The excitement around the discovery of gold grew quickly. By the summer of 1848, outlandish stories about fabulous discoveries came back to the East Coast from the gold-mines at Sutter’s saw-mill. In fact, everybody was talking about “Gold! Gold!” The buzz got so bad that soldiers began to desert. Ordinary citizens were fitting out trains of wagons and pack-mules to go to the mines.
What was it that caused people to act so decisively, to pack up and travel from one side of the country to the other?
It was a single bold idea, a BIG FAT CLAIM!
Selling your products and services requires that you make some claims that engage your visitors. In last months column I talked about SCREAMING PIGS to grab the attention of your prospect. A claim is something that follows the attention step and is part of the “interest step” in the sales process.Your job in this interest step is to get the prospective customer to focus on what’s really important to them. After you’ve grabbed their attention they need to know logically why they should give you any more of their time.
So how do you engage them further? How do you make sure that they will continue to give you their time?
Make some Big Fat Claims!
A Big Fat Claim is engaging because it builds an image in the mind of your potential customer. They actually see, and hear themselves living as if the claim was true. If you have some good Big Fat Claims they’ll want to find out more about what you have to say.
They’re hungry to hear and see more.
Now I’m not talking about an “elevator pitch” or features and benefits at this point. The claims that you make highlight specifically how you can provide value to your customer. Increased sales, reduced cost, saved time, higher productivity, and reduced workloads are all examples that might interest your prospect.
For every product or service that you offer you are going to construct a series specific “Big Fat Claims”.
- We can reduce the time it takes to complete your payroll each week by 20%.
- I can show you how to save 50% on your…
- We can increase the number of leads you convert to sales by 25%.
- We can reduce the time you take administering your Computer Network by 20%.
- Make sure that every claim that you make can be backed up. Have you got that result from a previous customer or are you making an educated guess? If you can’t back up the claim, don’t make it.
Common Big Fat Claim Mistakes
- Trying to close the sale in your big fat claim. The purpose of the big fat claim is only to create interest. You want the prospect hungry to hear more of what you can do for them. If you try and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are the only solution for them you’ll lose them.
- All features, No Benefits. What’s in it for them? A claim doesn’t make reference to the features and details of your product or service. The claim contains the biggest potential benefit specific to the prospect you are talking too.
- No Meat. It’s a BIG FAT CLAIM. A claim with no substance will fail to create any interest. And no interest means your visitor or prospect will tune out or click away from your site. The meatier the claim that you generate the more interest and more qualified the prospect becomes.
- Making the Wrong Claim. This mistake is easily preventable by knowing your audience. The wrong big fat claim simply won’t work. The key is to know your market and how your product or service represents the ultimate solution for them.
- Making a Generic Claim. Making a claim that’s big, meaty and meets the requirement of your market isn’t enough. If your competitors can make the same claim or if your benefit is readily available you’re wasting the customer’s time. Make claims that include uniqueness and you gain a competitive advantage.
- Unreal or General Big Fat Claims. The tabloids are filled with them. So is the SPAM email you receive on a daily basis. “Make a fortune” or “earn six figures” overnight. Instead of creating the intended interest these claims trigger doubt, disbelief and inaction. Once bitten, twice shy. If you are going to make a bold claim that you may think is questionable you can create interest by being specific, with actual numbers that also appear to be more realistic.
It’s this interest step that makes your claims important. Too many sales people make the mistake of jumping this step and try to present a solution before they have really connected and a tiny claim doesn’t get the attention of the customer. A wild claim with no proof gets thrown away. A proper Big Fat Claim has to be big enough to get attention and have enough valid proof so that it’s believable.
Stake Your Big Fat Claims!
