When your sales calls, messages or advertisements begin by stating, “We’d like you to know” or “I wanted you to know”, you’re really saying, “I am more important than you.” And that’s a pretty ballsy thing to say in a sales interaction.
Being ballsy is a two-sided coin. On the one side, it’s risk-taking, and we generally like people who take smart risks (but being more important than your prospect isn’t smart).
On the flip side, ballsy is riddled with male-hormone stupidity; you know, that stuff that makes dudes sound like morons just when they hope to sound amazing. (I’m a guy, and I surely have my male moron moments.) Thing is, sounding like a moron on a sales call is generally not good.
What you want is to be so important they can’t ignore you. But you don’t want to be more important. Because here’s the reality: If you are more important than your prospect, you don’t need them. And they get that feeling when you say, “I wanted you to know.”
There are plenty of ways to be noteworthy without placing your own importance above that of prospective clients. Find one that makes sense and use it!
Kelly Hobkirk - teaching marketers how to harness strategy, goals, reality, and purpose to connect and do better work.
Kelly Hobkirk has been helping companies succeed in creative ways for nearly 25 years. His work has been featured in Time Magazine, and books by Rockport and Rotovision. Get exclusive articles when you sign up for his monthly newsletter.