Steven Winokur, Turning Point Strategies

With the Democratic and Republican conventions wrapped up, we're heading into the long stretch run before Election Day. If you look closely, the political campaign process is very much like any sales process. Instead of prospects, you have registered voters. And instead of converting them to customers, candidates are attempting to earn votes.

Forgetting about the role of political parties for moment, let's look at all registered voters as the overall marketplace. Like any business, each candidate must demonstrate why someone should choose them - in a business setting, you might call that differentiation. This differentiation helps segment the overall market into target markets - what makes you different won't appeal to everyone. It just needs to appeal to those markets you've decided to focus on. In addition, what you differentiate on must matter to that target market.

So, back to politics for a moment. Instead of systems, product or service traits or processes, candidates differentiate on issues. National security. Healthcare. Abortion rights. Gun Control. Gay rights. Social Security. These are just some of the issues that politicians use to demonstrate why someone should vote for them. Candidates often write position papers, outlining what they believe on certain issues. (Sadly, who the candidate decides to target may cause a candidate to adjust their views on issues. But that's a story for another day.)

No voter will agree with a candidate on every issue - the goal is to attract those that share the greatest number of issues or the ones that are most important to a voter. One may decide that her biggest issue is reproductive rights and vote for the candidate that supports her view. A senior citizen may view social security as his biggest issue and vote for the candidate that they believe offers the best solution to that issue. Or one might sit back and decide that they'll vote for certain candidate because of character. A unique challenge is that each voter has their own standards for deciding who to vote for.

There is no hard and fast "Close" on Election Day. John McCain will not be getting on television stating that you must vote for him in the next hour or you can't vote. Barack Obama won't be telling you how good you look pushing the button next to his name. And neither will go back to their campaign manager to check to see if they can get you a better deal if you vote for them.

Candidates spend the days, weeks and months leading up to that day in November expressing why they're better suited for that office and demonstrating through their views on issues, why someone should vote for them. After hearing their messages for all that time, come Election Day, the "Close" comes almost naturally in the form of who the "prospect" votes for.

The message here is simple - don't overly focus on the "Close." Focus your efforts to attract the right prospect and demonstrate to them over time, why you're the best candidate to solve their problem. Do so, and you won't have to worry if they'll vote for you come Election Day.

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