You’ve decided to throw a party, with music and dancing and lots of entertainment. You send out the invitations and your guests can decide whether to attend or not.
Generally, people like to be invited to parties. You may get a few who decline because they don’t want to come, or the time isn’t right for them. Others will want to come, and they’ll accept.
Of course, there may be various reasons why people want to come to your party. They may like you and know you throw a great shindig. They might be in need of a good evening out or be invited by other guests. It could simply be FOMO (Fear of Missing Out).
Pitching is hard work
The way you send out the invitation to your party makes a difference. Think about the beautiful warm streets of a Greek holiday destination – with all those reps standing outside the bars. They want to invite you into their bar – into their party.
We don’t like the reps who are pushy. They are the ones who are pitching at us, and because they push, we automatically resist. Being pushed towards a purchase makes us suspicious – we don’t believe, trust or want what they offer.
We are more likely to respond to the reps who invite us in and offer us something we need.
If you tried to pitch your own party rather than send invitations, do you think more people would decline?
Invite people to your party
You want people to come to your business – and so it’s natural to feel you should be pitching your services. But – like that street rep – pitching can feel very pushy. And honestly, most of us don’t like pitching. It makes us feel exposed, it’s hard work, and it has low returns.
What we want to do is invite people to join us. Rather than pushing them in through the door – let people come to you. Some people will want to use your services because they like you and they know you have a great reputation. Some will join in for fear of missing out. And – some people will join in because the time is right and they are in need of your help.
When you are pitching, you meet resistance. Offering to help people rarely does. The knack is to know when people need help, so that you send your invitation at the right time. Identifying when the time is right – well, that’s the next step.