Selling Satellite Dishes to the Amish
Way back before the Internet, during my time of what seemed to be endless dead-end jobs, I worked for a company which sold satellite dishes door-to-door.
We were assigned and area and had to canvas the area contacting all the home owners about buying a TV sattelitte dish.
My area was a little north of Hagerstown, Indiana.
On my first day in this territory, I did what the average beginner would do…I focused on the nicest looking farms in the area (it was a rural community).
Obviously…the people who had the nicest farms would have the most money and would be more open to buying these large satellite dishes which ran in the several thousand dollar range.
Each time I knocked on a door though, it was an Amish person.
My great hopes for a sale dashed against the rocks.
If you’re from the Midwest, you likely know who the Amish are. They’re a community who believe in simple living, plain clothing, and ignoring most of modern conveniences such as electricity, telephones, and cars. You’ll see them driving around the area in their horse drawn carriages.
My chance of a sale was zero to none. So I’d thank them for their time and go on to the next house.
By experience and talking with other sales people I learned the real best chance of a sale was to a mobile home owner who didn’t have a visible satellite dish. And I wasn’t supposed to judge the home or yard. Some of the biggest purchases were from very dumpy yards (cars up on blocks, overgrown grass everywhere, etc.).
Jeff Foxworthy would be proud.
Too bad I wasn’t a very good sales person…and didn’t last long enough at the job to find out. Never made a single sale personally. Another proof that if I can do an online business, anyone can.
But I did carry that lesson on to the Internet.
The DESIRES of your target market are more important than anything else.
Copywriters will brag about how incredible their conversion numbers are, but some conveniently leave out this important truth. Audience is MUCH MORE important than copy.
Let’s say I was a super-salesman, the kind they say could sell ice to the eskimos. Would I have a shot at selling the Amish who didn’t use electricty a satellite dish? Nope. Wouldn’t happen.
So rule #1 of effective online marketing is to find an audience who WANTS what you sell.
Notice I said WANTS, not needs. My own mind told me at the time that the people with the “poor looking” yards didn’t need a satellite dish. They needed a lawn mower! But the successful sales people shared with me that a satellite dish is exactly what this audience wanted.
So rule #2 is it’s NOT your job to decide what the audience wants to buy. You’re not in charge of their lives. You’re NOT their judge. Who knows what situation their lives were in or why their yard looked like that (maybe they were disabled or a thousand other possibilities). Don’t judge your customers. Simply find out what they WANT (proven by what they’re already buying).
Remember those two rules to save yourself a lot of pain and heartache online.
The very first monthly module (of twelve full training modules) in the Monthly Mentor Club is all about choosing a profitable market.
http://www.MonthlyMentorClub.com
In addition to giving you my detailed step-by-step plan of how to choose profitable markets (discovered over 14 years of online business and coaching), I also recruited Glenn Livingston who has successfully entered 17 radically different markets. He shares with you his proven mathematical formula for comparing the money available in multiple markets.
It’s easy to make money when you nail this point. Find the right audience. Find out what they’re buying. Make them a better offer. Do this right, and you don’t have to be a worldclass copywriter. You just need to get your offer in front of the right audience.
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19 Responses to “Selling Satellite Dishes to the Amish”
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Hey Terry,
Oh yes! I’ve learned the lonnngg and hard way to just GIVE EM WHAT THEY WANT!
Loved your Amish story… I have been fascinated with their culture for years… and hope one day to visit their farms in PA.
Nancy
Terry, I wonder how many failed product launches were due to the seller not knowing what the customer real desires were?
You can have the best copywriting and design, but if no one wants the product, it’s dead in the water.
Terry, great post.
It reminds me of Gary Halbert’s famous question when he asked: “What is the single most important factor for successful copywriting?”
Answer: “If you’re selling hamburgers, find a hungry crowd.”
Happy New Year
Frank
I wonder if the Amish area is the one the company gives to all the rookies? Wonderful story and I love the conclusion “Audience is more important than copy”
Ha! I grew up Amish.
Now, I make software for web sites, have been for over a decade
Will
You’re bang on, Terry.
I met a Mennonite girl last year but didn’t pre-judge. Instead, I showed her a tall, sexy guy with a great sense of humour and she bought practically on the spot! We’ve been dating now for over a year.
Now I need to make contact with some of the 100,000′s of people who live in Alberta and are looking for a good investment. Many Albertans have made a lot of money from the job and real estate boom of the last decade but, like most people in North America, have been bitterly disappointed in the stock market.
I work for a company that is doing exciting things in the booming biofuels industry. This is out of the R&D and planning stages and is poised to take off. Those who get in could realistically make 20% or more per year for literally decades to come. And their principal will be insured by no less than the World Bank and Lloyds of London.
People are hungry for this kind of hamburger! What I need is your help or perhaps the help of one of your subscribers reading this, to reach these people in Alberta and BC. In the near future, I’ll be able to offer the same opportunity to other countries as well. Let’s grow and profit together!
Rob Vanden Heuvel
403-870-9032
Calgary, AB
Isn’t it amazing that so many people buy what they want instead of what they need?
It is a good lesson to know and more profitable when applied. Once we can find out what they are buying and offer them more value, they would be begging for what we offering, wouldn’t they?
You are absolutely right about knowing the market. Whether advertising, marketing or selling to any group, you must actually know them. If you don’t know their desires, wants, and more importantly needs, you won’t sell them anything. Long term sales come from finding, and solving the problems of what is needed by someone, and what they want.
The problems is that such jobs are few and far between, usually because they are illegal, or have a high fatality rate.
For example, almost everyone wants a job that pays well, works only a few hours a year, and a fantastic early retirement program.
But, what people need is a job they like, pays a decent wage, and reasonable retirement possibilities. The problem is that the want and the need are in conflict. The want will still be there if need is filled, but it will not drive all their actions. I may want a Maserati to drive, but I need a VW Beetle clunker, because my real need is transportation. My image will survive not having the Maserati, but not having any transportation is not survivable. If you focus on selling me the Maserati, and not the clunker, you will fail to meet my real need. In the process, you lose any future sales. Business is all about continuing sales, not one tine bonanzas. Forget that at your peril.
The Amish in your story remind me of the Old Colony folks living in the Mennonite town of my youth some 40 years ago. Growing up in my father’s hardware store, it was often quite shocking to me to find that there were people who chose to live without running water or inside plumbing, particularly as our winter days are often in the -30 C or lower range.
My dad knew and respected the views of these folks, even if his ways were different. He also knew that it would be easier to get a full body tan in January than it would be to sell one of these customers a hot water tank. We didn’t have tanning salons back then.
Thank you Terry for reminding me of the lessons I learned from him.
I agree that effective online marketing involves finding an audience who wants what you sell.
And:
Make sure your target audience can easily find you.
Hi Terry,
I can relate to the door to door story. 7 years ago I used to sell spray tanning systems to the salons, cold calling. Back then no salon wanted them, they wanted the solarium. Selling was hard and I was not a pushy salesperson. Now every salon has one!
I think there is also a momentum with products as well. as something becomes more popular more people want it. I think the trick is to be one of the first people with the product that the market will eventually want.
The momentum in the beginning may be slow, however it will speed up eventually!
Kind Regards
Jacinta
This is true that no matter what you do, you can’t sell technology to Amish people. Conversion would be 0% even if you try to sell to a million Amish people.
I live in Pennsylvania, there’s a large Amish population not far from where I live, a lot of them are starting to keep up with the times, so to speak.
Selling has never been an easy job, i was once a sales person too but selling technology is harder
Selling satellite dishes to Amish is like selling meat to vegetarians. Ain’t going to work!
Good story, Terry.
Ryan
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ryan Healy, Warren Brown. Warren Brown said: RT @healymonster: Selling Satellite Dishes to the Amish http://ow.ly/WC5r (via @terrydean) [...]
Once we learn and accept those two rules, life gets much easier. The trouble of course is WE always think we know best. We have to let our ego get out of the way.
Thanks for reminding us of these two rules.
The trouble of course is WE always think we know best. We have to let our ego get out of the way.
Another factor is that no matter how essential and affordable a product may be, a person is not going to buy it until he/she thinks it necessary… so i say, the key lies in convincing people that they NEED what you are selling.