“People don’t buy for logical reasons. They buy for emotional reasons.”
~ Zig Ziglare
What I’m trying to say is that your customers don’t really care about your product or service, directly. They don’t care about the “thing” you sell, they only want the benefits they think they’ll get when they give you their hard-earned money. Most business people are too in love with their products and they never figure this secret out. But it makes life so much easier for those of us who have. So welcome to the inside.
You may be thinking, “What do you mean my customers don’t want my products and services? Why else are they buying?” Well, that’s a good question, isn’t it? But think about it. Whatever people buy, they buy for the perceived benefit it will bring them – whether that’s warmth, speed, money, or social prestige. So really, your ability to make a profit through your marketing strategy ultimately relies on building a case in your prospects’ minds, for all the benefits they’ll receive from buying your product or service from you.
Most business people don’t really see it like that. A restauranteur thinks they’re selling steak and potatoes, but they’re really selling the dining experience. Or take a look at Subway sandwiches, to continue the food analogy. Subway revolutionized their entire business when they started selling a healthy alternative to cheeseburgers, instead of peddling their boring lineup of sub sandwiches.
In marketing, we teach small business owners that people don’t want a quarter-inch drill bit; what they want is a quarter-inch hole. The only reason they buy a quarter-inch drill bit is so they can get their quarter-inch hole. Other than that purpose, the drill bit doesn’t matter. But, what if there was an alternative way to getting that quarter-inch hole? What if you could shine a laser at the wood and drill any sized hole in a split-second, or some other technology made it easier? Would that hole-cutter sell? Of course it would, as long as it was safe and effective. The drill bit is only a means to an end. What they really want is a hole.
Years ago, marketing guru Ted Nicholas invented a copywriting strategy he called “The Hidden Benefit.” He said to ask, “If I had God-like super powers and could bestow upon my prospects anything that they wanted, what would it be?” His example was a book of boring corporate forms. The headline he wrote was, “What will you do when the I.R.S. seizes your personal assets to satisfy a judgment against your corporation?” He wasn’t selling business forms, he was selling protection. Ted’s book of corporate forms will keep you from getting in trouble with the I.R.S. He scared the holy hell out of everybody with that headline, and sold $70 million worth of his boring corporate forms.
If you ignore basic human emotions and don’t link them to your product, you’ll never be nearly as effective as you could be. Use the old Ted Nicholas method to discover the hidden wants in your market? What’s the hidden benefit? If you were omnipotent, what’s the one thing that your product could do, the biggest benefit it could give your customers? Consider that, and you’ll come up with all kinds of amazing ideas that you couldn’t think of before. Click Here
