Don't Flatter Those Clients - But Compliment Them
Anyone who has ever taken my marketing class knows I feel strongly that part of effectively placing your work and services is to unerstand the needs of the client, practical and emotional. Part of that emotional need may be ego. Yet I'd say never, never use flattery to land a client.
In a previous occupation as head of product marketing at a publicly-held direct marketer of specialty software and hardware, my department was responsible for deciding what we would actively carry and promote. When you are a professional buyer - and editors are certainly that - you become wary of people buttering you up, because it happens all the time. The act telegraphs that the product or service probably isn't that compelling, and that the salesperson thinks you enough of a rube to fall for a line. In other words, flattery becomes an immediate red flag.
Flattering someone for calculated effect has an undermining effect on your own psychology. It's manipulative, and so a distasteful activity. In addition, if you keep pursuing the tactic, you undermine your own confidence in your work, making you rely on flattery even more and undermine your own marketing and sales.
Instead of flattery, consider offering a compliment at the right time. Although they sound the same, they aren't. The former is praise either falsely given or delivered in excess in an attempt to influence someone. In its most obvious form, there is actually a rhetorical term, appeal to flattery, that is one of the classic logical fallacies.
But a compliment? It's something that you know is deserved, and it's rightful place is after you've worked with a client - possibly a number of times. The person who might distrust flattery can still appreciate a sincere expression of appreciation. Think of how you feel when a client praises a particularly good piece of work. Often, especially in editorial settings, the client (editor, in this case) also does work, and if the edit is particularly pleasing, definitely let the editor know that you appreciate the results.
In a previous occupation as head of product marketing at a publicly-held direct marketer of specialty software and hardware, my department was responsible for deciding what we would actively carry and promote. When you are a professional buyer - and editors are certainly that - you become wary of people buttering you up, because it happens all the time. The act telegraphs that the product or service probably isn't that compelling, and that the salesperson thinks you enough of a rube to fall for a line. In other words, flattery becomes an immediate red flag.
Flattering someone for calculated effect has an undermining effect on your own psychology. It's manipulative, and so a distasteful activity. In addition, if you keep pursuing the tactic, you undermine your own confidence in your work, making you rely on flattery even more and undermine your own marketing and sales.
Instead of flattery, consider offering a compliment at the right time. Although they sound the same, they aren't. The former is praise either falsely given or delivered in excess in an attempt to influence someone. In its most obvious form, there is actually a rhetorical term, appeal to flattery, that is one of the classic logical fallacies.
But a compliment? It's something that you know is deserved, and it's rightful place is after you've worked with a client - possibly a number of times. The person who might distrust flattery can still appreciate a sincere expression of appreciation. Think of how you feel when a client praises a particularly good piece of work. Often, especially in editorial settings, the client (editor, in this case) also does work, and if the edit is particularly pleasing, definitely let the editor know that you appreciate the results.
Labels: compliment, flattery, red flags, sales
posted by Erik Sherman | 5:42 AM
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