An Unintuitive Approach to Strengthen Your Sales Pitch and Make it Less Annoying at the Same Time

Wouldn't it be great to annoy fewer prospects while selling?

And wouldn't it be even greater to sell MORE with that approach?

Here's a Jedi-like way of doing this:

Combine high-value content with a low-key pitch.

The real thing to understand is that your chances are to sell MORE even though you pitch less (more precisely BECAUSE you pitch less.).

But to make it work, you need to deliver high-value first, and craft a powerful CTA.

What does high-value with a low-key pitch mean?

It means helping your audience significantly first, to then pitch at the right time with the right words in a very low-key and subtle way.

Here's an example:

I've learned it from Jerry Jenkins, who has written over 200 books, including 21 New York Times bestsellers.

(Making him a Yoda of writing that sells.)

What stunned me is how effortlessly Jerry sucked me into his world.

Here's how he did it:

Jerry lured me in, while I was doomscrolling YouTube. (that was before I stopped watching YT altogether)

He offered me a video with the solid title "How to Write a Book: 13 Steps From a Bestselling Author".

How to, 13 steps, bestselling author? - Count me in, I clicked.

In his video, Jerry Jenkins delivered all the way. Counting down 13 valuable tips in a well-crafted presenter-style video.

As you can imagine: With over 200 books and 21 bestsellers under his belt, these were SOLID tips.

AND THEN, in minute 17:14 of his 17:35 minute video, just after finishing his last tip on the topic of "self-editing", Jerry dropped a short, subtle, and powerful CTA:

"I have a list of 21 self-editing tips. You can find them at jerryjenkins.com."

(A short banner supporting his message.)

His call to action only lasted 4.88 seconds.

But it sucked me onto jerryjenkins.com directly after finishing the video.

You bet that I entered my email address to get his 21 tips on self-editing.

Fast-forward, I've been on Jerry Jenkins's email list for over 1.5 years, and thus have allowed Jerry to bless me with 218 emails since then.

A true blessing they are. Because he is a GREAT writer, and it's highly valuable to see GREAT writing in ACTION.

But my main point is how virtuously Jerry Jenkins has brought me into his world.

And at the core of his technique, he combined high value with a low-key pitch.

Why is this approach so effective?

First and foremost, because it's preferably different.

Think of it as a matrix with the dimensions value and pitch.

So we come up with four fields:

low value / low pitch

low value / strong pitch

strong value / strong pitch

strong value / low pitch

Which of the fields is the most effective?

Let's cross out both low-value fields from the start.

Let me summarize from a marketing perspective:

He published a highly valuable YouTube "how-to" video.

Within the video, he delivered great value.

The whole time (17:14 from 17:35 minutes) he refrained from actively selling me something.

THEN he dropped a short and unobtrusive HIGH-VALUE CTA.

To me, this had a hugely positive effect.

Had he started to sell earlier and more often in his video, I would have devalued him AND his offer.

He would have just been another guy trying to sell me something.

But Jerry Jenkins is too experienced a copywriter for that.

OF COURSE, Mr. Jenkins is selling me something the whole video long: Himself, his value, his status as a highly decorated author, and far down the road he wants to sell a membership to his high-ticket writing course.

BUT he's not doing it offensively. It's all very subtle and thus easily to digest for me. That's the great skill I see here.

So what can you and I learn from this?

Well... how about learning to do the same!

Let's refrain from pushing CTA after CTA into our reader's or viewer's faces.

Let's truly help them and deliver solid value.

THEN give them the option for additional high value, but let's not do it offensively, but subtly.

Chances are, that we will not only annoy people less, but also have way more success with it.

What a beautiful combination.