You have to see beyond your actual product or service and get to big promise you can make to your prospect. And, you have to make sure that promise connects with her core beliefs, feelings, and desires in all their complexities.

By time she’s finished with your lead, you’ve sunk a big hook into your prospect. Spend rest of your conversation reeling her in. Show her why your product delivers on that big promise. If you have room (in a longer sales letter, for example) you can pepper in some more benefits, but always come back to Big One. Let it be like a golden thread woven throughout conversation.

You catch more flies with honey, or so old saying goes. And you catch more prospects with a big, vivid promise in your lead.

Once you know him better than his own spouse, you know how to speak to him. You know precisely what benefits to stress, what emotional buttons to push. And you know where to find him when you’re ready to do it.

Let’s say Mr. Prospect is a middle aged male who works in corporate middle-management. But you dig deep, and find out that he’s also typically a political junkie. You could use that knowledge to advertise in Time or Newsweek. But you’re not satisfied, so you dig even deeper and find out that Mr. P is left-leaning in his politics, and has a passion for environmentalism. His greatest fear is that planet won’t be in good shape for his grandchildren.

Now, you can focus on Mr. P like a laser. Skip Time and Newsweek and advertise in Mother Earth News. Send him sales letters on recycled paper, and find a way to connect your product or service to a healthy planet. Now you’re pushing his buttons, and Mr. Prospect becomes Mr. Customer.

It takes time, effort, and research. But once you really know your target, hitting him where it counts is that much easier.