Chapter 17

The Magnetic Marketer:

Why You Need To Stop Knocking On Doors

Imagine this scenario. There’s a guy knocking on the door of your

office. “Hi. I’m Karl from across the street. I’m a lawyer. If you
need any legal help, give me a call. Here’s my business card.”
Afterwards, holding the business card in your hand, you
think: “Who is this joker? He can’t be a very good lawyer if he
has to go around knocking on doors.” Disdainfully, you toss his
card into the garbage bin, and never give Karl another thought.
Silly right? I mean, you’re not going to hire a lawyer who
comes knocking at your door. If he does that, he can’t be a very
good lawyer. If you need a lawyer, you will find a great lawyer,
someone who is successful, someone who is in great demand.
Not some loser who comes knocking on your door.
When you think about it that way, it’s obvious that knocking
on doors gives people the wrong impression. It makes you look
like a salesperson, someone selling something. It doesn’t make
you look like a successful, in-demand expert. It makes you look
like a vacuum cleaner salesperson. And yet, that’s what most
business owners and professionals do. To get business, they
knock on doors.
Keep in mind, I’m using “knocking on doors” as a metaphor
for many kinds of overt, dynamic selling including cold telephone

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calls, direct mail, e-mail broadcasting, soliciting referrals, and

advertising. It also includes literally knocking on doors.
These techniques don’t work anymore for a number of reasons.
First, as we’ve discussed, your prospects are hiding behind a sales
pitch bunker. They are sick and tired of salespeople knocking on
their door, so they don’t respond. Second, knocking on doors
gives your prospects the wrong impression. Just like the lawyer, if
you knock on doors, your prospects will think you are desperate.
And if they think you’re desperate, they will conclude you aren’t
very good at what you do.
Most importantly, knocking on doors makes you look like a
salesperson who’s trying to sell a product or service; like magazine
subscriptions or reusable diaper services. But that’s not who you
really are. You’re an expert. You have a tremendous amount of
knowledge, expertise and experience to offer. That’s what you’re
really selling. But if you knock on doors, they won’t see that.
They’ll just see “salesperson.” And that will stop you from
meeting lots of great prospects.
It’s important to realize that these two roles “salesperson” and
“expert” do not go together. They are not compatible brands.
You are either one or the other. If you act like a “salesperson”,
your prospects will never be able to see you as an “expert”.
That’s why you need to market yourself in a totally different
way. Instead of knocking on doors, you need to get people to
knock on your door. Instead of being a Sales “Pitcher” you need to
be a “Magnetic” Marketer. You need to stop using traditional sales
techniques, and start using “magnetic” marketing techniques.

The Magnetic Marketing Model

I’ve taught hundreds of business owners—such as financial
advisors, consultants, lawyers, accountants, architects, health care
 The Problem with Penguins 113

practitioners, and even manufacturers, retailers, and restaurant

owners—how to get prospects to knock on their door. I’ve
taught them simple, but unconventional techniques that draw
people to them, and reinforce their image as an expert. They
report back to me that these techniques are easier, faster and less
expensive than selling. And most importantly, they tell me that
they work better.
To understand how Magnetic Marketing works, it is necessary
to make a comparison between a Sales “Pitcher” and a “Magnetic”
Marketer.
The Sales “Pitcher” knocks on doors. They are product/
service focused, direct, and appeal to the rational mind. They
don’t achieve high sales because they don’t break through the
Sales Pitch Bunker.
The “Magnetic” Marketer gets people to knock on his or her
door. They are value-focused, indirect, and engage the prospect’s
emotions. They achieve higher sales because they get prospects
to come out of their bunker.
114 Bill Bishop

Magnetic Marketers have learned six skills that evoke strong

emotional responses. They:

1. Create a Mystery (Curiosity)

2. Package and offer something New, Better, and Different

(Excitement)

3. Foster a sense of Popularity (Trust) and Scarcity (Fear)

4. Give away Free Value (Desire)

5. Offer Choices (Empowerment)

6. They insist on a Yes or No (Urgency)

7. And they do a seventh thing, but I’ll tell you that bonus
one at the end.

In the next chapters, we explore each of these techniques in

detail.