Show The Rock, The Hard Place And Make Your Product The Airlift

Your customer might not know it but they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Let’s say your customer wants to lose 20lbs.

His “rock” might be a grueling exercise regime that he doesn’t want to do (and probably won’t stick to), and his “hard place” might be a strict diet of healthy foods that taste vaguely like a picture of food that I drew in crayons on a sheet of sketch paper… scrap the crayons, they’re too delicious.

Both choices “could” get him to his goal of losing the 20lbs… but since he really doesn’t want to do either and instead wants to grate cheese on every meal (improves every savoury dish I guarantee it) he gets stuck with his problem.

Now, without prompting, he might not realise there’s a rock and a hard place. He might just think there’s nothing he can do to shift that weight and he doesn’t know why he can’t find something that fits in with his lifestyle (rather than the lifestyle of a marine or a lettuce-loving entourage-encouraged A-list celebrity).

In which case, you use this simple tip in your sales copy:

• Show him the rock
• Show him the hard place
• Show him what you’ve got instead

By highlighting less attractive options and positioning your product as an alternative (the airlift out of the cavern he’s wedged in) you explain why your way of solving his problem is a preferable solution.

For example…

“It’s no surprise losing those last 20 pounds can be a real struggle, it seems that you either have to take on the training regime of a soldier without falling asleep for a full day’s work, or you have to resort to ordering a tomato juice and passing on the nachos and cheese on guys’ night… No wonder you’ve found it difficult with choices like those!”

Now let’s give him the airlift out of the cavern…

“We were hearing the same frustrations from professionals just like you which is why we designed a personal online fitness plan which combines exercises (that you can do in 20 minutes) and a meal plan (that doesn’t ban beer, cheese or chips) with food you can prepare in under 30 minutes.”

Make sense?

It’s a really simple technique but in your copy it does 3 things:

• It proves you understand his problem
• It reminds him of his problem
• It uses logic to show why your product is a great choice (much more powerful than simply telling him it’s a great choice)

To do the same, simply ask yourself what are the alternative options that haven’t worked for your customer and then:

• Show her the rock
• Show her the hard place
• Show her the airlift out of the cavern

Love to hear from you as always – what are some of the rocks and hard places your customers suffer from, or tell us what you do and we’ll see if we can brainstorm some here for you!

Let us know in the comments below…