Tag Archive for: brand

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What are you really selling?

What exactly are you selling?

What exactly is your client or customer buying?

The obvious answer, of course is, "your product or service".

And that is true,

until you actually have to persuade someone to buy,

until "sell" involves something more than the physical exchange of money or value.

Then it becomes fairly obvious that there is something more involved.

Let me say, right now, that what you are selling is a story.

A story is

the story of a change,

the change that your customer or buyer goes through when they use your product or service.

And that is the story you have to sell.

And while that change will have physical aspects and outcomes that might involve things like health, wealth, relationships; ultimately the result your client or customer wants is the emotion, the feeling.  They want to feel free, valued, better than, at peace; all sorts of things.  And they may not articulate that, but the want will be there.  

There is a saying that people buy based on emotion and justify based on logic.

And that is why stories are so valuable.  They can tap into the subconscious level of emotions.  We are wired for story and stories are inherently built on emotion.  

So your client story is vital in your marketing.  

Where are you telling your client story - that story of change?

5 Questions You Should Ask Every Customer

Constantly seeking feedback from your customers is a great way to learn how to market your business more effectively. If you’ve never done this before, do it immediately as it is one of the best ways to discover what you do that actually differentiates you from your competition.


I can’t tell you how many times I’ve worked with a small business that had no idea what its competitive advantage was until we heard it right from the mouths of happy customers. Seeking feedback is also a great way to get better and plug gaps. I can tell you that if you’re not receiving a large amount of your business by way of referral or word of mouth, you’ve probably got some gaps in your processes.


Below are five questions I like to pose to customers as they can provide a great discussion base for getting at what’s truly important to you and your customers. Create a form and get in the habit of surveying a handful of customers every month. I think you’ll be rewarded with tremendous insight and you’ll also find that your customers enjoy being asked what they think. One word of caution, don’t accept vague answers like “you provide good service.” While that may be true and good to hear, you can’t work with that. Push a bit and ask what good service looks like and maybe even if they can tell you about a specific instance in which they felt they got good service.

1. What made you decide to hire us/buy from us in the first place?

This is a good baseline question for your marketing. It can get at how effective your advertising, message and lead conversion processes are working. I’ve also heard customers talk about the personal connection or culture that felt right in this question.

2. What’s one thing we do better than others you do business with?


In this question you are trying to discover something that you can work with as a true differentiator. This is probably the question you’ll need to work hardest at getting specifics. You want to look for words and phrases and actual experiences that keep coming up over and over again, no matter how insignificant they may seem to you. If your customers are explaining what they value about what you do, you may want to consider making that the core marketing message for your business.


3. What’s one thing we could do to create a better experience for you?


On the surface this question could be looked at as a customer service improvement question, and it may be, but the true gold in this question is when your customers can identify an innovation. Sometimes we go along doing what we’ve always done and then out of the blue a customer says something like, “I sure wish it came like this,” and all of a sudden it’s painfully clear how you can create a meaningful innovation to your products, services and processes. Push your customers to describe the perfect experience buying what you sell.





4. Do you refer us to other, and if so, why?


This is the ultimate question of satisfaction because a truthful answer means your customer likes the product and likes the experience of getting the product. (You can substitute service here of course.) There’s an entire consulting industry cropping up around helping people discover what Fred Reichheld called the  Net Promoter Score in his book  The Ultimate Question.


Small businesses can take this a step deeper and start understanding specifically why they get referrals and perhaps the exact words and phrases a customer might use when describing to a friend why your company is the best.


5. What would you Google to find a business like ours?


This is the new lead generation question, but understanding what it implies is very important. If you want to get very, very good at being found online, around the world or around the town, you have to know everything you can about the actual terms and phrases your customers use when they go looking for companies like yours.


Far too often businesses optimize their web sites around industry jargon and technical terms when people really search for “stuff to make my life better.”


Bonus: I’m a big fan of building strategic partnerships and networks. Another question I would suggest you get in the habit of asking your customer is – “What other companies do you love to refer?” If you can start building a list of “best of class” companies, based on your customer’s say so, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve got a list of folks you should be building strategic relationships with.

Author:  John Jantsch 
John Jantsch has been called the World's Most Practical Small Business Expert for consistently delivering real-world, proven small business marketing ideas and strategies, and this article comes from his Duct Tape Marketing Blog  http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/.

 

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Public Speaking Will Be Your Most Important Skill in the Future

The days of the shrinking violets are over. The world is changing, and there is no longer a future for people who are unable to promote themselves and sell their services and skills.

As the economy changes and hopefully eventually shakes off the current recession, one thing that is not going to come back will be jobs. 9.5 million unemployed in the USA alone or 10% of the work force.

What does that mean to the man in the street? It means that no longer will you be able to send in a resume, twiddle your thumbs through an interview and start work the next week.

What will you need to do? If you hope to find a job, you will need to be dynamic in your presentation of yourself and your skills. You will be competing with many applicants and you have to stand out.

If you can’t find a job because there are none, for instance in the motor manufacturing sector in the US, then you will need to offer your skills as a freelancer or consultant and your success will depend on how you can present yourself.

One thing is for sure. Shy and retiring isn’t going to do it for you. And it needn’t be so. Presenting yourself in public, or also known as public speaking, can be learnt. This is not a skill that you are born with and that only a rare number of people have. Nobody is born cowering in the corner too shy to speak up.

Do you know many kids who are not noisy, brash and in your face? Would you feel comfortable about presenting yourself in a job interview situation or talking to a group of people, where you wanted them to sit up and listen to you and take you seriously?

Public speaking is a skill that you can acquire.

This will be of huge importance to you. You need these skills applying for a job. You need them when trying to grow your business if there are no jobs available. If you are thinking of starting an internet marketing business, you should include video presentations and podcasts as part of your marketing mix.

In fact, there is really no situation in your life where you don’t present yourself and where you don’t need some strong public speaking skills. It’s a misunderstood discipline mostly, as people tend to think of public speaking involving a microphone, huge auditorium and loads of people.

Not so. Your public speaking skills are of great use in countless situations. And as formal employment goes out of the window, more and more people will have to rely on their public speaking skills to further their careers and businesses.

Michael Lee
Download an amazing FREE report that reveals the simple steps to deliver a dazzling presentation and get a standing ovation every time at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/dazzling.htm

Creating a Positive Professional Image

As HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others are.

"People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace," she says. "It is only wise to add your voice in framing others' theories about who you are and what you can accomplish."

There are plenty of books telling you how to "dress for success" and control your body language. But keeping on top of your personal traits is only part of the story of managing your professional image, says Roberts. You also belong to a social identity group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping from the people you work with, especially in today's diverse workplaces. You can put on a suit and cut your hair to improve your appearance, but how do you manage something like skin color?

Roberts will present her research, called "Changing Faces: Professional Image Construction in Diverse Organizational Settings," in the October issue of the Academy of Management Review.

She discusses her research in this interview.   ... Read it here