"It’s like rubbing honey on Keira Knightley!" – How to use irresistible metaphors to sell more
Website design By BotEap.comImagine if you could slip into bed with your client, late at night when she’s in her pajamas, and whisper love poems about your brand, without all those messy arrests and subsequent trials… Imagine if your stories were so psychologically compelling that customers would use them to sell their proposition to themselves… And then brag about their purchase to others, using the words you provided.
Website design By BotEap.comSometimes touch focus works, and having it hold the product can do the job. But more often than not, it’s actually more persuasive to leave verbal hooks in memory. We need to speak in compelling metaphors.
Website design By BotEap.comIrresistible metaphors are like little soldiers of the imagination, fighting to plant their flag in your brain space, going to war with the barriers to purchase by parachuting over past objections and landing covertly behind enemy lines.
Website design By BotEap.comChances are, at some point you’ve had a salesperson completely tear you apart with nothing more than words. Whether it’s a retail product launch or a multi-million dollar Rand deal for businesses that are more about language than PowerPoint slides; his metaphor was so juicy; its story so utterly compelling; that he simply had to do the shopping, just so he could own that pithy little catchphrase and repeat it as his own.
Website design By BotEap.comHow does it work?
Website design By BotEap.comMetaphors work their magic by:
Website design By BotEap.comTake the perspective of analytical thinking and put it in romantic mode.
Giving human meaning to a transaction, which might otherwise have been decided purely in mathematics
Make your customers enjoy your creativity, and therefore, your company
Create a dynamic in which your customers begin to replicate your words and sell you to others.
Providing stories so compelling that forgoing the purchase would be like missing out on something special. The alternative becomes historyless and therefore valueless. Website design By BotEap.comSometimes a good metaphor can seal the deal on its own. If it’s compelling enough, the customer simply has to have it. So what makes this little device so persuasive? Website design By BotEap.comThe humble metaphor is often described as the highest form of communication. He cuts through the tangle of facts and figures and hits right at the emotional guts by making a simple idea really come to life. It also tends to stick in the memory due to its visual nature. Website design By BotEap.comThe undisputed master of the modern metaphor is Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson. Who else would think to describe the smooth ride of a supercar as “…like rubbing honey on Kiera Knightley”? Or, in a more cynical moment, a Porsche with “all the sex appeal of a gummy camel”? Website design By BotEap.comSimilarly, Harley Davidson won awards for its slogan: “It’s like a juicy steak to your ears.” Great metaphors can even become business empires. Think of the best-selling book series, ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul.’ Website design By BotEap.comDo it yourself: Website design By BotEap.comLet’s go to the mechanics. How can you use metaphors in your pitches? Website design By BotEap.comTo begin with, a metaphor is very simply the art of using one thing to symbolically represent another. That’s all. The comparison then imbues the original thing with a dramatic quality. For example: This brand is like the Rolls Royce of ballpoint pens, or The American economy is a drunken boxer, ready to fight but reeling to stay on its feet. Website design By BotEap.comFor that reason, we need to start with the quality you want to infuse into your offering. How do you want your offer to be? The sneaky fighter of your industry? The James Bond of your client’s choices? From then on, it’s a simple matter of painting the picture for your prospect, telling the story, and allowing them to ‘own the dream’. Website design By BotEap.comLet’s pretend we’re in real estate. An average launch could simply list the benefits: Website design By BotEap.comThe house receives sun in the morning.
The kitchen tiles are imported from Italy and the oven is new.
The office library has an intercom system.
A spiral staircase connects the two floors. Website design By BotEap.comRephrased using metaphors, these simple elements become a treasure trove of captivating and picturesque language: Website design By BotEap.comIt’s like waking up in a beach house every morning.
It’s like having Nigella Lawson’s kitchen all to yourself.
This is not an office. It is the command center of the Star Ship Enterprise.
This section looks like an episode of Top Billing. You could imagine Jeanie D swaning down the stairs as she introduces the next guest. Website design By BotEap.comWell-crafted metaphors are powerful sales tools. They are also tragically underutilized. We rarely think of adding them to our repertoire. And why not; are they free after all? They require only the slightest stretch of imagination. And if your competitors aren’t using them, adding them to your toolkit will give you a natural advantage. Why? Because all features and benefits are equal, the ‘meaningful’ ‘romantic’ option will usually win. Metaphors give meaning to inanimate objects. They lend history to otherwise lifeless offerings. Website design By BotEap.comTell a quality story and your customers will use it to convince themselves. They will repeat the compelling metaphors to their friends and family to justify the purchase and brag about its value. Website design By BotEap.comBecome the only one in your industry to use metaphors, and your presentation will be like a meteorite in the gray landscape of your clients’ imaginations. You will be like the only welcome light in a deserted town and, therefore, the only logical option.
Giving human meaning to a transaction, which might otherwise have been decided purely in mathematics
Make your customers enjoy your creativity, and therefore, your company
Create a dynamic in which your customers begin to replicate your words and sell you to others.
Providing stories so compelling that forgoing the purchase would be like missing out on something special. The alternative becomes historyless and therefore valueless. Website design By BotEap.comSometimes a good metaphor can seal the deal on its own. If it’s compelling enough, the customer simply has to have it. So what makes this little device so persuasive? Website design By BotEap.comThe humble metaphor is often described as the highest form of communication. He cuts through the tangle of facts and figures and hits right at the emotional guts by making a simple idea really come to life. It also tends to stick in the memory due to its visual nature. Website design By BotEap.comThe undisputed master of the modern metaphor is Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson. Who else would think to describe the smooth ride of a supercar as “…like rubbing honey on Kiera Knightley”? Or, in a more cynical moment, a Porsche with “all the sex appeal of a gummy camel”? Website design By BotEap.comSimilarly, Harley Davidson won awards for its slogan: “It’s like a juicy steak to your ears.” Great metaphors can even become business empires. Think of the best-selling book series, ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul.’ Website design By BotEap.comDo it yourself: Website design By BotEap.comLet’s go to the mechanics. How can you use metaphors in your pitches? Website design By BotEap.comTo begin with, a metaphor is very simply the art of using one thing to symbolically represent another. That’s all. The comparison then imbues the original thing with a dramatic quality. For example: This brand is like the Rolls Royce of ballpoint pens, or The American economy is a drunken boxer, ready to fight but reeling to stay on its feet. Website design By BotEap.comFor that reason, we need to start with the quality you want to infuse into your offering. How do you want your offer to be? The sneaky fighter of your industry? The James Bond of your client’s choices? From then on, it’s a simple matter of painting the picture for your prospect, telling the story, and allowing them to ‘own the dream’. Website design By BotEap.comLet’s pretend we’re in real estate. An average launch could simply list the benefits: Website design By BotEap.comThe house receives sun in the morning.
The kitchen tiles are imported from Italy and the oven is new.
The office library has an intercom system.
A spiral staircase connects the two floors. Website design By BotEap.comRephrased using metaphors, these simple elements become a treasure trove of captivating and picturesque language: Website design By BotEap.comIt’s like waking up in a beach house every morning.
It’s like having Nigella Lawson’s kitchen all to yourself.
This is not an office. It is the command center of the Star Ship Enterprise.
This section looks like an episode of Top Billing. You could imagine Jeanie D swaning down the stairs as she introduces the next guest. Website design By BotEap.comWell-crafted metaphors are powerful sales tools. They are also tragically underutilized. We rarely think of adding them to our repertoire. And why not; are they free after all? They require only the slightest stretch of imagination. And if your competitors aren’t using them, adding them to your toolkit will give you a natural advantage. Why? Because all features and benefits are equal, the ‘meaningful’ ‘romantic’ option will usually win. Metaphors give meaning to inanimate objects. They lend history to otherwise lifeless offerings. Website design By BotEap.comTell a quality story and your customers will use it to convince themselves. They will repeat the compelling metaphors to their friends and family to justify the purchase and brag about its value. Website design By BotEap.comBecome the only one in your industry to use metaphors, and your presentation will be like a meteorite in the gray landscape of your clients’ imaginations. You will be like the only welcome light in a deserted town and, therefore, the only logical option.