Our firm loves all things digital. We’re almost a 100% paperless office. Virtually everything we do lives in the cloud. I’m writing this blog post on Evernote right now and will probably edit it on my iPhone in the produce aisle of our neighborhood grocery. About the only thing I use paper for is taking notes in client meetings – and that’s only because I can’t draw diagrams fast enough on my laptop.
The big piece of paper that changed everything.
Anyway, despite our devotion to digital, one of our wonderful clients showed us how they put all their process frameworks on big sheets of paper. It got us thinking. So we tried laying out our own process on paper (complete with cool graphics). We showed it to a prospect. Turns out that he wasn’t in the market for our sales messaging engagement, but he loved that big sheet of paper. Could we create one for him?
Next thing we knew, it was starting to spread.
One after another, clients started asking for these things. They’re kind of like a mashup between an ad, an infographic, and a one-page brochure. But what makes them such a novelty is the paper factor. Would it be easier to just project your sales message on a conference room monitor or show it on an iPad? Of course it would. But everyone does that.
Paper is different:
- You can touch it.
- You can write on it.
- You can give it to someone else.
- It takes up space on a desk or conference table.
- You can’t click away from it and forget it.
- Several people can look at it together.
- You can pin it on your cubicle wall.
- It becomes a discussion starter.
Here’s the recipe.
We take an 11×17 sheet of paper. We fill it with a short, graphic, sales message. We absolutely resist the temptation to say too much (think talking points, not brochure copy). It has to be professionally written, professionally designed. Then, we have it printed on thick, glossy paper stock.
It comes out the size of a placemat or small poster.
This makes it a little awkward – which is exactly what we want. It’s always the tallest person in the room. Hard to ignore. Walk into a sales meeting with a big sheet of paper under your arm, and everyone wants to see what’s on it.
You’d be surprised how effective this is.
If you want to shake things up at your next sales presentation, try big paper. We call it a PitchPage. It’s a great way to zig when everyone else is zagging through their predictably digital sales presentations.
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