Categories: Sales

Selling Is Not Telling (It’s Actually These 3 Things)

Ever heard the expression, “Selling is not telling”?

It’s a common expression that’s always left me a bit confused. Why? Because while I know that it’s true, the question remains:

If selling is not telling, then what is it exactly?

To help clarify what this expression really means, let’s look at 3 things selling ACTUALLY is and how you can write better copy to sell more.

Selling Is NOT Telling: 3 Ways to Sell Better

1) Selling Is Actually a Morally Good Thing

People don’t like to be told what’s good for them.

In order to sell, you need your customers agree with the cause of why they should buy from you. You need people to recognize that there is a problem and your product can solve it or fill their needs better than others on the market.

That means you need to be a firm believer that your product can actually solve your customer’s problems.

When we simply tell someone something is good for them, they often resist or rebel against it because we’re forcing our way onto them.

This happens when your copywriting is full of “fluff” or when you list the million and one things your product does.

However, if you help your customers realize that there’s a problem and then convince them why your product is the solution to their needs… well, now you have an enthusiastic customer who wants to buy from you!

When writing copy with this in mind, your goal is to get the reader to see that there’s a problem and help them realize why they should buy from you.

How do you do that? By identifying the major problem your customer is facing and showing how your product is the exact solution they need.

Ok, but how is that a morally good thing

When you really believe your product is the best solution, you owe it to your customers to sell it to them.

You’re doing your customers a favor by helping them make the best decision for their needs.

By selling to people you believe will benefit from your product, then at the end of the day, you’ve done a good thing.

One of the biggest ways I see content creators get this wrong is with “listicles.” They’ll write posts to bring organic traffic on the “Best Alternatives to [insert their competitor’s name].

But since they don’t want to come off as too self-promotional, they put their own product lower on the list.

Unless you think your product or services are the 3rd or 4th best solution to your customer’s pain points, then you should plant yourself firmly in the #1 slot with confidence.

After all, if you don’t genuinely believe your product is a good solution to the market’s problems, why should your potential customers?

2) Selling Is a Highly Emotional Process

People rarely buy based on logic and reasoning alone.

Sure, practical matters like pricing and learning curves do play a role in the sales process. But more than anything, getting your leads emotionally involved in your product is the key to writing good copy.

When your customer can emotionally connect with how you’re solving their problems, then they’ll be more likely to pay attention and actually give a damn about what you have to say.

If someone doesn’t emotionally relate to your product in some way, then they aren’t going to buy.

It really is that simple.

For example, if you’re selling a shampoo that prevents hair loss and the reader has no experience with losing their hair or feeling insecure about it… well, why would they care? They have nothing invested personally into this issue.

But what happens when you help your customers understand how losing their hair has affected them personally, or what it would feel like to finally be able to grow out those locks?

All of a sudden, this is an emotional decision and something they can relate to. They’ll pay attention because now there’s a real human connection between your product and the pain point that led them to your page.

See the difference?

By adding this emotional component into your copywriting, you’ll immediately grab customer’s attention and keep their focus on only one thing: buying from you.

3) Selling Is an Ongoing Process

Wouldn’t it be great to make a product, build a landing page, and see non-stop sales flooding your site?

In an ideal world, a few pay-per-click ads would be all you need to sell your products.

But let’s be honest: selling is an ongoing process that takes lots of refinement.

If you’re not continuously engaging your customers and selling to them, then they won’t keep buying from you.

For example, if one of my clients comes to me with a landing page already built out for their product, here’s the first question I’d ask:

“Have you A/B tested it?”

What I’m trying to understand by that question is whether or not the sales copy has been battle-tested or if it was generically written and forgotten about.

9 times out of 10, it’s the latter.

By understanding that your copy and sales are an ongoing process, you allow yourself to track the right metrics and make improvements over time.

And that’s really what it takes to sell: time.

Make a conscious effort to continuously write better copy and you’ll see your sales skyrocket over the long term.

[Bonus Tip] The BIGGEST Factor in Sales

Before wrapping up this post, I wanted to make sure we were clear on something.

Because like Ron Burgandy, it’s kind of a big deal.

No copy in the world will sell if it’s targeted to the wrong audience. That’s why it’s so important you build a detailed buyer persona and understand who would benefit most from your products or services.

The more you know about your customers, the better chance of selling to them.

So if you haven’t already built buyer personas for all of your main customer segments… then what are you waiting for? Get cracking on that ASAP!

Need a bit of help? Check out this post: How to Build a Buyer Persona in 5 Easy Steps.

And that’s all for today! We hope that this post has helped you realize that selling is not telling; it’s actually 3 other things: