Creating Value: The Essential Unique Selling Proposition
Image via WikipediaMy friend Daryl was out shopping for a new vehicle, doing his part to keep the economy going. However, his experience was not pleasant. He said:
“These sales people just do not get it!”
He took a used minivan for a test drive and as he was leaving the sales person made the comment:
“”I do not care what type of car you buy, I just want a sale.”"
Daryl just shook his head. I asked him: What would have happened had the sales person said,
‘I do not care what you buy, as long as it is the right vehicle, for you.’
“Exactly!” He replied. “Salespeople just do not understand or care. They only care about themselves.” Daryl went on to say “Another sales person was going on and on about the 0% interest rate. He just kept going on and on. It made me sick! Did he think I was born yesterday?!”
Media & Hype Weary Customers
Our conversation turned to communications skills and strategies. Daryl made a very interesting comment “Maybe us Baby Boomers are just tired of all the hype” and negative approach to trying to make them buy.
Have you ever visited a web site with a lot of marketing and sales hype? You know the kind I mean. They have the “Powerful, Patented, Seven Steps To Online Success! This offer is only available for a limited time! You must subscribe before November 16th!”
These sites tease you with all the great features and benefits of owning the product or service, then they tell you there is some limited time offer. Marketers call this the law of scarcity: something becomes more valuable if it becomes in short supply. Now the point is a valid one if there truly is a inadequate supply. However, in the case of manufactured products or services how can there be a limited supply? If there is a limited time, special offer/price and I decide not to buy now, I probably never will. Why would I want to pay more for something later?
The sad truth is this type of marketing has been successful. It plays on peoples fears and the pain of missing out on something. Personally, I sense things are changing. There are a significant number of people who echo Daryl’s sentiments. They are weary of all the shouting, creative attention getting stunts advertisers and the media use to try and get our attention. Not all but many are insulting, condescending and offensive.
Root Of The Problem
The root of the problem is not the media or the creative professionals coming up with slick ads to gain your attention and approval. Competition is the problem. So many people are out there shouting and blasting messages at us that for many consumers, it has outlived its cycle of effectiveness.
This is a huge problem. If your customers have tuned you out — blasting louder and with more creative tricks only makes an already frustrated consumer more skeptical and jaded. This blur has created a group of media weary consumers who have simply shut down or turned off to sales and marketing hype. Please do not send me an E-mail extolling the benefits that marketers and advertising executives have bestowed upon us. I realize that marketing and advertising are a crucial part of our economy. I am just asking you to consider trying a different approach.
The Antidote? Turn Down The Volume, Turn Up The Value
Many small businesses simply do not have enough money to spend on a creative advertising campaign to “out shout” the competition. The way I see it you can:
- try and slug it out with all the other marketers and advertisers shouting at your market, or
- you can shift gears by quietly helping your customers with the information they want and need.
Invest in them. Create value. Help them today, even if they do not buy anything from you.
To do this you will have to shift from selling and advertising your products or services to focusing on the buying/sales process. Align everything you do with your customers needs, wants, emotions and perceptions. Feed them information appropriate to where they are at in the buying/sales cycle.
That is exactly how we teach our clients to build a web site so it becomes a ‘Lead Generation System’. It is a combination of research, strategy, content (information) development and marketing design that always adds value.
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Comments
The “scarcity” play sure has been over-cooked online. No one believes it.
How many sales people and businesses attempt to meet the prospect from the prospects point of view? As you mention, dig deep to identify and understand the prospects needs and wants and the emotional triggers that both moves the relationship forward, and positions the salesperson and /or business to deliver true value.
People are starved for good honest competent relationships that deliver value to them.
Why?
Because it’s rare and remarkable.
Very few businesses invest the time and effort to determine the unique value they deliver.
The one’s who do will attract prospects naturally and honestly and position their businesses for long-term profits and growth.
“Salespeople just do not understand or care. They only care about themselves.”
The same thing must be understood about prospects too. The universe, as I understand it, revolves around ME. The universe as you understand it, revolves around YOU.
It’s transactional viewpoint. Real estate agents and car salespeople are known for this.
Instead of taking the position from a relationship perspective, they’d rather get it over with quickly and move on to the next transaction.
However, the most important question any marketer, salesperson, or advertiser can ever answer is “Why on earth anyone should do business with you?”
You have to know this answer before you can even get to work on being customer-centric or understand the value perspective of sales/marketing.
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