Accepted thinking is the enemy of innovation. I want you to challenge your thinking by substituting new phrases for accepted concepts.

Specifically, I want you to remove two phrases from your marketing lexicon. 

I want you to stop saying “call to action,” and I want you to stop saying “sales call.”

Wait, what! But…

I‘m challenging these accepted ideas so you can start thinking differently.

Both of these phrases reflect traditional inside-out marketing. They represent what you, the marketer, want. They don’t support what your customers want.

So what should you be saying?

Replace “call to action” with “pathways,” and replace “sales call” with “enrollment conversation.” 

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OMG, California has gotten to him.

Before presenting the readout from a major customer loyalty study, I heard the researcher say something that challenged my thinking. He said, “90% of loyalty problems can be traced to a flawed sales process.”

Effective marketing attracts your best customers and repels those who aren’t a good fit. Once you’ve attracted your prime prospects, you want to use mid-funnel activity to build know, like, and trust among these prime prospects. You do this with mid-funnel tactics that support the customer’s journey.

“Call to action” and “sales call” are dissonant with this idea. They don’t support the customer’s journey they reflect the marketer’s needs.

On the other hand, “pathway” and “enrollment conversation,” while generating the same result as “call to action” and “sales call,” support the customer. The end result is the same, but the distinction is important. 

The accepted phrases are transactional. They are inside-out marketing because they tell your prospects what they should do and what you want. “Pathways” and “enrollment conversation” are relational. They are outside-in marketing because they support the customer’s journey to the high-value solution they need to solve their problem. 

Using the new phrases will shift your mindset from transactional to relational. This creates relationship equity by creating value that goes beyond functional benefits. Relationship equity is what creates a brand versus a product with a name. And relationship equity leads to customer loyalty. 

The new phrases are also examples of the change that comes from accepting the five relationship marketing principles. The first principle states, “Attract the right customers for the right reasons.”

If you follow this principle, you will stop saying “call to action” and start thinking about pathways. And you’ll stop saying “sales call” and consider it an enrollment conversation.

Get the right customers for the right reasons.

Author: James Hipkin

Since 2010, James Hipkin has built his clients’ businesses with digital marketing. Today, James is passionate about websites and helping the rest of us understand online marketing. His customers value his jargon-free, common-sense approach. “James explains the ins and outs of digital marketing in ways that make sense.”

Use this link to book a meeting time with James.