While musing on million dollar advertising campaigns is a fun intellectual
excercise, I'd like to remind everyone that the most powerful type of sales
is *personal sales*.  That is, one person talking to another.
That is why the formula companies work so hard to "woo" the health
professionals, that have personal contact with the moms.

Rather than debate whether celebrity endorsement, or economic appeals, or
"sex appeal" would be most effective - just ask the mom in front of you.

Ask the mom what she is worried about, in becoming a new mom.  I don't mean
specifically about breastfeeding, but I mean about anything.

I don't work with moms directly, and I have never tried this out on real
moms.  But I just throw this out there, for your consideration, based on
what my experience as a professional salesperson would lead me to do.

Contrary to popular belief, the best salesperson is not the one who is the
most pushy, or has the slickest "pitch".  The best salesperson is the one
who can be sincerely interested in the person in front of them, who can ask
the best questions that will elicit real information about what the person
cares and worries about, and who can listen carefully and ensure that they
understand what the person is telling them.   ONLY after that is done, can
information be offered that is of REAL VALUE to the person, and which may
move them towards buying your product.

At the level of professional salesmanship that I worked at, I would never
dream of "pitching" my product without knowing something about the person in
front of me.

As we are discussing here, there are many different reasons that people
breastfeed, so picking one reason is just as likely to alienate as many for
whom that reason is meaningless.  You are wasting your breath and you look
like you don't care/understand about the person, and only about trying to
get your product/agenda sold.

So ask the mom in front of you open-ended questions: - what you are worried
about?  What are your biggest concerns about becoming a mom?  What do you
think *your* biggest challenge will be?  What do you think will be easy for
you?  What do you think will be hard for you?  What are your
husband/partner's worries?   How do you think you will meet those
challenges?

Then, if this person trusts you,  and believes that you are sincere and
could help her, you may find out whether it is loss of sexual identity, loss
of income, budget concerns, fear of intimacy, tiredness, pain, etc that she
is most worried about.  And you can tailor your presentation of how
breastfeeding works, to her particular needs.

Just some food for thought.  Just remember, the formula companies would
*love* to have what we already have - personal contact with each and every
mom that gives birth.   You may argue that you only have a few minutes with
each mom - but the formula company will NEVER have a formula salesperon in
front of all these moms.  Yes, the companies break the CODE all over the
place, but lets not forget the strength of what we do have - real people who
deal with the real moms everyday, one mom at a time.

Janice Reynolds

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