In this week's Sales Buzz:

Do you use the question Why not... in your sales pitch or your marketing campaigns. If you do I suggest you read this week’s newsletter...

Why not to use Why not in your
Sales and Marketing

You hear it and see it everywhere. In sales pitches, on bill board and advertising posters, in radio and TV advertising campaigns, and in every type of sales and marketing promotion.

Why not has been used in sales and marketing for longer than I have been selling, and that’s a long time. But has anyone ever stopped and thought about whether it works, or do we all assume that because other people are using it Why not must be effective.

Why not, has been the call to action in many adverts on radio, television, and the printed media.

It has been used in shopping malls to get customers to visit certain stores and in stores to influence customers to go to specific departments or look at a product.

A call to action is the line in marketing pitches that attempts to influence the listener or reader to take an action that could lead to a sale.

Why not is also used by some sales people during the selling process.
For example: Why not take the car for a test drive?

You hear it a lot in retail sales where it is used as a quick closing question and sometimes to try and get customers to buy an additional item.
For example: Why not look at the shirts that will go with your new suit?

Telesales and appointment making callers include it in their calls. I have heard it used when attempting to overcome objections and to be honest it sometimes sounds like a last desperate attempt to gain agreement before the prospect hangs up.
For example: I appreciate that your busy but why not let us do a site survey and see if we can save you some money.

Why not... is used in so many ways in sales and marketing throughout the world that we should all be asking the questions: Does it work, and could we replace it with something more effective.

What’s your first response when someone says to you, Why Not ... and then suggests an action you should take.

For most people the first split second reaction is to think of why they will not take the suggested action.

What’s your immediate answer, the one that you first think of, if I ask you: Why not take out a loan tomorrow.

I bet that you thought of a reason why you shouldn’t take out a loan. And that is exactly what happens when you use the, Why not question in your sales pitch or your marketing. You are inviting the sales prospect to think of a reason Why not, why they will not take the desired action that you are trying to influence them to take.

Now look at what you could use that is more effective than asking Why not.

Why not is a negative question. It encourages the prospect to think of a negative answer to your question, and usually just at the time when you want a very positive response.

So consider what you can put in its place that will encourage the sales prospect to answer with a positive.

Here are some of the examples we used earlier with Why not replaced with a positive:

Example: Why not take the car for a test drive?

Changed to a positive: To help you to decide on the right car shall we take it for a test drive.

Example: Why not look at the shirts that will go with your new suit?

Changed to a positive: Tell me which of these shirts you think looks bet with your new suit.

Example : I appreciate that your busy but why not let us do a site survey and see if we can save you some money.

Changed to a positive: Because I know you are very busy the best way to see if we can save you money is for me to arrange a free survey, which day would be best for you?

Whether it is in your sales pitch that you use Why not, or in your marketing campaigns, look at changing this negative question into a positive that will generate the responses that you want.

The above sales training is just one tip to help you to increase sales or grow your business. To see more simple techniques that you can put into action now, go to Sales Tips...

I'm Stephen Craine from the website Sales-Training-Sales-Tips.com

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