Reader Q&A: How to Use Permission Marketing To Attract Prospects

A reader asks

I have a couple of questions about Permission Marketing: How can I get the first attention? How can I ask for permission to contact without interrupting them?

Before I answer your question, let me start with an example of the traditional approach to marketing (aka “interruption marketing”) and permission marketing. You walk into a store and a salesman immediately asks if he can help you. What’s your reaction? In many cases, it’s “No, thanks. I’m just looking.”

But, as you are browsing the store’s merchandise, perhaps something captures your attention. Maybe you find an item of clothing but can’t find your size. Maybe you spot an electronic device but aren’t sure of the technical specs. Suddenly, you are much more receptive to talking with someone who might help you make a more informed purchasing decision.

In the first case, you don’t care what the salesman has to say so you actively try to avoid a sales pitch. In the second case, something has captured your attention, so you give the salesman your permission to tell you more about the product and together, you hold a dialog about your wants, needs, and concerns.

What is Permission Marketing?

Permission marketing stems from the philosophy that your prospects’ attention is scarce and should be treated as a gift they are choosing to give you.

Your prospects suffer from a constant barrage of interruptions from phone calls, emails, text messages, direct mail, and advertising. Everyone wants their attention and they must decide to whom to give it. Once they give their attention, they can never get it back, so it’s an investment of time and energy on their part.

At the same time, it is difficult to figure out who or what to pay attention to. With so many choices, it’s easy to gather lots of information but still not know what to do to solve the problem. The more choices you have, the harder it is to decide which option is best.

That decision becomes more arduous when your prospect is evaluating a service rather than a product. With a product, they can see a physical item, try it out, and test the results before they buy. With a service, your prospects have no idea what to expect. They can’t see what “quality” or “professional” service is like before they buy.

How to Use Permission Marketing

If you’re proud of the services you offer and convinced they bring tremendous value to your clients’ lives, then your marketing should focus around helping people to understand that value.

How do you do that? First, you must convince your prospects to give you their attention. You have to give people a reason to interact with you so they’ll give you permission to talk with them. Yes, you still advertise. You still send mailings. You still network to meet people. You still market online. But the focus isn’t “I’m the most caring, professional, hardworking real estate agent, so you should hire me.” It’s about “Will my prospect find this information useful, even if they don’t hire me?”

The best way to do that is to provide samples of your services in bite-sized chunks. In your ads and promotions, you offer educational materials like a free report, audio program, DVD, or event invite and tell them how to take advantage of that offer (call your office, send for your free DVD, visit your website to download the report). In exchange for that information, your prospects give you their contact information.

At that time, you can ask them if they’d like to receive additional information. You can do so by providing a check box on your business reply card (“check this box to receive additional information about…”), a form on your website (“enter your name and email to receive our free report as well as our weekly newsletter on…”), or by phone (“would you like to be added to our monthly newsletter?”)

You approach follow up with the same philosophy. Each marketing piece you send them after the initial one should be valuable to them in some way, so they feel they haven’t wasted their time reading or listening to it. But now, you know you are communicating with people who have expressed interest in receiving your marketing messages.

It is a lot like dating. If you wanted to attract a spouse, you might place an ad in the personals or set up an online profile on a dating site (i.e. you advertise where you have a good chance of reaching interested prospects). Most people won’t read your ad. Some will read your ad but won’t respond. A handful may contact you. When someone responds (i.e. requests more information), you don’t automatically assume they are marriage material. Rather, you get to know one another gradually until you both decide if you are right for one another (i.e. establish trust and build rapport).

People do business with those they know, like, and trust. By using permission marketing, you establish yourself as a trusted adviser focused on building relationships with your prospects before the sale.

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