Now it is time to dig deeper.  How can your promise be made into an irresistable explicit benefit that is directly relevant to your prospect?

One of the best things to do is to ask your current or past clients what it was they liked about your business and doing business with you. If they are no longer customers or clients you should ask them why they stopped doing business with you.

Your clients have many choices in the marketplace, yet they have chosen to do business with you or your firm. Do you know why? Their answer might surprise you and it may not be what you think.

Your benefits need to be relevant to your target prospect. You start out using generic benefits that may apply to most prospects in your target market. As you learn more about your target market, clients and prospects you begin to tailor the benefits to specific customer targets.

Make your offers irresistible

There is a marketing tactic called the irresistible offer. Something that you offer that is almost too good to be true. An offer where it would be foolish for your prospect not to take you up on it.

You may have received an offer for a product or service in the mail or watched one on television. The offering may have included multiple bonuses and gifts as an incentive to buy. The bonuses may have even had a more perceived value of the product.

A famous example of the irresistible offer was seen in the famous Ginsu Knives infomercial shown in the United States. It went something like this. After demonstrating the product, a set of knives, the pitchman stated, “But wait, there’s more!”  He then proceeded to offer multiple bonuses, extra sets of knives, can openers, vegetable and fruit peelers, etc. Then he started taking the price down, and discussing installment plans.

By the time he finished with his pitch, many prospects just had to buy. The offer was too good to be true! There was so much value in the offer, and the price and terms so affordable, that the offer was “irresistible”.

Marketer and author, Mark Joyner has written an entire book on the topic called, “The Irresistible Offer”. You can download a free copy on his site.

Can you offer bonuses?

You can often increase the value of your current product or service, by adding a bonus to your offering. Dentists often over free whitening kits. A lawyer may offer a free book on estate planning. An auto repair shop may offer a free oil change.

Low cost items with a high perceived value are the best for this. Information product for example can be easily crafted, and with electronic distribution delivered to hundreds or thousands of prospects at a relatively low cost.

If there is an upsell component of your offering, you can include it alongside the standard offering either as a discount, or for free. You can specificy a time limit on the offer, or other conditions. The choice is yours.

Not all dollars are created equal.

You have a license to print money with your marketing. What is the value of a bonus report or whitepaper? It depends on how relevant it is to your prospect, and what dollar value you assign to it.

The challenge with cost accounting is it drives all of your offers to commodity status with price as the key differentiator.

Let’s say you charge $125/hour for your goods and services. What is the value of a free hour long consultation? $125. What value would you assign to a face to face meeting with a prospect? Perhaps more than that. What value would your client assign to that? It depends.

Why Brain Surgeons make more than Family Practitioners

Marketer and Copywriter Dan Kennedy emphasizes the use of widgets and bundles in marketing. Take a look at what other items or services you can add to your baseline offering to increase its value.  The key is to understand what is valuable and relevant to your clients or customers.

Can you develop a system or a process to support your product or service? Can you provide not just the information but all the items necessary to implement your solution?

Does your prospect want consulting services, strategy and implementation? Does your prospect want product, ongoing maintenance and support? What other things in and around your product and service can you add to make the offering more valuable.

Can you bundle, products and services together to increase value? These products and services may be your own, or those you procure from vendors and partners.

Remember, people will typically pay more for total solutions than for al a cart point solutions.

Can You Reverse The Risk

Marketing Guru Jay Abraham highly recommends a strategy known as risk-reversal. In every transaction, one party is expected to take on more risk than the other. This risk may be financial or operational. You can do yourself and your prospect a big favor by being willing to expose yourself to more risk.

It sounds counterintuitive but its not. What would happen if you were to reduce the risk for your clients? Would it make them more likely to buy from you? Would it make the offer more irresistible?

You may already be offering a service guarantee. What if you were to extend it?

A few years ago Hyundai Motors received a lot of publicity when they began to offer a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty on their vehicles. The automotive industry standard warranty at the time was 3 year / 36,000 miles. What Hyundai was doing was unheard of and shocked their competitors. It seemingly made no sense. Or did it.

What was Hyundai doing? In exchange for the purchase, they were willing to take on more risk. For the purchaser it was a great deal. It increased the value of their purchase.

Hyundai is a very successful company. I am quite sure that they calculated the financial risk to the company. They most likely included it into the price of the vehicle somehow, so there was limited risk to the corporation. Alternatively, they may have reviewed their history of consumer warranty claims and realized very few would actually take them up on the offer.

The initial cost outlay to the company for the progam was most likely negligible as well, but the upside in the marketplace? Huge.

Key Takeaways.

1. Think of ways you can make your offers irresistable to your prospects.
2. Develop bundles, widgets and total solutions for your prospect increasing the value with little cost to you.
3. Strive to reduce the risk wherever possible for your prospects while managing your own risk profile.
4. All dollars are not created equally.

One of the key scenes is early in the movie. Alec Baldwin plays the role of the sales trainer, Blake, from downtown. He has been sent from the parent company, Mitch and Murray. His job is to deliver a sales pep talk to the salesmen played by Alan Arkin, Jack Lemmon and Ed Harris.

Mid-way into his rant, he lays down the law saying, “A-B-C; Always, Be, Closing.  A man doesn’t walk on the lot unless he wants to buy. Your job is to sell him.”

A prospect doesn’t inquire, a client doesn’t request information, a customer doesn’t sign up unless he wants to buy. Your job is to sell them.

The Purpose of Marketing

The purpose of all of your marketing and sales efforts should be to move the sales process to a conclusion which ideally is a purchase. Your prospect or client will either buy something now, buy something later or in a worse case never buy.

You may think that the purpose of marketing is building a brand. Establishing your reputation. Positioning yourself in the marketplace. While those are all marketing tactics, the net result of all of your efforts should be to drive a sale.

If you research the dot.com era of the early 2000’s, this was the great flaw. Those companies focused on branding, reputation and positioning, and they lacked one crucial thing, sales.

Your list is worth its weight in gold. Direct marketers understand that their in-house list of previous buyers is the most valuable list that they have.

If someone has bought from you before and you have established a relationship with them, keep them on your list. They have already made the most important decision, the decision to buy from you.

What Business Schools Fail To Teach

It took me a long time to realize that the most important business skill is not taught in business school. There are courses on finance, on marketing, on operations. I have yet to find a course on selling and salesmanship.

Yet that, is where the rubber meets the road. No sales? No revenue, no income, no profit.

While the world economy is contracting, it is contracting really for one and only one reason, lack of sales. There are many factors leading to lack of sales, such as reduced credit, customers and clients going out of business, etc. Yet the fact remains, no sales, no business, out of business.

You can look at what happened to Chrysler Corporation and General Motors in early 2009. Their lack of sales is the primary element that is driving them into bankruptcy.

Marketing Drives Sales

Master marketer, Jay Abraham states that marketing is the last key area of innovation and growth to deliver outrageous profits. Costs have been cut, financial models have been developed, yet marketing in many ways has yet to come of age in many enterprises.

It is not about pretty pictures. It is about making money and delivering profit.

All the benefits, bonuses, promotions, specifics, stories and more is designed to do one thing, get your customer to purchase.

Yet all of these things may still ultimately fail if you do not ask for the business. Whether in print, via an email campaign, or face to face, there is nothing wrong with asking your prospect or client for the business.

As the marketer you want to be in the driver’s seat. You are the one analysing the market, developing relationships, and using benefits, value propositions and unique selling propositions to sell your story. Your job is to develop new business and help close the deal. You always aim to keep the process moving forward in support of the desired conclusion.

Remember, a prospect or client can say no, a thousand times, but it only takes one yes to drive revenue.

You might think that you don’t want to offend your prospect, but unless you are willing to ask for the business, your prospect may think that all you wanted to do was share information.

You can ask more than once.

Times change, situations change, people change. You may be thinking that I asked and they said no to our offer. Well, have you tried a different offer? Have you asked your prospect what was it about your offer that they didn’t like? Have you asked them if you could improve their offer?

Remember, although they did not choose you today, you don’t know what may have changed if you don’t ask.

Perhaps your prospect is expanding? Perhaps their current vendor has gone bankrupt. Perhaps they are looking for a back-up supplier.

What to do if you get the order.

Congratulations! Your marketing has paid off and the prospect or client wants to buy. This is not the time to relax. This is actually the most crucial part of the process.

You do not want to stick your foot in your mouth and kill the deal. What you do want to do is support your client’s decision. You can consider complimenting them on making a wise choice, confirm the order and discuss next steps. Then, get out.

You should be very wary of overselling. You can potential upsell your new client into a larger or premium offering, or perhaps cross-sell them some adjacent offers. You should not push however as this is the most delicate point.

What is important is that you have a clear process and plan for following-up with them. Although things have tipped in your favor, you never know when they may tip back in the other direction.

Your marketing now shifts from moving toward a transaction to sustaining and building momentum. It is like a snowball rolling down a hill, you have to keep it going.

You should let your client know what to expect and when to expect it. Establish clear next steps and follow-up.

Thank your client for their order and keep your commitments.

Key Takeaways

1. Ask for the order.
2. Don’t oversell and lose the business.
3. Follow-up.

“The more you tell, the more you sell.”

You are in a constant battle for thoughtshare with your clients. Stress, reduced headcount, constant turnover, etc. All of these things serve to dilute your message. People are busy and although well meaning, often forget.

As busy as your clients and prospects are, they are constantly on the lookout for information to help them in their decision making.

Information sells, or makes a strong case for a purchase. Specific information sells better than vague generalities.

You can make it easier for your prospects to purchase from you by providing clear concise information initially, and being prepared to have substantial supporting material as a follow-up.

Most messages do not get through on the first go around. Repetition is key and very important in ensuring that your message is getting through. Similar to making repeated sales calls on the prospect, exposing them repeatedly to an educational and relevant message is essential in growing your business.

Your prospects won’t know what you do or how you are able to help them unless you tell them. Even when they have purchased your products, services or solutions you need to make them aware of the value of what they have purchased.

Why Long Messages Still Matter

You may be of the belief that nobody reads anymore. That your marketing message should be short and concise. At the same time you need to give your prospects and clients enough information to make an informed decision.

Everytime someone tells you that no one will read something  you should ask them the following question. “What was the last major purchase you made?” It doesn’t matter what it is. It might be a car, a house, a washing machine, refrigerator or cell phone.

Next you want to ask them, “Did you do any research before you made the purchase?” Typically they will say that they asked someone they knew about it, or they went online and checked what people were saying about things.

Bottomline, they were searching for information. Your prospects time may be at a premium and they are still looking for relevant informaton.

Wikipedia and Consumer Reports

Why is Wikipedia one of the most popular sites on the Internet? Because it is full of valuable and relevant information. Particularly information that is relevant to the viewer.

Why do people buy Consumer’s Reports? Because it is full of relevant information to help make a purchasing decision. If you have never read Consumer’s Reports, you should either visit their website or pick up a copy at the newstand.

Educational marketing materials can contain your unique selling proposition (USP) as well as your value proposition. You can use it to position your products and services at a premium level or position.

The next time you are on an airplane, take a look at the advertisements in the inflight magazine. Some will be short and picturesque, while others will be mini essays on a topic.

The reason why is while they have you captive, they are making a complete sales pitch and presentation to you.

Marketing in this case is known as, “Salesmanship in Print.” This is a classic definition of marketing that many direct marketers are aware of. Print these days is not limited to letters, it also applies to email, social media and online communications.

In direct marketing there is less distinction between the marketing function and the sales function. The purpose of the marketing is to make the sale. This is in contrast to traditional brand marketing which is often more concerned with increasing awareness than making the actual sale.

How much information is enough? The amount it takes to tell your story, make key points, ask for the business and have your prospects respond.

Key Takeaways

1. The more you tell, the more you sell.
2. Make your initial marketing messages clear and concise with your follow-up material more substantial.
3. Prospects still look for detailed information to evaluate potential purchases.
4. Consider adding “salesmanship” to your sales and marketing messages.

The number one thing a prospect or client is trying to do is meet their challenges and solve their problems.

There arethree levels of problems you need to concern yourself with.

MacroProblems, MicroProblems and Personal Problems

MacroProblems are those problems effecting the company on a global basis.  The economy. The competition. Government policies and taxes are all examples.

MicroProblems occur at the local level. Program management, scheduling, purchasing, etc.

Personal problems also may get involved since you are dealing with people.

Many marketers realize that most people buy on an emotional (personal) level. They then need to justify their purchase rationally by emphasizing micro or macro problems.

Some brief examples.

Buying Factor: Price

MacroProblem: Industry and sales are down.

MicroProblem: Manager needs to meet budget guidelines.

Personal problem: They want to keep their job.

Buying factors you may encounter:

• Quality
• Price
• Warranty
• Features
• Delivery Times

You may have noticed that “benefits” are not on the list, even though that is what people are actually buying. You will need to be sure to link your benefit to their specific problem.

The challenge with identifying key buying factors is quite often they are not quantified by your client or prospect. Unless they are measured they are meaningless. Your mission is to quantify the problem or challenge.

Two key things you must do.

1. Quantify the problem with the help of your prospect or client if possible.
2. Quantify and emphasize the benefit of your product or service in meeting the challenges of your prospect.

An Example:

One of the best ways to find out what the real challenge your customer is facing, and what the hidden buying factors are is by asking good questions and being a good listener.

Take improved quality for example. Just saying you want quality improvements as good as it sounds does not give you anything actionable to sink your teeth into.

Your marketing challenge is to show how your products or services meets the challenges of your client or prospect better than your competitor.

Questions to ask

1. Ask your prospect or client what will be the criteria by which they will make a purchasing decision.
2. Ask your prospect or client if they can quantify the criteria and be more specific? What are the key attributes of quality that they are looking for?
3. Ask your prospect or client if they can give you a specific example of an acceptable solution to their problem.

Write them down, summarize them for your client and then ask them if there is anything else? Then listen.

In many cases they prospect will then tell you the real problem they are facing, and what they are really looking for. Not always, but more often than you might think.

It may turn out that although the quality of their current solution could be improved, what they are really concerned with is delivery times, or warranty, or customer service.

Someone wise once said, “There is the reason people tell you they want to buy, and then there is the real reason.”

Your mission, should you choose to accept is to ask questions, listen and find the real reason.

Key Takeaways

1. People buy on emotion and then rationalize their purchase.
2. Prospects and clients are trying to meet a challenge or solve a problem.
3. Your prospect is facing macro, micro and personal challenges and problems.
4. You want to work with your prospect to identify the key buying factors that will be used to make a decision.
5. You to ask deliberate questions and listen for specific answers and ask them if there is “anything else?”.

People love stories. You might even say we are wired this way. It is in our DNA. From the time we are babies, through years of watching television and the Internet, to gossip over the water cooler our lives revolve around stories.

You may say that, “Numbers are the language of business.” While that is true, many people are financially illiterate. The story that the numbers tell, the story behind the number, buried in the notes of the financial report, that is what people are interested in.

We understand stories. There is a plot. Typically a hero, a protagonist that saves the day. An enemy or antagonist, the force that the hero must overcome. Here is another hint. Are you ready?

Your prospect wants to be a hero. Trust me its true. They want to overcome adversity, make the bonus, save the company, etc.

Why do you think so much consumer products marketing focuses not on the product itself, but on the benefits the product will provide? The shampoo will not just clean your hair, no it will sweep you off on adventures with beautiful men and women across the globe.

I will be honest with you. Most marketing stories go overboard verging on fantasy. So as a profitable marketer we will be looking for a different type of story. It is called a value proposition.

What Is A Value Proposition?

Value propositions or “ValueProps” are statements summarizing the key benefit that the prospect or customer will receive from your product or service. (Benefits again!).

The best value proposition are often quantified mini-stories. They provide a mix of benefit, case study and quantified results all in one.

Here are some examples.

Example 1: Business Growth

Weak Value Prop: Our clients grow their business fast!

• No proof, no quantifiable result, and the question arises is this fluff?

Stonger value prop “Our clients experience growth of 25%”

• Better but not quite. 25% of what?

Let’s try again.

Example 2: Quality

Weak Value Prop: Acme clients get the highest quality we can provide.

• Is this good or bad? There is no way to tell. Maybe Acme quality is lousy but that is the best they can provide. Who knows?

Stronger Value Prop: The return rate for Acme clients is less than 0.01%!

• Better. However maybe sales are so low that it doesn’t matter.

Here is a solid one: With a 100% no questions asked money-back lifetime guarantee, our auditor Dewey, Cheatham and Howe is willing to testify that with over 1.13 million units sold, and over 53,278 satisfied customers, Acme has never been asked to take back a single product by a customer. Not one.

This is a great value proposition for the following reasons:

1. Benefit: 100% Money back guarantee reduces risk.

2. Customer Focused: Lifetime guarantee

3. Quantifiable: 1.13 million units, 53,278 customers

4. Specific: 1.13 million units, 53,278 customers

5. Promise: You can always return it, but none so far.

6. Proof: Ask our auditors

Your value propisition along with your unique selling proposition are key cornerstones of your offering.

You may be a consultant, company or firm that does many things.In that case your value proposition may be that you are a one stop shop.

If your clients are looking for specialists rather than generalists, then you may want your value proposition to reflect your primary offering.

Case Studies

There is one other type of story that you can use to support your value proposition. It is called a case study. A case study is a story or report that depicts the actions you took on behalf of a client to solve their problems and the results they receive. It is your value proposition come to life in story form.

Let’s say you have a value proposition that you can help companies reduce their purchasing costs by a minimum of 10%. You are stating a claim that you can provide a benefit (savings) that solves their problem (they are paying more than they should). Your challenge is to provide proof and credibility to your claims. If you have actually done this on behalf of a client, you can write a brief synopsis of what happened.

There are typically three parts to a case study.

1. Statement of the client’s problem.

2. Actions you took on their behalf.

3. Results your client received.

Case studies can be as little as one page, or can be several pages long. The more specific your case study the better.

You should approach your client and ask if they would be willing to be named in the case study. You can suggest to them that this will provide them free advertising and publicity.

If they are resistant, you can offer them a complimentary bonus of some sort, extra services, or some other offering.

If they accept, be sure to have them review the final document and give you their permission in writing.

This avoids any misunderstandings down the road. If they do not choose to participate, you can still write a case study, you will just have to make it somewhat generic, and not use any details that identify your client.

Key Takeaways

1. Stories sell and the more specific your story the better it will sell for you.

2. A value proposition is a unique type of story or elevator pitch for your business.

3. A case study brings your value proposition to life and provides additional proof that you can deliver on your claims.

Similar to music, your marketing can also have  hooks. This is often evident in the headline, where you are making a direct appeal to the prospect.

Where to find good hooks

You typically find a hook in the headline. Your headline is the first thing your prospect or client sees. It can be the title of a book, the subject line of an email, the tagline of an advertisement, or the headline and sub-headlines of a sales letter.

One of the best places to find good examples of hooks is at your local bookstore. Take a walk over to the magazine section and take a look at the covers of women’s magazines, celebrity magazines and fitness magazines. In addition to the title of the magazine you will see an indication of the contents of the magazines.

The magazine publisher knows that they have just a few seconds to grab your attention and to “hook” you into picking up the magazine before you walk away. That is why you see titles like”

• Seven sure fire things you must do to get _____.
• How a _____ found ______ with _______.
• Discover your inner _____, in _____ minutes or less.
• What was ______ doing with _______?
• If you want to please _____, never do _____.
• _____’s, top ten secrets for ______.

You might think this seems silly. That no one would fall for this. Well, they do, I do, and you do.  That is why they do this, because it works.

Good headlines, sub headlines and taglines are designed to pull you into a relationship with the service provider or product. Take the example of supermarket tabloids.

No matter what you may think of them, tabloids have great hooks on their covers. Although you may never admit to reading them, most people at least glance at the covers and may even pick them up while they are standing in line.

How to use hooks with prospects

Your prospect or client wants the benefit of the products or services that you are offering. So you should try to include a self-serving benefit for your client or prospect in your hook.

Example:

• Discover how current clients save an average of ____% while using ______ (product or service).
• Free Whitepaper! Top ____ things that will move your ____ forward in _____.

Using A Hook In Your Offer

Hooks grab attention. Ideally you want to keep your prospects attention during the entire marketing process. Ideally, you need to hook your prospects at a minimum of two points. At the opening of the pitch, and at the close of the pitch.

The pitch can be a salesletter, an email, a face to face sales call, a phone call, an advertisement, a book cover, etc.

You want to grab their attention at the opening. This gets them into the process. You must have their attention at the close to either seal the deal, or keep them in the sales process and move it forward.

People are skeptical. They are afraid of being taken advantage of and they are constantly asking themselves, “What is in it for me?”. Remember, your prospect has a problem that needs solving, so your hook if possible should be relevant to their needs.

Your opening and closing hook must communicate what is in it for your prospect. It should provide a tangible benefit to your client or prospect. If it is a quantifiable benefit that you can place a dollar value on, all the better. Basically, it needs to hit a hot button.

Using Quantifiable Hooks

Your prospect in answering the question, “What’s in it for me” is trying to determine and assign a value to your offering.

A simple example is the “Buy One, Get One Free” offer you see at many retail outlets and restaurants. This offer is a hook that grabs your attention, especially if you are in the market for their product or service.

You can assign a quantifiable value to what you are getting for free. Typically it is the same dollar value or less than your primary purchase

Another example is when you see an X% off offer. You can quantify what you are saving.

You can use bonuses, discounts, freebies, extra consultations whatever is appealing to your prospect or client as a hook. In many cases your prospect won’t only buy what you are hooking them with, they will buy something else.

This can be a way to increase the value of the transaction by conducting a cross-sell or up-sell to other products and services.

Key Takeways

1. Use in hooks in your marketing to grab your prospects attention.
2. Hooks should be included at a minimum in the opening and close of your marketing process.
3. You can find good examples of hooks at the newstand.
4. Your hooks should be relevant and provide a benefit to your prospect or client.
5. You should make your hooks quantifiable wherever possible.

One of the most underrated, yet most powerful marketing concepts is the Unique Selling Proposition or USP.

Your USP is one of your key differentiators in the marketplace.

It is a simple phrase or statement that answers the key question your prospects have, “What do you do differently and how does it benefit me?”

The term was first coined by famous advertiser, author and copywriter, Rosser Reeves. (You should do a search on the Internet for Rosser Reeves and USP and find out more.)

It is the elevator pitch of your business. It should not be vague.  It should be as specific.

The key to your success is making sure that you deliver on your USP.

Here are some famous examples:

FedEx: • When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.

Avis Car Rental • We try harder.

AllState Insurance • You are in good hands with AllState.

The USP is directly tied to the benefits that your product or service offers. It is the implicit promise that you are providing to your clients and prospects in exchange for them doing business with you.

You want to avoid appearing as a commodity product or service. No two businesses are absolutely identical, so you should not appear to the marketplace as such.

Developing A USP It is actually surprisingly simple to develop a USP. You should however take some time and not rush it. Your USP is not about you, it is about your client or customer.

It summarizes the benefit they will receive from doing business with you. It states a claim and positions you in the marketplace.

Imagine planting a flag on a piece of territory. You will plant your USP on an area that is relevant to your prospects, but that no one else is currently claiming.

Here are some sample questions you can ask yourself as you begin to think about your USP. You can find plenty of information online to help you in your development of a USP.

1. What is it you do differently than competitors who provide a similar product or service.

2. Which of these differences is valuable and relevant to your prospects and clients.

3. Are there areas of opportunity in the marketplace, relevant to your prospects that you are uniquely qualified to fill?

4. Can you summarize these unique benefits in a simple and easily understood manner?

How A Commodity Became Unique

Take the coffee shop marketplace.

Although Starbuck’s rules the roost, there are new cafes and coffee shops springing up all the time.

Coffee is considered a true commodity product. Commodities are traditionally basic goods such as coffee, sugar, wheat and corn, that are traded on an exchange trading floor. There are set parameters, lot sizes and business is transacted globally.

Yet somehow Starbuck’s has managed to overcome this commodity perception, and charge premium pricing.

So how does Starbuck’s and its competitors in the coffee industry overcome this? Primarily by education.

Consumers are educated on the differences in roasting times, where the beans come from, acidity levels, etc. all designed to change the perceptions and buying criteria for a cup of coffee.

Your Business Is Not A Commodity

Your prospects and clients may want to reduce the differentiation that you offer.

Question: Isn’t the USP the same same as Branding?

Answer: No.

There is some relation but they are different. A brand is what your company stands for, not necessarily what makes it unique.  This can be evidenced in a logo or trustmark. A logo may build a perception of difference from your competition, but unless you are well known it is not typically a factor in the sale. Unless you are delivering on your promises, your logo can quickly come to stand for things you don’t want it to.

A USP on the other hand is an implied or stated promise irrespective of product or service offering.

Starbuck’s apparent USP is pretty simple. They provide an easy way to get a great cup of coffee.

When Starbuck’s arrived on the scene, your typical cup of coffee was a bland, watery, tasteless cup of brown water. You had to go to a local diner, quickie mart or gas station to get one. The idea of coffee and premium being used in the same sentence was remote.

The value was about 70 cents for an 8 ounce cup. The ideas of someone paying two, three or five dollars for a cup of coffee was unheard of. Starbuck’s based on the coffee shops and coffee culture of Europe changed all of that.

Suddenly it became very easy, simple and pleasant to get Grande’s and Venti’s.They did not have small, medium and large, they had something else.   Their offering and their expression of the offering was something very unique.

When you walked into a Starbuck’s you knew something was different. Cappuccino’s, lattes and espresso’s. The atmosphere, the aroma, the style.  They don’t have counterstaff they have “Baristas”. They show the beans and tell you about them. A very different experience.

They actually made their USP tangible. It was all in the delivery. If they did not delivery on their promise of a great cup of coffee, then despite everything else, there would be few repeat customers.

That is the value of a strong USP. Repeat customers and increased profits.

Key Takeaways

1. All businesses should have a USP to differentiate themselves from the competition.

2. The USP is not about you it is about the benefits, implied or real, that your prospects will receive.

3. Every product, service or company can be differentiated with a little thought.

4. Your USP is a promise, be prepared to deliver on it.

That question is, “What’s in it for me?” Of course your interests are important. Otherwise you wouldn’t start a business.

Your clients needs and interests are important to. You are relying on them to give you money in exchange for you helping them to meet their needs.

Your services and offering have value. The trick all too often is defining who exactly will value your services.

Even within a prospect company there may be several different people who will value your services. Each of them may have a different reason.

The White Hot Center

The white center is the point where the temperatures burn hottest. In marketing terms you could say it is where the market truly understands the value of your offer and is willing to buy.

These are the prospects and clients who “Get It”. They are easy to sell and the bullseye at the center of the target. These are the people already looking for a solution to their problem and are at the point of maximum awareness.

Like a bullseye however, they are the smallest part of the target. Unless you have a truly high priced offer you will have to expand your scope.

Similar to the rings on a bullseye, you should look for secondary and tertiary (third level) targets. Although you will continue to make sales as you move away from the center (and in some cases more due to volume), your message may not resonate as strongly. We don’t want to lose sight of our primary target as we expand the market, at the same time we don’t want to get tunnel vision.

One thing to keep in mind, the target image you are projecting and your target customer are not necessarily the same.

Harley Davidson provides an example. Harley Davidson has an image of providing bikes for rebels, outlaws and tough guys. The proverbial “Bad Boy Biker”. That is their image target.

The truth is however, most of their bikes are purchased by affluent executives. This is their white hot center.  The white hot center aspires to the image of the outlaw, but is not necessarily part of the group.

1. What does Harley Davidson want?  More affluent customers?
2. What do the target customers want? An image of themselves as a rebel and outlaw.
3. Is there a match? A very profitable, YES!

What problem are you solving for them?

In the Harley Davidson case although there most likely is a true “Rebel Biker” segment that buys Harley’s, it is probably not big enough to support a global enterprise.

In this case their image target, “Rebel Biker” and their sales target “Affluent biker” although not aligned are in synergy. They can appeal to both segments profitably.

The process of determining your target market is called “market segmentation”. You determine prospects of similar attributes, and then group them according to these attributes.  You can then determine the size, profitability and likelihood to buy of this target group.

What are some common segments?

Here are some sample attributes you can segment on:

• Age, gender or ethnicity of the prospect.
• Size, revenue or profitability of the client.
• City, state, region or location of the prospect.
• Industry, products or clients of the prospect.

You get the picture. Although you may want to sell your products to “everyone” the likelihood of you doing so is small.

Even commodity products such as toothpaste can be segmented. If you go to the store you will not find just toothpaste anymore.  You will find gel, with baking soda, with tartar control, with whitener, with mouthwash, with sparkles, with natural ingredients, with organic ingredients,…, you get the picture. It is like “Segmentation Gone Wild”.

Birds of a feather, network together

One way to find good target prospects is to look at your current list of clients. Review them and see what is common about them. Is it their size? Is it the number of employees? Is it their industry?

Take the time to schedule an appointment to interview and ask them,

• “Why do you do business with us?”
• “What is it you most enjoy about our products and services?”
• “Do you belong to any specific industry trade groups or business networking groups with similar members as yourself?’
• “Do you know of other businesses similar to yourself that would be interested in learning about our products and services?”
• “Would you be willing to make a referral for me to others that might be interested in our services?”

You will most likely notice that there are sevral similarities amongst your current clients. You can then begin to look for where you can find other similar companies.

You can look at:

• Chambers of commerce.
• Industry trade associations.
• Industry networking events.
• Professional networking events.

All of these events and other provide ready-made groups of prospects that you can segment. However, just because you have defined a group by a segment, does not mean it that everyone in the segment will by your product or service.

What it does allow you to do is be more focused and targeting in your marketing messaging. It helps you to leverage the dollars you are spending to get the biggest bang for the buck.

Key Takeways

1. Identify the target prospects who will really value the products or services you are offering.
2. Investigate likely markets that would have an interest in your products are services.
3. Interview your current clients to find out what attributes they like about your products and services.
4. Investigate industry trade and networking groups where you may find prospects similar to current clients.
5. Ask your current clients if they would be willing to refer you to other businesses that might find your products or services appealing.

The problem is in a competitive marketplace your prospects, clients and vendors may have become suspicious and wary of your motives. They may not like doing business with you.

That is a shame.

Robert Fritz, the author of, “The Path Of Least Resistance for Managers” has a list of eleven questions that managers should ask themselves. The top three are:

1. What do you want?
2. What do your customers want?
3. Is there a match?

If there is not a match between what you and your customers want, then there is likely to be friction and controversy.

An alignment example

A manufacturer of software decides that he can improve his product. He look at the competition and realized there are many new features he can add. They develop a new version of the software. It is feature rich. The new software takes longer to load than the previous version, reacts more slowly and is more complicated to use.

The clients of the software appreciate the fact that the current software is easy to use, loads quickly and is fast. It may be lacking in some of the “Bells and Whistles” of the competition, but that is okay. They are happy and content with what they have.

What the software vendor wants:

1. Upgraded software
2. New features

What the client wants

1. Ease of use.
2. Quick loading and response.

Question: Is there a match?

Answer: You should hope that there is.

What each party in the transaction wants is not necessarily in conflict. Although you may want to beat the competition, if you are focused on beating your customers as well, you may run into challenges.

If you are a sole practitioner or in a service industry, you may have heard that it is important to find good clients, or that 80% of your problems will come from 20% of your client base.

If you are not delivering to your clients, customers and prospects what they want, then they are likely to begin looking elsewhere and causing you problems.

You have choices in who you chose to buy from, and so do your clients.

A wise man once said, “Business and marketing are simple. Figure out what your customers want and how they want it, and sell it to them.”

Key Takeaways

1. Try to find ways to align your objectives with those of your clients or prospects.
2. If your objectives are not in alignment with your client or prospect there is likely to be friction.
3. Figure out what your customers want, want what they want, and then sell it to them.

You might be surprised that it is actually pretty simple to tell what customers want.  It’s not a big secret. Are you ready for it?

What your customers want is solutions to their problems. The challenge is figuring out or getting them to tell you what their problem is.

Does your prospect or client want increased sales? The problem is lack of sales.

Does your prospect or client want reduced costs? The problem is the perceived costs are either too high, or the perceived value is too low.

In too many cases, marketers spend a great deal of time and money trying to convince prospects that what they are offering is what they “should” want, not necessarily what they want.

It is purposeful misdirection. If the problem is you are not feeling attractive to the opposite sex, then the solution is our soap, shampoo, nail polish…,, you get the idea. Do these offerings actually solve the problem? Maybe. That depends on the prospects point of view.

Where Should You Focus

As important as it is to focus on the benefits of your product or service offering, it really needs to be placed in the context of their current challenges and problems. You should meet your prospects where they are first and then see if you can take them to where they want to go.

Abraham Maslow, is famous for his hierarchy of needs. As we solve the problems at our level, we move up to a higher level of needs, wants and desires. The problems we solve today, plant the seeds of the problems we will encounter tomorrow.

What is Marketing?

Marketing is about communicating solutions to problems, as well as connecting and developing relationships with your prospects. Marketing begins well before the product or service launches into the marketplace.

Many companies build what they think will make money without looking deeper into how their offering will solve problems.  They are solutions looking for a problem to solve.

As I write this, the North American car companies are in the midst of a vast restructuring. Due to the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009, they make too many cars, that people are unable to buy. They have not been able to react quick enough to a change in consumer demand.

Most companies do not go out looking to file bankruptcy on a whim.  The problem is the company or person is overextended and unable to pay their current cost structure. This can happen for a variet of reasons.

In this case, the automakers were unable to anticipate a change in consumer demand, brought on by a problem their customers were facing. “Can I afford a major purchase when I may be out of work soon?”, or, “Can I hold off on purchasing a new vehicle until later?”

Key Takeways

1. The #1 thing clients and prospects want is the ability to solve their problems and challenges.
2. The ability to communicate how your products or services help your customers overcome their challenges is an essential skill you must master.
3. The challenges prospects face are constantly changing.