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And you spend a wonderful couple of hours catching up on husbands, children, the problems, the good things, like...

Your friend has lost 35 pounds since you last saw her a few years ago, and she tells you how she did it with this wonderful product that finally worked for her. And you are delighted for her of course, and so on and on.

At the end of the lunch, your friend tells you that she is selling the weight loss product she was chattering about.

Question: How do you feel now, about all the gushing she did about the product?

Do words like "used a little" or "Maybe the lunch was really just about selling the product" or "Oh THAT's why she called..." come to mind? Does it feel good or not?

Notice the problem is not that the product didn't work. It did. But because she didn't tell you up front she was selling it, before all the gushing, the truth itself is now suddenly suspect.

Moral: If you start gushing about any product (or company) without letting the listener know up front that you are selling it, you risk your credibility.

This is not like recommending a restaurant or a movie. You don't have a financial interest in those. But with a product or business you market, you do. And when it finally comes out, everything you said, even if true, comes into question. BECAUSE YOU ARE SELLING IT. And you didn't tell up front.

And how will you react next time the same friend calls you to chat?

Avoid the credibility problem. ALWAYS tell up front.

***

~ "We've been around way too long, and people have heard all our lies..." ~

Guess who said it...

"We've been around way too long, and people have heard all our lies. We just have to deliver."
' Rick Wagoner, Chairman of General Motors

And when would you guess someone said this (!):

'Psychologists tell us that the mind is under a continual bombardment of ideas, all of which are trying to make an impression on it. The prospect, therefore, does not sit around with his mind a blank, calmly waiting for someone or something to capture his attention without a struggle. The salesman enters a field already well occupied and must fight for the undivided attention that is a successful sale.'
- written in 1918.

Anyone still doubt the skepticism you're up against when you start talking about your thing?

Saw both these today in Seth Godin's blog.