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Why is this important? ...because you absolutely
must,
find out what they want!
...never mind what you think they want.
It doesn't take a marketing genius to know that success depends on getting
the most important details 'right'. Leave any one of the essential ingredients
out of the mix and your 'salesmanship in print' falls flat.
Once that premise is understood it's easy to see why the place
to start is with interviewing customers. After all, how else could you
possibly 'get into their heads' ?
You simply must understand their motivations, desires, likes, dislikes,
expectations, problems, perceptions, misunderstandings, and wants
if ever you expect to write effective sales copy!
These days the Internet is rife with web marketers that guess and test,
guess and test, guess and test (ad nauseam) – all the while
telling prospects what they need in presentations peppered
with lofty achievements, mission statements, and well-meaning pontifications
intended solely to impress a hardly caring and hardly captive audience
armed with itchy fingers that click-away at the first hint of tedium.
Customers, of course, buy what they want! ...not
necessarily what they need. And, frankly, they care little, if
at all, about the achievements and goals of the companies they buy from.
Even trust is a non-issue until after they are four-fifths
(80%) sold – at which time it becomes paramount! ...but not until
then.
But, hey, don't take my word for it – start interviewing your customers
and find out for yourself how little they care about you or your company
as they expound enthusiastically upon what THEY want.
From $500 start-up to nearly $2-billion-a-year in sales
Perhaps you've heard the story of Tom Monaghan. Back in 1960, when Tom
was 23, he bought a pizza business for $500. As Tom struggled to bring
the business along, there came a time when he inquired as to what it would
take to go 'big-time' – to compete with the giants in the pizza business.
The answer he received was (something like) 7 years and 10 million dollars
to elevate his fledgling pizza business into the ranks of the top three.
The problem was, however, Tom didn't have that kind of money nor did he
wish to wait so many years.
Besides, Tom had another idea. It was simple really. You see, Tom had
spent time in his pizza shop talking to his customers and listening. Tom
allowed them to tell him what they wanted in regards to pizza. In a short
time he learned his customers wanted their pizza...
- fresh
- hot
- fast
- but, most of all – delivered!
- ...and, they wanted a guarantee.
That's right, Tom enlisted his customers in the process of crafting what
quickly became one of the most successful unique selling propositions
of all time...
Dominoes delivers fresh hot
pizza in 30 minutes or less
...or else it's free!
Now, had Tom been like most (internet) marketers he might have guessed
what his customers wanted. He may very well have guessed they wanted...
- the lowest price (wrong!)
- the best taste (wrong!)
- the finest ingredients (wrong!)
- the friendliest service (wrong!)
- the fanciest eatery (wrong!)
Nope! ...they wanted their pizza delivered. And, they wanted it
hot, fresh, and quick! ...with a guarantee.
And, Tom did not guess. He knew what they wanted because
he asked the right people – his actual bona-fide, money-in-hand,
hungry customers. You should do the same and accept no imitations.
The formula for 'the asking'
Ok, you say, 'ask the customer' – what could possibly be simpler?
...guess again. There's a science to asking questions. Call it a formula
if you will but if you ask the wrong questions you'll get the wrong answers.
And, if you ask at the wrong time you'll get the wrong answers. So, let's
take a few minutes to dissect the components of a sale in our quest
to determine how best to 'find the right answers'.
Typically speaking, the sales process follows a well-trodden path...
problem–>solution–>credibility–>affordability–>trust=transaction
I like to abbreviate this formula as pscat=$
In other words,
- the customer has a problem, is aware of the problem
and has an interest in solving the problem.
- The customer is made aware that you have a solution.
- The customer believes your solution will work. In the
mind of the customer, your solution is credible and your customers
sees your solution as THE solution. In other words, your story
sounds 'right' to the customer.
- The price (money+time+effort) is less than the value
of having their problem solved.
For instance, when buying a car, the value of the money+time+effort
is outweighed (in the customer's mind) by the value of the benefits
derived from owning the car – thus making that car affordable
to that particular customer.
money+time+effort=price
The elements that compose price are what determines affordability.
- The final hurdle in the race to transaction is trust.
Having satisfied the preceding conditions, the customer looks to determine
whether the conveyor of the transaction is trustworthy. Once
it becomes settled (in the mind of the customer) that you (your
company, service, etc.) has the ability, means, and integrity to deliver
on the promise, then and only then will...
- a transaction (sale) culminate as the natural outworking of
the formula.
These 5 steps culminating in the sixth (i.e., transaction) is what's
typically referred to as the sales process.
It should be especially noted that it's premature to enter into any single
one of these stages until the preceding stage has been satisfactorily
completed in the mind of the customer. To introduce a solution
to a customer before they're aware of the problem will generally
doom the sale. Attempts to show affordability prior to establishing
the solution's credibility also torpedos the transaction. And,
attempts to establish trust prior to settling the problem, solution,
credibility, affordability issues can lend a whiff of 'snake-oil'
to even the most well-meaning proposals.
Why 'lowest price' doesn't always sell
The fact the sales process must follow an orderly progression explains
why 'lowest price' frequently fails to sell. Many times the customer lacks
conviction the solution will work or is unaware the problem
even exists.
Marketing plans that rely on lowest price presuppose the first three
stages – i.e., problem, solution, and credibility – have
already been satisfactorily traversed in the customer's mind. Only then
is the customer (logically) free to 'shop' for that 'lowest price' (i.e.,
best affordability).
Then, in such cases, if the customer agrees with your affordability presentation
and satisfactorily proceeds beyond the trust stage, a transaction
(sale) will predictably follow as the natural outworking of the "sales"
process.
In fact, once the pscat stages
are traversed in orderly fashion, and each to the satisfaction of the
customer, a transaction (sale) ensues as surely as the numeral
"4" will always result from the natural outworking of the mathematical
equation 2+2.
Therefore, professional marketers would be wise to take heed of the knowledge
that 'lowest price' succeeds only when your target customer has already...
- identified the problem,
- found the solution,
- and believes the solution will solve the problem.
In other words, lowest price assumes the customer is already a
stage four prospect who is shopping "price". However, when such
an assumption is wrong, it helps explain why prospects are unresponsive
to 'lowest price' sales pitches. Of course, the transaction could also
be getting hung-up on (stage five) trust issues.
Therefore, you must first determine the mind-set of your customers
When interviewing customers, try to determine the state (stage) they're
in when they arrive at the threshold of your sales presentation. Remember,
the purpose of interviewing is to gain insights that will allow you to
write effective sales copy. Therefore, strive to determine your typical
customer's state-of-mind and ask questions designed to help you gain such
insight. By the way, we call this process getting into the customer's
head.
Your challenge is to join their internal conversation – that discussion
they are having with themselves as they traverse the five stages –
as seamlessly as possible. In order to do this, you simply must learn
what they are thinking at the time they arrive upon the shores
of your sales presentation.
In the case of our Pizza example, Tom knew his customers were
already hungry and safely assumed they had already decided on pizza as
the solution to their hunger problem. After all, that's why they were
in Tom's pizza store.
Whatever the process, Tom's customers had quickly and perhaps unconsciously
traversed the first three stages of the sale process without him. Tom
learned from his customers that their critical decision-making point
was at the affordability stage. Now, remember the components that
comprise affordability?
(money+time+effort)=affordability
In the process of interviewing his customers, Tom discovered they wanted
their pizza to be more affordable in terms of time
and effort but not necessarily in terms of money. And this
multi-billion dollar insight came from asking his customers the right
questions at the right time – when they were in the buying
mind-set. As the saying goes, timing is everything. It is
how you ask, who you ask and when you ask.
So, let's look at the proposition Tom developed with the aid of his customers...
Dominoes delivers fresh,
hot pizza
...he already knew they were hungry and that pizza was their credible
solution to the problem. Tom knew his target audience had already passed
through the first three stages of the sales process. They entered into
the equation at the forth stage (affordability).
Now (the brilliant part), while competitors assumed the money
element was the key to the affordability equation, Tom discovered
(by asking his customers) that time and effort were the
more important elements of the affordability stage leading to the
sale.
Therefore, by reducing time and effort thereby increasing affordability,
all that was needed to consummate the sale was a believable guarantee
to instill trust...
...in 30 minutes or less – or else
it's free!
Here's the point...
This painstaking breakdown of the sales process is intended to help you
see, no matter what business you are in, that your average customer enters
your "store" (virtual or otherwise) in an identifiable "state of mind".
To write effective sales copy you must learn "where" along the road to
transaction your typical customer arrives at your doorstep. That's the
point at which you must seamlessly join their internal conversation bonding
in the common goal of jointly crafting a believable, affordable and trustworthy
"solution" to their "problem".
And the only way to do all that is to ask!
Question everything. Question everyone. Question yourself.
Always –
Stephen Mahaney – President
Planet Ocean Communications
© Copyright 1997-2003 Planet Ocean Communications,
Inc.
Planet Ocean® is a registered trademark of Planet Ocean Communications,
Inc.
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