Asking Permission

by John R. SedivycloseAuthor: John R. Sedivy Name: John R. Sedivy
Email: john@capecodbranding.com
Site: http://www.capecodbranding.com
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Have you read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin yet? If not, I recommend you do so – especially if you are in marketing or sales, or if you are a business owner. But this book goes beyond giving technical business advice, it’s just plain good old relationship building.

Why Do So Many Pitches Fail?
Relevance. At least from my personal experience, most things that I am approached about are just not relevant. I have little to no interest, actually for the most part, I simply do not care. Even the things I do care about, I am highly skeptical if I do not know the source.

So it actually goes deeper than relevance – the root cause is relationships. If I have a deep relationship with a person, I am receptive to the message, regardless of the content. Sure, I care about some things more than others, but for the most part, I am more interested in the individual making the recommendation which transfers to the product or service. I value the opinions of those who I have interest and respect.

This may seem counterintuitive – but think about it. Most excellent people know other excellent people. Most excellent people who own a business and offer a product or service offer excellent products or services. Excellent people do not waste their time with mediocrity – whether it’s in the form of people, products, or services. If they did, and did so enough, they would develop a reputation as being mediocre and no longer be excellent.

Excellent People Ask Permission
Consider sales pitches you have either received through the e-mail, phone, or in person. Can you think of an instance where someone came out of the blue and offered you a life changing product or service? Not likely.

Anything of substance likely developed from a strong relationship built on a even stronger foundation of permission.

Consider the individuals who blindly blast e-mails that end up in your e-mail box with some variation of the following theme:
“Hello consumer, I am offering the following product or service. Click on this link to learn more, join my group, etc.”

This was once the sole domain of unscrupulous spammers, unfortunately this cold calling and e-mail blasting appears to be creeping into reputable businesses as well. Perhaps as a sign of desperation resulting from the new economy.

Now consider if this same individual contacted you by means of a mutual friend or business associate who had a reputation for excellence and knew you might have a mutual interest in a given product or service. Permission is established up front through your contact and then the individual contacts you – relevance is established up front through permission.

Your friendship with this individual is built on mutual trust, so you are intrigued. However, the initial e-mail seeks only to establish initial contact and only requires permission on your part to proceed to the next step. Once you grant permission, the solicitor educates you on their product or service slowly over time. Once you feel comfortable doing so, you make the initial purchase. When you are satisfied, the solicitor slowly sells you additional, relevant product or services over time, but in a non-intrusive way.

Permission is gradual – it increases slightly over time. Although permission takes time to establish, it becomes a strong bond and serious asset which should be carefully guarded. Seth Godin likens the process to dating. The key is gradual permission over time which is granted slowly after trust is established along the way.

I believe that if more people grasped and put into practice permission marketing that the overall business experience would be better as a result. Therefore I am recommending that you read Permission Marketing by Seth Godin. Although the concept has been around for some time, I believe it is even more relevant today given the increased influence of the Internet and the changing business environment brought about by the new economy.

Permission trumps cold-calling and e-mail blasting every time!

-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding

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