Have you noticed there are more commercials on television these days promoting the benefits of protecting your home from gutter leaks? You will now that I have called your attention to it.
What I find interesting about these advertisements is their focal point. It became clear to me – almost immediately – that they were not referencing how dried leaves backup in gutters and can clog up the downspout. Water then builds up and backs up until it freezes. Then the fun begins. Ice creeps up the roof and soon, with the sun and the warmth coming from inside your home, the ice melts and find its way into the under layers of your roof, and down into your ceiling.
These ads do not mention the damage ice can cause as a result of a backed-up gutter.
After all, let’s face it. There are not many products on the market today less sexy than gutter shields. A toilet plunger comes to mind, but let’s not go there.
What the ads do shed light on, and call the viewers’ attention to, is the dangers involved in climbing a ladder. They focus on the safety aspect of one’s annual ascent to your roof’s water trough. In addition to falling off an unstable ladder, it is not uncommon to cut your hand while scraping through the aluminum channel for debris.
What does this observation have to do with you? I see a lesson here hiding behind your gutter shield. Are you, or do you spend most of your limited “airtime,” talking about the destination and means to get there and back? Or, do you see the value in focusing on your prospect’s underlying true interests?
Clearing a gutter or two once a year is no big deal. But schlepping a rickety ladder out of your garage, around to the back of your house, finding a pair of old work gloves, making sure the ladder is stable, picking a day that is not too cold or windy, and bagging the rotten, moldy, wormy decaying leaves so they can be picked up by your town’s garbage collector on Wednesday sounds like work to me.
I hope you just made the connection to ALL the tedious work that goes into booking a successful vacation these days, considering all the unknown variables and health/safety considerations.
You are not selling a destination. You are selling peace-of-mind. You are selling attention to detail. You are selling insurance that everything that needs attention has been attended to. You are selling the notion that you are removing all forms of ladders and unknowns from the equation and paving the way for nothing but smooth sailing.
I don’t want a gutter shield. I want to know I don’t have to climb up on the roof any more.
Mike Marchev is always looking for a few more proactive travel professionals to join his Sales and Marketing Club. Send for details.
