The absolute best way to get more for your offering is to make your customers want what you have to offer.
Okay sounds obvious enough. So, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that many of us focus on trying to convince our prospects that we they need what we have to offer–as if need were a stronger motivator. So, it begs the question, which is a greater motivator, need or want?
The answer may surprise you. “Obviously, our needs are more important than our wants.” After all, if you need it, you’ve got to have it right?
Why want is a greater motivator
It just so happens that want is the greater motivator. I’m not saying that want is more important to us, just that it is the greater motivator. For example, we all know somebody that frequently travels across town in order to save a few pennies on gas–guilty as charged. Yet, that same person is willing save for a dream house, a dream car or even an education from an elite university.
The bottom line is that we don’t enjoy spending our hard-earned money on things that we merely need. The result being that we treat items of need as commodities. We tend to use price as the primary criteria when determining where to purchase our needed items. On the other hand, we get very excited about spending money on items that we want.
In fact, it is often considered normal to place ourselves in debt (student loans, mortgages, credit cards, etc.) and spend whatever it takes to acquire the things that we want. It’s hard to imagine someone voluntarily saving to spend more than they absolutely have to on items we need such as gas, taxes or utilities. We have a hard enough time getting people to save for retirement.
How to get them to want it
To answer this question, I will need to get a little philosophical here. Our lives are comprised of a series of experiences arranged chronologically along our life’s timeline. We spend our lives trying to ensure that our lives are filled with as many positive experiences as possible and as few negative experiences as possible. This is why we dislike being board and wasting time. This is also why we respond to marketing that promises positive experiences.
That’s right, there it is. The answer to getting prospects to spend more on your products or services is to create marketing materials that demonstrate how your offering will add joyful and happy experiences to their life’s timeline.
If you study the television commercials of Apple, you will notice that you are never told how fast or powerful their products are. In fact, you aren’t even told how much their products cost. Every commercial focuses on showing you what your life will be like and how happy you will be if decide to become one of their happy customers. While this technique serves to get your customers to spend more with you, your success will be short lived if you over-promise and under-deliver. A good example of this involves Coca-Cola’s attempt to replace sugar with corn syrup to develop a product called New Coke. Their commercials were filled with people that had participated in taste tests and that preferred New Coke. However, when the product hit the street, consumers did not agree with the opinions of the participants in the commercials. It took Coca-Cola’s willingness to admit to having made a mistake and the reintroduction of the original recipe as Classic Coke for consumers to return to the Coca-Cola brand.
I’m sure that you have figured out by now that the solution is not to tone down your marketing enthusiasm, but to step up your game when it comes to creating an offering that can provide your customers with a positive experience. Successful marketing transcends every facet of your business — not just the advertising. Returning to the Apple experience, many faithful consumers have been created through Apple’s top-notch support. It is not uncommon to hear stories involving consumers with computers in need of repair receiving brand new replacement products at no charge. This type of customer-first customer service is making its way through the entire computer industry.
Conclusion
Use your marketing materials to demonstrate to your audience how your offering will provide a joyful and positive experience. Follow up with a product or service that meets the expectations of your marketing campaigns. Finally, work with your team to make sure that every touch point your customer has with your company provides a positive experience. Continuing to provide positive experiences to your customers and prospects will help develop a brand that your customers will be happy to evangelize and that your prospects will be willing to pay more for.
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