by You’ve seen ‘em all before:
Random-AF deadlines…
Limited stocks of digital products…
‘CLOSING NOW!’ alerts for offers that are actually open 99% of the time…
Seems like a lot of marketers and companies are using an icky combination of scarcity and urgency to get people to buy these days.
Sure, sometimes it’s a genuine case that what’s on offer is almost gone, or the time to get it is nearly over, never to come around again…
But sometimes it’s just, um…
‘Alternative facts’.
Know what I call fake scarcity + unnecessary urgency?
I call it ‘Scaregency’…
Because as far as I can tell, nobody else has yet ; )
The seller wants you scared… to be so full of hair-raising FOMO that you buy now instead of when it’s right for you.
Kinda selfish, really.
Which is why it’s not just the potential buyer who’s scared here…
‘Cos selling with unnecessary Scaregency is a sign of fear.
It’s a sign of someone afraid to play the long game, so they shoot for short-term sales spikes. Cut and run.
They’re afraid to trust in the unique, one of a kind value of their product or service, so they blindly imitate what they see others doing…
(“Sure, if everyone else is using Scaregency it must work ALL OF THE TIME, right?
RIGHT..?”)
And when they’re afraid to give, they focus just on getting. That’s not really marketing.
But you and I? We’re better than that.
Your unique value isn’t a short cut like fake Scaregency…
When you communicate your unique value effectively, you become what leading biz consultant Joe Calloway calls a ‘Category of One’.
(And if you’re actually a company of one, like a freelancer or consultant, even better – you’re genuinely a limited resource.
Your scarcity ain’t fakin’.)
Selling Unique means you’re in it for the long haul – you’re committed to still being in the game long after Johnny Deadlines and his Fake Scaregency crew have burned their bridges and pi**ed off their audience.
After all, Scaregency just signals to your prospect that you’re kinda needy… desperate, even.
Faking a reason to buy isn’t Selling Unique – it’s selling out.
Now, I get that sometimes in business, you’ve gotta be ‘streetwise’. Maybe bend the rules a little…
But this isn’t even ‘streetwise’ thinking…
Because when people are coerced into making a buying decision when they’re not ready, it’s hard for them to feel like they’re in control.
Which is a shame, because people like to feel in control…
And when they feel like they aren’t, they look around for someone else to blame (heads-up: it’s probably gonna be YOU) when things go wrong.
Just look at all the stuff that gets returned to stores in January (around 30% of ‘holiday ecommerce’ sales, according to Shopify data)…
That’s a whole lotta people waking up after the Ultimate Scaregency Festival that is Bl**k Fr*day thru Christmas in the 21st century and thinking:
“Why the bells did I buy this?”
Or: “Why in heckins did Aunt Ada think I wanted this?”
So to avoid the all-round ill-feeling that comes with forcing someone to adhere to your timeline…
Maybe it’s time to think long-term…
a) How might you make your offer in a way that suits their timeline?
b) Consider if you should even be using Scaregency tactics…
Do you really need to send all five of those “CLOSING NOW!” emails?
Is that countdown timer blaring away on your sales page like the world is about to end absolutely necessary?
Do you have to pollute your prospect pool (too many Ps, I know) with the suspiciously-fingers-crossed announcement that you’ll “probably never open this up ever again, ever”?
Maybe you’re not doing any of these things. Great!
Because the more this kinda stuff goes on, the more people are getting hip to it.
And if you know about it, there’s a good chance your prospect does too.
Worth considering, especially when reputation is at stake.
If you want to sell more of your products or services with honesty to people who value what you do – people you respect who can be trusted to make the right decision for themselves in their own time – then let’s talk.
Head here if you want to do more of that in 2019.
There’s no deadline, no Scaregency.
I’ll be right here ; )
