Why the Rule of 7 is Dead

Those of use who have been in marketing or sales for a number of years (let’s not put an actual number on how long), might recognize this…

It’s the “Rule of 7” that salespeople have heard for years and why — even after you tell a salesperson NO — they’ll probably call you again anyway.

But here’s the thing…

The Rule of 7 is DEAD.

And what’s replaced it?

Well, depending on which source you look at, its the rule of 47… or the rule of 73… or the rule of 61.

In other words, in an increasingly digital world where consumers are constantly distracted by political memes, cat videos or life in general…

It takes a lot more “contacts” to actually close the sale.

You may already be seeing this in your business, if you have one.

Yes, there are always some people who will buy right away, especially if it’s an offer they can’t refuse that solves an immediate problem.

But more and more, consumers are taking more contacts to buy.

Here’s the good news though…

The Sales & Nurture Process Has Also Changed

Back when The Rule of 7 was coined, sales was still primarily done in person or over the phone.

If you had a large potential client list, you probably weren’t reaching out to each person more than once every couple months anyway.

But now…

• 99% of email users check their email every day

• 49% of people check Facebook review before buying from local businesses

• 5,000 ads per day pass in front of our eyes online — even if we don’t fully register each one

In other words, it’s now faster and easier than it’s ever been to get a “contact” with a prospect.

Getting 61 contacts (or whatever the number is) doesn’t take months or years… it can happen in weeks and sometimes even days.

That said, the quality of the contact absolutely matters. A good nurture process still has an overall goal of building up the “know, like and trust” factor.

So use these “new” channels of social media and email to continue to build brand and product awareness…

To boost credibility with case studies, testimonials and social proof…

And even to bring some personality and a human component to audience nurturing.

Because trust me, in the age of AI… being human is going to quickly become an outlier.

Strategy Time: How to Turbocharge the Nurture Process

So, if we’re going to need 47, 61 or even 121 contacts to make sales in the future, what’s the approach?

Personally, I like the multi-channel approach…

And the more omni-present you can be in your prospect’s digital world, the easier you can make it to sell:

• Use email marketing and an email newsletter like this to balance content vs marketing

• Post daily on the social channels where your ideal audience is most likely to hang out

• Create a community like a Facebook group — this is one of the fastest ways to get those extra contacts because the extra contacts are an organic part of the community

• If you like video, drop a short reel from time to time on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or even TikTok

I don’t necessarily care what the mechanism is — and I use different ones for different clients depending on the best fit…

Just get out there and start getting more quality contacts for your company or your clients.

Once you do, you’ll find the selling starts to get easier.

Jon and Chris