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How to Use Metaphors in Sales to Close More Deals

Gray MacKenzie
Gray MacKenzie is a true operations nerd who has spent the past decade helping hundreds of agencies build more productive, profitable, and healthy teams by solving the core issues plaguing their project management.

To chat with Gray and have ZenPilot lead your team through the last project management implementation you'll ever need, schedule a quick call here.

In this episode of Inbound Sales Journey, Gray and Ryan talk about using metaphors to close more deals.

Sometimes, when explaining marketing tactics or strategies on a sales call with a client, you may find yourself entering the weeds and getting more technical than you need to.

There’s a lot of jargon in modern marketing, and clients may not have the best grasp of what you’re getting at.

A confused prospect is not likely to buy.

To overcome this sales hurdle, one tactic to use is metaphors.

Metaphors help you explain more technical services in a way that’s relatable for the prospect. You want to effectively communicate the value of the service or strategy so that the client understands.

One example of when we use metaphors is when we sell GamePlans.

Ryan’s background in home sales helped him describe a GamePlan to a prospect as a blueprint for a house.

You don’t start building a house until you have a clear idea of what you want it to look like and ensuring it has everything you need before you begin construction.

If something isn’t done right, it can have a catastrophic impact on everything else.

Here are a couple of tips for your use of metaphors:

1. Keep it General

First, you want to keep it general. Sometimes you can go too far with an analogy (“and the cabinets in the house blueprint are the blog posts…”) — don’t do that!

The point is to clarify and communicate to the client value, not confuse them even more.

Keep it general and relatable. 

2. Keep it Consistent

The other point is to keep it consistent.

Change the metaphor if it’s not working, but don’t use a new metaphor each time you explain something.

This will only confuse prospects if each discussion is different or if they’re discussing something with an account manager at your agency.

Keep it consistent, so everyone is on the same page and prospects or clients aren’t feeling overwhelmed or confused.

Metaphors are a powerful sales tactic your agency should be using to close more clients.

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