What this guide argues, and what would prove each claim wrong.
A position says what would prove it wrong. Test each on your own business.
Sales and marketing make the same argument. The only difference is whether someone is there to adapt it.Wrong if the words that win your best calls don’t improve your page when you put them on it. Salesmanship in Print
A conversation pays only above a certain deal size. Below it, a page should do the selling.Wrong if your conversations win customers more cheaply than your page at every deal size, including the smallest. A Person or a Page
Ask before you present, and say the buyer’s problem back before you recommend anything.Wrong if calls where you presented in the first five minutes close as often as calls where you asked first. The Conversation
Prevent objections rather than handle them: answer the common ones before they come up.Wrong if raising your top three objections yourself makes calls longer without making more of them end in a next step. Objections, the Ask and the Follow-Up
Every conversation should end with an advance: a dated next step the buyer agreed to.Wrong if deals whose last call ended in “let me think about it” close as often as deals whose last call ended with a date. Objections, the Ask and the Follow-Up
Know how many conversations a week your target needs, and which stage rate moves that number most.Wrong if you hit targets as often in weeks when conversations fell short as in weeks when they didn’t. Pipeline Math
The sales call is the best copy research you have.Wrong if copy written from customers’ recorded words does no better than copy written in a meeting room. Harvest the Call
A page has to answer objections before they’re asked, in the order customers raise them, and ask for one thing.Wrong if answering your top objections on the page changes neither conversion nor pre-purchase questions. One to Many
Prepare for one buyer with what marketing already knows about many customers.Wrong if meetings prepared from your reviews, returns and search data go no better than ones prepared from the deck. Many to One
Run it as a loop: sales notes change the copy every month, and marketing results change which story sales leads with.Wrong if your page and your pitch can drift apart for a quarter without costing you anything. The Loop