If Your Customers Don’t Feel It, You Don’t Have it [Academy]

The late Don Hewitt, creator of the television news magazine 60 Minutes, was quoted as saying, “Television is good, not when you see it, not when you hear it, but when you FEEL IT."  He and his staff created a very successful, long running series because they knew how to get their audience to “feel” what they were saying. Every segment was an emotional roller coaster for the watcher.

I’ve written a great deal about the difference between being mechanical when presenting your sales story and getting customers to actually feel what you are saying.

When they get a “gut feel” for what you are telling them and they are fully understanding the values you’re talking about, they’re no longer just listening, but having their thinking impacted in the process. That level of execution on takes preparation, practice and even role play. It requires that you listen to yourself and analyze each point you’re making. Until you FEEL IT so strongly yourself that customers get excited and shake their heads in agreement, there’s no way you can move them emotionally enough to get them to do what you want them to do.  Unless they FEEL it, they won’t believe in it enough to do it.

From planning to harvest, raising a crop is an emotional event for both farmers and sellers. In fact, emotions often become so strong they become visible. Eyes widen, facial expressions change and everyone gets excited about raising a top crop. But how do you get prospects and customers to “feel” what you’re saying to them? How do you get their blood pressure to rise in anticipation of what’s to come?