As I shared last post, today’s buyers are more sophisticated than ever. Therefore, to win the game of attracting and converting clients, customers or patients you must provide them with an experience that includes 7 key fundamentals. Fail to do this and you will never build the business you deserve. I covered the first 3…
Fundamental #1 – Everyone wants the “best deal.”
Fundamental #2 – Always market to the negative.
Fundamental #3 – Prospects buy based on emotion.
Let’s continue…
Fundamental #4 – Make your business “unique.”
One of the biggest problems business owners face when trying to make that emotional connection is that different prospects have different hot buttons. That’s why it’s critical that you separate your business from your competition. You must find a way to stand out from the crowd. The best way to do this is to create a “niche” market for your business. That means your business has to stop trying to be everything to everyone.
If you were a left handed, blond haired, blue eyed golfer with a horrendous slice, and you decided to seek professional help to improve your golf game, who would you call? The professional with the ad in the paper that says I help golfers improve their golf game. Or the pro with the ad that says I help left handed, blond haired, blue eyed golfers with horrendous slices get rid of their slice permanently within 3 days or you don’t pay.
That’s what we call a “niche” market… and you will attract every prospect within that niche because you offer what they WANT… not what they need. When you try to be everything to everyone, you’re nothing to no one. When you select a niche market… a niche based on your passion for what you do, you instantly become “unique,” since your competition is trying to be all things to all people.
Prospects are looking for the expert. They demand the best. Positioning your business into its own niche market positions you as that expert. It’s a concept known as preeminence, and it begins to create value for what you do.
Fundamental #5 – Prospects buy what they want… not what they need.
This is another big one to never forget. This one ties back to the fact that prospects buy based on emotion and they only use logic to justify their purchase. When you “need” something, you’re drawing a logical conclusion. The problem is this. Prospects may or may not buy what they “need”… but they always buy what they “want.” Where needs are based on logic, “wants” are based on emotion. Here’s an example.
You look at your 3 year old car and notice the tires are almost worn slick. So logically you say to yourself, oh no, I need new tires. Oh heck, they’ll last a few more months. Even though you need new tires, you don’t want them. Why? They’re not cheap to replace… it’s inconvenient for you to take the time to hunt for the best deal on tires… then you have to make an appointment to have them changed, and then there’s the inconvenience of having to have it done while you wait two hours for the work to be completed. In short, it’s a hassle.
Now consider this scenario. You just purchased a brand new car, and as you’re leaving the dealership, you see the same car you just bought with a new style of tire on it that really compliments the car. In fact, it doubles the beauty of the car in YOUR eyes. You “want” those tires.
Even though they’re twice as expensive as the ones you have already purchased… and the hassle factor is the same as the first scenario… you WANT those tires… and so you will have them. The first situation involved logic, and the second situation involved emotion. So never forget that prospects buy what they want… not what they need.
It all goes back to emotion. If you can create marketing messages that hit these major fundamentals, you will absolutely dominate your competition.
Fundamental #6 – Be able to communicate your uniqueness and extraordinary value.
You must create a highly targeted, laser-focused message aimed specifically at the prospects in your niche market so you can tell them you have exactly what they want. We refer to this message as your Compelling Competitive Advantage™ that gets delivered in an “elevator pitch.” It’s basically a ten to thirty second mini-commercial for your business. We often refer to this as your “million dollar message.”
That’s what you can make when you get this right. We have had clients in the past that went from five figure annual incomes to six figure monthly incomes within sixty days of developing their highly compelling elevator pitch. But again, that pitch has to highlight the way you overcome their hot buttons in a unique way that offers extraordinary value. When you say your elevator pitch to a prospect, and they respond by saying “how do you do that?” then you know you have a terrific elevator pitch.
In the next blog post I will share the final, and perhaps most important, “Human Buying Fundamental.”
To Your Success,
Scott Hallman
