Success Tips Newsletter

June 10, 2008

In this issue: Why they buy

Word count: 729

Time to read: two to three minutes

Your customer’s aren’t buying the way they used to

In their current situation, they might not be seeing the benefits they need to see to keep buying — or to keep buying from you.

Your choice

You can take action, or you can wait and see what happens. I tend to ask about, and confirm, my value with my clients, early and often. They like it and it helps me keep my customers. (Remember: The two most important measures in business are: 1.) What does it cost to get a customer, and 2.) What is the lifetime value of that customer?)

A true story

Ron’s profit and volume kept sliding each year. He was over 60, and retirement kept looking further and further away. I suggested he ask long-time clients these questions:

• What did they like about what he did?
• What did they want more of?
• What things did they want from him that he wasn’t offering now?

He asked, he  listened, and he acted. His profits tripled the next year.

Long ago, but still true

Congressman Barrett Pettengill (1866-1974) said, “The successful producer of an article sells it for more than it costs him to make, and that’s his profit. But the customer buys it only because it’s worth more to her than she pays for it, and that’s her profit. No one can long make a profit producing anything unless the customer makes a profit using it.”

Have you checked lately?

Consider checking your value proposition with your clients at least quarterly. I often check and confirm monthly. Done correctly, and with a bit of grace, it is truly a benefit for both me and them.

The raw basics of what a person wants in a purchase

People seek a particular combination of price, quality and service from you. In my experience, all differentiation falls into one of these three categories.

Forces that influence

Schlomo Maital, in his book, Executive Economics, has suggested that there are 13 forces that influence what people buy. I’ll just share 9 of the 13, here:

1. Aptness; particularly well-suited to the purpose or occasion; appropriate
2. Bandwagons & bubbles (everyone else seems to be buying it, using it, wanting it)
3. Cost or price is right
4. Greed
5. Habit
6. Income
7. Jazz, excitement
8. Advances desired knowledge
9. Loyalty

What does that make possible?

This is the million-dollar question. We don’t necessarily care about the product or service, but what the product or service makes possible.

Why me?

Sooner or later, I ask, “If I wasn’t around, where else, or who else, would you get this service from”?

Scary question. The answers are powerful, and are often the lights that guide you in keeping and expanding your business with a customer.

Do you build your foundation on sand or rock?

Valuable and long-term customer relationships, in my opinion, start on a foundation of rock. By rock, I mean a foundation on which the benefit is clear to both parties. That clarity starts with a powerful elevator speech.

Assumptions kill

If you don’t get clarity about the benefits from the start, you are at risk of creating disappointment for your customer every day. You are also at risk of having your customer not understand your real differentiation (your primary value).

The tar pit

If your initial message to prospects is vague (“I’m a doctor,” “I sell copiers,” “I sell computers,” “I’m a printer,” I’m a manufacturers rep,” “I sell life insurance,” I’m a financial planner,” and so on) you won’t start with a clear benefit. Instead, you’ll be perceived however that person decides to perceive you, based on his initial “take” on your description. (On the other hand, if you are specific, in your elevator speech, about what your value is, prospects will often ask if you could help them with a problem that is a little different, but related to, what you described.)

Where else can you get ten times your money back?

Most people report to me that getting their elevator speech right with our book, How to Open Doors with a Brilliant Elevator Speech, has earned them at least 10 times what they paid for it, within 30 days. Some have said it was closer to 100.

Action step

No matter how you do it, get your value proposition clear, and build your next customer relationship on a foundation of rock, instead of on sand. Start writing and testing your elevator speech today, so you can prosper tomorrow.

Cheers,

About Succeeding In Business

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