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Q: How do you connect with distracted prospects?

A: Let's face it. The focus of the average prospect is not on your marketing piece. It might be on their job, or their mortgage, or their spouse.

The right words are needed to break through.

For example, if you're selling an investment program you need to find points of agreement that your prospects can share. Something obvious is the desire for a better return. Any new suggestions should be a logical extension of that initial belief. If you do this carefully, you'll keep them in a highly suggestive state.

Here they aren't operating on logic but on a blend of fixed ideas, suggestions and past memories. Your job, then, is to be a bridge from their fixed ideas to the new ones you want them to accept. Start by agreeing with what the prospects already believe and then suggest adding slight variations.

For instance, your targets may already be sold on an investment plan. Your action is to let them know your plan is a logical extension of their current plan. Once you have their agreement, you can move on.

Eventually this charmed state will be replaced with an awareness of what you're selling them, and what it will cost. But by then you'll have sold an investment plan to someone who agrees with you and is convinced he or she has made the right decision.

For more material by Albert Saxon, see our e-newsletter DirectTips.