Tastes like chicken, but doesn't everything?

Here we are with selling strategy number three, about selling individual items. We’re still in the process of trying to figure out ways to avoid “saying too much,” because this description about a single malt whiskey I recently bought, was FAR too wordy:

“This is a toffee gold dram from a refill butt and is very mature for its age. The nose delivers pencil shavings, ripe fruit, nutmeg, flowers and orange toffee. At full strength, the taste was extremely agreeable and longreaching, with flavours of sweet bread dough, coconut and cherry coke. Once diluted, the nose had pepper and sugared violets (much later perfumed soap), while the palate was orangey with caramel creams and some dry pepper in the finish. Very sophisticated and easy to drink.”

Today’s strategy is simple: we’re just going to describe what the scotch tastes like, but we’re not going to go through every single adjective in the Oxford Dictionary to do it. Here, check this out:

“This is a solid scotch – probably one you’d want to drink before dinner as your evening is just getting warmed up. It’s not particularly overwhelming — it’s more like a light roast coffee instead of a dark roast — but it’s got an unusually floral taste, which minimizes the “edge” even some of the best single malts tend to have. This is a winner in my book, great for every Friday night you’re ready to entertain.”

Or simply, “Tastes like chicken.”

See, most people feel they have to use every adjective in the book to describe something, but all this does is confuse your prospect and makes them disconnect from your copy. I mean, can you ever imagine saying to someone in person, “At full strength, the taste was extremely agreeable and longreaching, with flavours of sweet bread dough, coconut and cherry coke. Once diluted, the nose had pepper and sugared violets (much later perfumed soap), while the palate was orangey with caramel creams and some dry pepper in the finish…”

Yikes! I’d be sleeping at “longreaching,” and I think most people would be bored silly as well.

Remember, when you write copy, you’re talking to the common man, always. And we are all common men, regardless of income, location or occupation. We all get dressed in the morning, crap over a bowl while sitting down (at least, hopefully), and dribble coffee on our lower lip when we’re in a rush.

Keep this in mind, always. You’re not writing to “Lord Dunbar,” even if you are writing to Lord Dunbar. You’re writing to John Dunbar — a husband who occasionally argues with his wife, a father of three kids who drive him nuts, and the guy who’s got to pick up the crap when his dog goes on the lawn.

O.K.?

Good, so where are we at with all this?

So far, Option A is to bore someone to tears, or you can use one of the three other selling strategies I’ve given you over the last few days, instead:

* Telling your prospects who shouldn’t buy…
* Selling using stories… and
* Just describe simple details about what you’re selling.

Next week we’ll take a look at a few more. If you’re getting bored of this, let me know and we can shift gears — that’s O.K., too. Have a good weekend.

Now go sell something, Craig Garber

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