Entnote/21″/dt1st/mark2nd
PRODUCTION WE RAN AN ENTREPRENEUR’S NOTEBOOK BY THIS GUY ON SEPT. 15, 1997
By MARK GOULSTON
Cole Porter wrote: “When you’re in love, smoke gets in your eyes.” Too often I meet small-business owners who are so in love with their product or service, that they have never taken the time to consider what their customers really want.
Frequently entrepreneurs become so enamored with the features of their product or service that they ignore the fact the customers buy more because of benefits. They aggressively market their product, without thinking about what’s really on their customers’ minds.
Customers either consciously or unconsciously ask themselves seven questions before they commit to buying a product or service. If we can put ourselves in their place, and answer these seven questions, we’re much more likely to have them buy from us.
1) What can you do for me? Robbie Bogue, president of Marketing Excellence, says, “People don’t care what you know or even what you can do, until they know what you can get done for them.” Starbucks gourmet coffee shops know how important it is to get something done for people in their case, it’s giving people a breather from their stressful lives. A cozy nook to grab a cup of coffee, read a newspaper and have a conversation is an ideal setting to help us gear up on the way to work and gear down on the way home.
Requiring too much brain space, focus, and follow-through to derive the benefits of your service or product is not going to fly in a too-busy-to-relax world. You better be able to explain quickly, simply, and clearly the benefits of your product or service.
2) Why is it important to me? Your customers are looking for something they want to buy rather than something you want them to buy. You love your product or service, but if what you’re offering is of no value to your customer, who cares? Certainly your customer doesn’t.
In this climate of increased customer savvy, a hard sell is just not going to cut it. Find out what they want and need most, then build that and sell it to them.
3) Is it more than I’m getting now? Whether people own up to it or not, everybody wants more. If Domino’s Pizza offered a “one for the price of two” special for people who want to diet rather than a “two for the price of one” special, how many customers would order that pizza?
Wanting more is not just about greed, it is just as often a cushion against times in life when people have less. Having more now offers some protection against having less later. Getting more from life also gives people the feeling that they are smart rather than naive.
4) Is it better than I’m getting now? With increased education and sophistication, quantity no longer makes up for lagging quality. Even people who desire quantity seek out quality in many products and services.
Credit for much of the success of cars by Lexus and Infiniti is due to the fact that these companies have transformed the service-and-repair experience from the bane of a car owner’s life into one of the pleasures of driving.
5) Is it sooner than I’m getting it now? Time is money that’s just a fact. That is why e-mail is the fastest-growing use of the Internet, even though cyberspace offers so many other wondrous things. If Federal Express hadn’t started delivering on weekends, they’d have had to keep giving away weekend customers to the U.S. Postal Service.
6) Does it cost less than I am spending now? Cost is an issue in your customer’s mind. Years ago, buying wholesale instead of retail was considered d & #233;class & #233;. Today, buying retail is a sign of foolishness. Why else would you see so many upscale cars (and presumably well-to-do customers) in the parking lots at PriceCostco? If cost consciousness were not a concern to customers, why would companies use the word “sale” so frequently in their advertising?
7) Is it less risky than what I am doing now? The thrill of an adrenaline rush is only exceeded by the terror of an adrenaline crash. As much as we like the thrills in life, the potential spills scare us more.
Would you move all your money to your new start-up financial services firm, with no track record, but with the greatest investment ideas since sliced bread? I don’t think so. Besides, even sliced bread is no longer the best thing if you’ve noticed the increasing popularity of baguettes, croissants, and French rolls.
If you don’t make the effort to consider what customers want from you, why should they go to the expense of purchasing your product or service? How successful can you hope to be if you’re offering something that: doesn’t do anything for them, isn’t important to them, is less than what they’re getting now, is of lower quality to what they have now, takes longer than it’s taking now, costs more than they’re spending now, and requires more risk than they’re taking now?
Your customers are not fools. If you don’t take your customer’s expectations into consideration, you’re only fooling yourself.
Mark Goulston is a Santa Monica-based marketing consultant and sales trainer, UCLA psychiatrist, and author of “Get Out of Your Own Way: Overcoming Self-Defeating Behavior.” His e-mail address is [email protected].
Entrepreneur’s Notebook is a regular column contributed by EC2, The Annenberg Incubator Project, a center for multimedia and electronic communications at the University of Southern California. Contact James Klein at (213) 743-1759 with feedback and topic suggestions.
