Quick notes to help you grow your business in less time with less effort. . . starting next week.
In this issue:
- Thoughts on Thinking Like A Prospect
- Being Human
- Random Stuff
Thoughts on Thinking Like A Prospect
- Instead of guessing before testing new messages, encourage the marketing team to get out and talk to prospects. It saves time in the long run. Plus, it leads to increased activity . More activity creates more opportunities.
- If our salespeople are tired of the company's message and want to freshen it up, let's ask ourselves this: is our customer tired of it? Are our prospects? If not, let's keep what we have.
- Sales coaches offer a lot of advice. "Uncover their pain," says one. "No, it's best to talk about gain," says another. Why don't we let the prospect guide us? Until we know which direction they want to go, let's use the word "issues." As in, "Talk me through some of the issues you are addressing in this year's plan."
- Great testimonials start by retelling the story of current customers' old issues. The ones they were dealing with before engaging with us. Take note of "before we were introduced to ___" language because it describes where your next best prospects are today. Using the same language prospects will use.
Being Human – Getting out of our head
“You can never go too far wrong by thinking like a customer who’s new to the business.” — Richard Branson
Thinking Like Prospective Customers
I am in a meeting and it's running long. We're sitting around a boardroom table and I'm guessing the combined hourly rate of the participants is eye watering. What are we doing there?
We're parsing language.
It's an important document, but it's a marketing document. On the scale of precision needed, 1-10, I'd put it at a 4, but this group has it at an 8 at minimum. Some seem to have it at level 10. Why are we so all over the board about the importance of these words?
Because it's hard to get out of our heads and think like our prospective customers.
Look at this grid.
Since we know a lot about our solutions, and we have a lot of experience in them, we are in the upper right quadrant. High knowledge, high experience. We are precise with words, we've experienced a lot, and we want to see details and evidence before setting expectations. Contrast that with the lower left quadrant. In this quadrant we have little experience and little knowledge, but we know the problem. We're novices about the solution. We haven't learned the right words, and our expectations are high.
In that beautiful board room overlooking part of our fair city, everyone knows too much, making each word choice feel critical. The part I'm struggling to communicate is that the marketing document isn't for them. They are upper right, the people with the problems are lower left. In the upper right we say "tranche," and it has a specific meaning to us financiers. In the lower left we say "money" because it's the easiest way to describe the solution we want.
Putting yourself in the mind of prospective customers isn't easy, but it can be done. Once we've gained knowledge and hard-won experience, the scars aren't forgotten easily. It's like the old song says, "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)" Marketing messaging requires us to de-knowledge and de-experience ourselves, to get out of our heads. We need to see the problem like someone new to the business. Start by taking note of the language and questions used by new prospects. Run new marketing copy past them. Be willing to test one version, then make changes, and go with the one that works.
We can do this.
Random Stuff
"Shoot a few scenes out of focus. I want to win the foreign film award."
– famed movie director Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
Seven years ago, the Dundee movie theater re-opened near our house. It's within walking distance. The old theater had gotten a little long in the tooth. It was purchased by a philanthropic organization. It re-launched as the second location of Film Streams, a non-profit movie theater focused on movies as art. That's fun, but the best part is there is a restaurant attached. A walk to dinner and then popcorn, or popcorn followed by a dessert, or maybe just popcorn, then a movie. Whatever the combination, I get a worthwhile reward for expending a little effort.
What started as an occasional fun-to-do has become our go to entertainment. This happened to me once before. When was in my late teens I used to watch movies at The Mayan theater in Denver. It was refurbished and re-opened in 1986, showing the same kinds of movies. Art house films. We went all the time.
I'm thinking about this because my lovely bride and I are in the middle of a documentary series about film. It's called "The Story of Film: An Odyssey" and we're through eight of the fifteen episodes. It turns out I have watched a lot of critically acclaimed movies over the years. Many of which I watched and at the time thought, "well, that sucked. Never getting those two hours back."
Now that these movies are being put into some sort of context, my assessment was a bit harsh. I should have said something like, "well that sucked. I wish I had someone to put it in context so I could appreciate it."
It's the exact same feeling I get going to an art museum with my lovely bride and firstborn child. Both studied art history. When we see art and I say, "I don't get it, I don't like it," they quickly give me context. Filling me in on what was happening, where and when. I listen intently, then I say, "Ah. Ok. Now I see what they are doing. I don't like it."
Big difference. The former left me feeling dumb, the latter leaves me feeling smart. Same piece of art. The only change is the story in my brain.
Funny how that works.
Bonus fact: in the lower left hand corner of the map is Warren Buffett's house. Between us we have over $100 billion dollars.
Bonus-bonus: Look what I found! A pic of Sicko, me, and Wild Bill in Virginia Beach, VA in 2007. Tropical Clothing That Says, "Hey, I'm Wearing Tropical Clothing." A tagline that still tickles me.
Side note, that was about the same time we joined Film Streams at their downtown location. Side, side note, yes those are Crocs. A lot has happened since 2007.
