Making Big Fat Claims How to get your prospects' interest <i>before</i> you move in for the sale

In January 1848, James Marshall had a work crew camped on theAmerican River at Coloma near Sacramento. The crew was building asaw mill for John Sutter. On the cold, clear morning of January 24,Marshall found a few tiny gold nuggets. From those first fewnuggets came one of the largest human migrations in history as halfa million people from around the world descended upon California insearch of instant wealth.

The excitement surrounding the discovery of gold grew quickly.By the summer of 1848, outlandish stories about fabulousdiscoveries came back to the East Coast from the gold mines atSutter's sawmill. In fact, everybody was buzzing about"Gold! Gold!" The buzz got so bad that soldiers began todesert their duties. Ordinary citizens were hitching up theirwagons and loading up their pack mules to go to the mines.

What was it that caused people to act so decisively, to pack upand travel from one side of the country to the other? It was asingle bold idea-a BIG FAT CLAIM!

Selling your products and services requires that you make someclaims that engage your visitors. In last month's column, Italked about using the SCREAM PIGS theory to grab the attention ofyour prospects. After you've grabbed their attention, they needto know logically why they should give you anymore of their time.So how do you engage them further? How do you make sure they willcontinue to give you their time? Make some big fat claims!

A big fat claim is engaging because it builds an image in themind of your potential customer. They actually see and hearthemselves living as if the claim were true. If you have some goodbig fat claims, they'll want to find out more about what youhave to say. They're hungry to hear and see more.

Now I'm not talking about an "elevator pitch" orfeatures and benefits at this point. The claims that you makehighlight specifically how you can provide value to your customer.Increased sales, reduced cost, saved time, higher productivity andreduced workloads are all examples that might interest yourprospect. For every product or service you offer, you're goingto say something like this:

• "We can reduce the time it takes to complete your payrolleach week by 20 percent."
• "I can show you how to save 50% on your ..."
• "We can increase the number of leads you convert to salesby 25 percent."
• "We can reduce the time you take administering yourcomputer network by 20 percent."

Make sure, however, that every claim you make can be backed up.Did you get that result from a previous customer, or are you makingan educated guess? If you can't back up the claim, don'tmake it. Some common big fat claim mistakes are:

1. Trying to close the sale in your big fat claim. Thepurpose of the big fat claim is only to create interest. You wantthe prospect hungry to hear more of what you can do for them. Ifyou try to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are the onlysolution for them, you'll lose them.
2. All features, no benefits. What's in it for them? Aclaim doesn't make reference to the features and details ofyour product or service. The claim contains the biggest potentialbenefit specific to the prospect you are talking to.
3. No meat. A claim with no substance will fail to createany interest. And no interest means your visitor or prospect willtune out or click away from your site. The meatier the claim thatyou generate, the more interest and more qualified the prospectbecomes.
4. Making the wrong claim. This mistake is easilypreventable by knowing your audience. The wrong big fat claimsimply won't work. The key is to know your market and how yourproduct or service represents the ultimate solution for them.
5. Making a generic claim. Making a claim that's big,meaty and meets the requirement of your market isn't enough. Ifyour competitors can make the same claim or if your benefit isreadily available, you're wasting the customer's time. Makeclaims that include uniqueness, and you gain a competitiveadvantage.
6. Unreal or general big fat claims. The tabloids arefilled with them. So is the spam e-mail you receive on a dailybasis. "Make a fortune" or "earn six figures"overnight. Instead of creating the intended interest, these claimstrigger doubt, disbelief and inaction. Once bitten, twice shy. Ifyou are going to make a bold claim that you may think isquestionable, you can create interest by being specific, withactual numbers that also appear to be more realistic.

Too many salespeople make the mistake of failing to solicitinterest. They try to present a solution before they have reallyconnected with the customer. Remember, a tiny claim doesn't getthe attention of the customer. A wild claim with no proof getsthrown away. A proper big fat claim has to be big enough to getattention and have enough valid proof so that it'sbelievable.

James Maduk is one of North America's leading salesspeakers. He is the creator and publisher of more than 80 onlinesales training courses, and he broadcasts daily on VirtualSellingRadio. You can reach James at (613) 825-0651 or visit his Web siteat www.jamesmaduk.com.