Instilling the value of vigor into your marketing

The sound of the unforgettable Billy Mays still rings loud in our ears: “Hi, Billy Mays here for OxiClean….” He was best known for his passionate sales pitches in direct-response advertising on television.

Mays was known as a PitchMan.

Over the years, there have been many PitchMen who were loud and proud, attempting to sell their products in a public setting. Only a few of them were on TV. You may have experienced them at a public market, at a state fair, at an auto show, or even along the boardwalk of a popular beach.

But do you need to be a celebrity or “PitchPerson” to embrace the value of vigor? Of course not.

You can find such vigor in the thousands of individuals involved in direct selling, networking marketing, and multi-level marketing (MLM). Their passion for their products and services beams through every fiber of their being.

What CEO or owner of a company wouldn’t like to have such passion and vigor displayed by all of their employees?

This is possible if the value of vigor is instilled into the culture of the organization.

The Value of Vigor

As a differentiating value, Vigor means strength, energy or force; the ability to survive and grow.

When someone first gets involved in direct sales, the type of vigor most often experienced is the latter part – the need to survive and grow. Sometimes it can even come across as desperation.

But as success is experienced, and the person realizes they can and will survive, the vigor begins to transform into the first part – a source of strength, energy and force to push forward.

Vigor helps feed self-confidence, which in turn feeds a sense of competence when they experience success. This can produce a positive repeatable cycle that leads to sustainable forward motion.

Therein lies an important physical law that marketers and business leaders can leverage.

Applying Newton’s Laws of Motion to Marketing

Sir Isaac Newton’s work 300 years ago is still valid today. Newton’s laws of motion are the three physical laws that form the basics of classical mechanics. They can also be applied to marketing.

Consider Newton’s Third Law of Motion:
“To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.”

As a marketer, if you want to engage customers to take action, what action are you initiating to help them react in the direction you want them to move?

As a business leader, if you want your employees to take action, what action are you initiating to help them react in the direction you want them to move?

For all human beings, the single biggest barrier to taking any action is inertia – the resistance to change in motion or to move from a state of rest. To overcome inertia requires a source of energy.

The reason Billy Mays was so successful selling boring cleaning products was the strength, energy and force he put into promoting them. Yes, during his pitch he was explaining the various features and benefits of the product. But that’s not what caused people to take action and buy his products.

Mays’ vigor helped customers overcome their own inertia.

As a marketer, if you want to help customers take action, think of Billy Mays and put some vigor into your marketing.

 

What one action would make the biggest difference in helping your customers take action?

What action could you initiate to help motivate your employees and fill them with vigor?

 

Today’s value was selected from the “Enthusiasm-Teamwork” category, based on the e-book Developing Your Differentiating Values.