Last week I mentioned my favorite marketing book, Selling to VITO (Very Important Top Officer) by Anthony Parinello.
Parinello has a unique and highly effective method for selling to top decision makers in businesses and organizations. His ideas can be applied in many different ways and situations.
I especially like his concept for using a sales letter to get VITO’s attention and get an appointment with him. Tony’s sales letter is probably very different from any sales letter you’ve ever seen, yet this approach has yielded an 85% contact rate with top decision makers. Yes, you read right: out of 100 letters that Tony sends out, he ends up talking with 85 people.
And it’s only a one page letter! I can’t give you all the details of his approach here, but let me give you a flavor.
The All-important Headline Statement
Tony puts a headline statement at the top of the letter, above the salutation—and he puts a lot of thought into this headline statement. After all, people will decide, based on reading this statement, whether they’ll read the letter or not.
Tony says that your headline statement should:
• be no more than 30 words long.
• address VITO’s interests and be relevant to VITO’s industry.
• establish your credibility.
• reference a specific time frame
• establish your Equal Business Stature. (As I mentioned last week, you should not talk to VITO as a salesperson but as a businessperson who is seeking to help VITO with his problems.
• be based on a literal quotation or on verifiable factual information from a credible source your VITO will recognize and respect. (For example, you could be quoting another top officer in another company you’ve done work for that VITO would recognize.)
• highlight (or be based on) the tangible benefits of doing business with your company.
The headline statement should focus on concrete, measurable results that real, live customers have enjoyed from implementing your solutions, or using your service or product—results that feature percentages or other figures and always incorporate a specific time reference.
Tony gives some examples. Let’s say you’re selling lap-top computers to businesses. Here’s how your headline statement might read:
We’ve increased the time XYZ Company’s salespeople
spend in front of their customers by 30%-50%
in just two months and maintained the cost of sales.
Here’s the headline from a letter to a college dean:
We’ve lowered Armstrong College’s student registration
operating costs by 30% in less than six months.
Armstrong was also better able to deal
with the new state reporting regulations.
Here’s the headline of a letter to the senior partner of a major law firm:
We’ve reduced overhead costs in five of the
top ten law firms in Dallas—and, according to
Helen Wells of Wells & Wells,
“increased billable hours by 25% in the last 90 days.”
I think you get the point. Focus on concrete, documentable results that are relevant to VITO’s problems. Get right to the bottom line of what you can do for someone and how to verify that. Demonstrate that you are serious about helping him with his problems.
And don’t talk in vague generalities—VITO hates that! It’s a waste of his time.
Now can you begin to see why Tony gets an 85% contact rate from this letter? Top officers will feel, “This guy is talking my language.”
Applying the Brass Tacks Approach to Your Business
But this raises a couple of questions.
First, what if you don’t have concrete, verifiable results or good testimonials from recognized sources?
The answer is, you’ve got to find or create such results. And you’ve got to find a way to verify them. Sure, it might take some work to track results, ask for testimonials, etc. But if it could help you get to an 85% contact rate, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Or, if it could help make your advertising and marketing communications stronger and more compelling, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Second question. If you don’t do business with top officers, you may be wondering how you can apply such an idea to your business.
Tony’s book dramatizes the importance of knowing what the customer’s bottom line is and speaking directly to that bottom line—in a credible, concrete way—in your marketing and communications. I call this the Brass Tacks Approach.
Your attitude and tone of voice should reflect that you are not selling the customer something, you are helping the customer solve a problem or meet a need. You are talking Brass Tacks in a way that sets you apart from others who talk in vague generalities.
Tony also dramatizes the importance of using real stories, examples, facts, testimonials, and demonstrations to support your claims. And this, too, is part of the Brass Tacks Approach.
Samsonite showed a gorilla throwing their suitcases around to show how tough they are. Years ago, Timex let an elephant step on one of its watches to prove that “it takes a licking and keeps on ticking.” Is there something different you can do to dramatize the benefits of your product or service?
Whatever you’re selling, find ways to incorporate the Brass Tacks Approach and tone of voice, and you’ll be more effective.
