Intel and The Snuggie

Neither fire, the wheel, the microprocessor nor The Snuggie has been invented yet in much of the marketing world.

This is why you still fend off inumerable unwanted marketing messages. Yes, part of it is low cost for delivery- like the lovable Web pop-up window, but for many marketing flatliners/flat-world minds, most of the onslaught is due to people with the IQ of cole slaw and the creative wherewithal of Open-Mic Night for Tax Attorneys.

The reason you (and I) loathe most salespeople is they are taught to "overcome objections". In the late 19th Century, this might have made sense. Now it only makes for antagonism. What part of "I'm not interested" do you not understand? The only thing created by this marketing mindset is the desire to flee from the "sales eagle!" to a place enveloped on four sides by kevlar.

As they continue to tinker with the wheel, these knuckle-draggers LOVE to hear you're "not in the market" for their products and services! Ya see, while they're hanging pictures on their cave walls, they'll explain that you acually have a "latent" need for your product. They read about it in a book entitled "You Can Sell Ice To Eskimos and swimming Titantic survivors while I'm Cashing Your $19.95 for this Book"

Very few business have the resources to build a large and effective marketing engine. Apple creates desires for products in which neither the desire nor product even existed 6 months ago. Your company is not Apple. You work for Fred's Widget and Snuggie Factory.

That means your company and its marketing efforts will need to seek new customers by initiating contact. That contact doesn't need to be wear a plaid jacket. That contact doesn't need to "overcome objections". It needs to be intelligently targeted, it needs to be concise, it needs to be smart and it needs to find people where timing and receptivity come together.

And if they tell you they're "all set" and their needs for widgets and/or Snuggies has been met for the next several decades, thank them and move on. There are people out there who want or need your stuff but are so swamped with work and life "to do's" that they've shelved action. They're listening.