If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have asked for a faster horse.
Henry Ford
If you sell a complex product or service, you know what it’s like to talk with a customer that has a very different idea of what they think they need versus what YOU believe they need.
Our customer’s “perceived need” may be very different from our own view of their situation.
Take our Marketing Master Class. Please. 🙂
We are absolutely convinced the more our clients know about marketing, the more successful they will be. We think that learning marketing and sales skills and techniques is well worth the time spent.
On the other hand, some of our clients have the strange idea that their time is nearly completely consumed with other things, like product development, customer service, and administrative tasks.
The dilemma – conflict between what they think they need and what you know they need.
- We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that customers need to become familiar with certain concepts and techniques in order to get the best results from their sales and marketing efforts.
- Our clients, members and prospects have other priorities (imagine that!) and express frustration about the amount of time required.
The solution – start where perceptions match.
In almost every situation, there is some area of agreement, however small.
Working with the customer’s perceived need
We conducted online surveys and informal phone conversations with all of our clients and most of our Master Class Members, and here’s what they said:
- “The materials are great, love the quality, great explanations of concepts, techniques work when we apply them.”
- “Like the DVDs and organized materials sent by mail each month, like building a library of reference materials.”
- “An hour is more time than I can spend at any given time.”
All products must evolve with the changing needs of clients. Here’s how our Master Class is evolving:
We also added a “Tip Sheet Only” level of service for members who truly believe that 30 minutes a month is all they can spare.
So, we’re providing what we know customers actually need, but “packaging” it in a way that they want.
Since I am using here in Russia a reindeer-drawn sleigh instead of the traditional horse-drawn, would you please tell Henry Ford that I am looking for a faster reindeer?
Despite the fact that I have installed a new set of winter tires to my private car, using sledges is safer and more fun.
So Mr. Sultan –
How do you find fueling stations for reindeer? Is efficiency and reducing, ahm, reindeer emissions a priority for you? If so, perhaps you might consider one of our new hybrid models – they use sledges, which we agree are safer and more fun, while utilizing a more convenient gasoline engine.
We call them snowmobiles. 🙂
Thanks for your comment. You always have such fun ideas.