When are you most likely to seek out a lawyer’s help?

After you get burned by a contractor who broke an agreement, or while price shopping contractors for a project?

I recently brought up this scenario with a client during an ad critique…

You see, the lawyer was hoping to convince business owners that they should hire him to review their suppliers’ contracts. The reason: courts interpret contracts differently than the average business owner.

Here’s an excerpt from the ad:

Contracts contain “terms of art.” Those are words that have a meaning in law that differs from their everyday meaning. So, when you read the contract, your understanding of it will differ from that of the court. For that reason, your reading of the contract is the same as not reading it at all.     

As you can see, the attorney saw his ad as a way to help prospects prevent future problems.

Although logical, his thought process goes against human nature. We only want what we need now.

Think about it…

If I pitched you a powder to rub on your eyelids to ward off diseases such as glaucoma, trachoma, and macular degeneration, would you be interested – even though you never experienced these ailments?

I’m guessing it might be a tough sell.

However, if you suddenly woke up blind this morning, and I offered you a similar product that promised to restore your sight, would you be interested?

Of course!

In fact, you’d probably be willing to pay a pretty penny for the cure – much more than the preventative product.

Simply put, people prefer cures over prevention.

Pharmaceutical companies know this fact well. After all, the Pfizer sales reps promoting that little blue pill certainly aren’t pitching prevention…

Do you think guys use Rogaine because they fear losing their hair at some point in their lives?

No way!

They have balding domes and want an instant cure.

Listen, according to the World Health Organization, the pharmaceutical market is worth $300 billion a year worldwide. Why not take a cue from this booming industry?

If you’re currently pitching prevention with your product or service, begin brainstorming ways you can turn your offer into a cure.

What difficulties does your product solve? How does your service eliminate specific problems?

Sure, you can still promote some preventive features, but you’ll often get more attention – and bigger sales – when you focus on your product or service’s curative benefits.

Keep in mind too, that the other challenge with promoting prevention is you immediately enter the convincing game. In marketing, this contest can get excessively long and super expensive.

Here’s an example that explains why:

Let’s talk politics (a topic I often avoid). It amazes me how many people volunteer their political views in public with hopes of seeking support.

When someone pushes their political opinions on you, especially when those beliefs differ from yours, how do you feel?

It’s annoying, right?

In some instances, you probably want to fire back with your opinions.

These feelings are due to the consistency principle. Once we make up our minds about an issue, we naturally prefer to stay consistent about that thought.

In fact, when that belief gets attacked, the instinctive reaction is to take a stubborn stand and fight stronger for your thoughts.

The greater the push, the stronger the belief becomes.

So, when you try to convince people why they need what you offer, you fight a no-win battle.

The bottom line: sell the “good” your product or service does to solve problems, not the “bad” that it may prevent.

By Tom Trush