’s in your bank account, it’s with you.”

Secondly, you shoot yourself in the foot with brochures. The green salesperson carries a tonne of them with him. Not because they make a necessary visual aid for presentation but because he hopes that when the prospect sees how colourful they are, he will want to buy. And why not? He did say, “Let me read this brochure and I’ll call you.” Or, the seller dishes them out to all he meets and counts these as presentations. After all, once they read them, they’ll call me and voila!, a sale. They never read nor call. Just as you likely never read nor called the number on the brochure you were given at the supermarket or in traffic.

Finally, a prospect will use a brochure as a shield to fend off your attacks. When you ‘attack’ he flashes his strategically positioned shield and triumphantly states, “I have your brochure left by your colleague. I’m still reading it and will get back to you once I’m done.” Fortunately, you are a veteran and, silently forgving your colleague for he knew not what he was doing, you deftly respond with, “We all have Bibles and we still go to church. Here, let me show you how you can cut your bank charges” (or, how with our app you can order lunch from where you sit; or, anything that is true about your services and of definite interest to the prospect…)

Should you carry around brochures? What do you think?

www.lendmeyourears.co.ke