An Alpha Marketer

The easy and simple answer to “why you should be an Alpha marketer” is that it puts you in control of the interaction with your client or prospect.  When you take the subordinate (beta) position it means the prospect controls the situation and narrative — putting you at their mercy.

Easily, the prospect can stall you, ignore you, or outright dismiss you. That will never get you the attention and ultimately the relationships that you need. The better you are at keeping someone’s attention, the more likely that person will accept your idea or pitch.

Unless your idea is presented in a way that the simple brain (the fight-or flight region) is interested, the idea and you are going to be ignored. When it’s too complicated, they will rule it out because they don’t want to think too hard. When you are presenting your idea from a more developed brain (neocortex) to someone who naturally hears your message from the simple brain (it’s often referred to as the crocodile brain), you lose.

So many marketers (or salespeople) try to succeed by fast talking, spinning it to the marketer’s advantage, or some other ineffective and annoying strategy that rarely works. Plus, it makes you seem desperate and needy.

This is one of the big reasons why I encourage marketers to do their homework or research on the prospect first, before they get in front of them. By doing research and understanding the clients’ wants and needs, you gain the upper hand and can appeal to their emotions better than just spewing your self-serving pitch. You can’t be very successful if you don’t know what you are up against.

One great way to establish the Alpha position is to let them know you only have 10 minutes to talk with them. When you set the time frame for the meeting, they will be less likely to try to hurry you up, and more willing to share their concerns with you. It also shows them you are not needy or desperate. It simply tells that that you are important and have another client to talk with in  a few minutes and when they sense that you are important, they’ll believe you have value, and they will respond in a more positive way.

Nobody schedules a meeting to listen to you tell them something they already know, so you better have a compelling message that motivates them to want to do business with you. You can’t be logical, cold and analytical at the same time you are trying to warmly engage them. Nobody’s brain is capable of that.

Another great way we found that works wonders is when they know of you, and know what you offer, and maybe even referred you in the past. Ask them why they haven’t referred you recently and then ask them if they want to be removed from the list. None of us want to be taken off a list (unless it’s a telemarketer list).

It's weird, but our business culture is obsessed with never taking no for an answer. In today’s society, you can’t brow beat your prospect into submission — it is not going to happen.  Whenever we chase someone or value someone more than ourselves, we are assuming the subordinate position and we are then at a disadvantage.

There is a part of all of us that will chase that which moves away from us, and we want what we can’t have. We even place significant value on things that are difficult to get. The perfect example is about a year ago when toilet paper was scarce. We bought it and hoarded it and it became something of great value.

Some of you will remember the ABC’s of sales — Always Be Closing — popular in the 1980s. I believe today it should be ABL — Always Be Leaving. Don’t hang around for 30, 40 or 60 minutes. It tells the prospect that you aren’t very important, that you don’t really have anything of value, and it puts you in the lesser role.

When you hold a high social status, even just during the meeting, you will convey power, urgency and value. The Alpha always enjoys much of the attention and control in social situations, so don’t accept them telling you that you have to wait, sometimes for a long time. Your time is important, and they need to understand you aren’t so desperate that you’ll wait while they make you a beta or subordinate.

In a nutshell, when we limit our time, convey a level or exclusivity or selectiveness, and present some intrigue, they’ll be much more inclined to want you. You become the magnet, drawing them in. You need to be an Alpha marketer.