got a minute?
Any informed Sales perspective needs to take into account what we like to call the Product. Is that a always a physical item? Certainly not, anymore. And even though plenty of marketing firms and customers see your “Product” as something tangible, it’s hardly ever what it’s made out to be. At the very least, we can agree on that. A “thing” isn’t actually what you’re selling. It’s simple. I’m referring to the Experience; the satisfaction of an instinct at the core of every human being: the desire for change, to gain knowledge, and experience success in the eyes of their peers. Taken just a step further it becomes even easier to see how there may not be a tangible product at all. At least not the one the customer really wants. Again, we’re talking about what’s at the root of human psychology.
Aside from routine trips to the grocery store, and sometimes even then, too, we aren’t really purchasing “things.” We move money from one side of the ledger to the other because of Hope. We hope, deep down, we’ll get to experience that blessed state of satisfaction that goes hand in hand with the transaction itself. So, most of the time, we’re buying the way we FEEL when we make that glorious purchase. The risk, the gamble, the HOPE that we are moving from one state to another, better place. As such, it gets easier and easier to understand the transition between what we want and the ways we convince ourselves it’s exactly what we need again and again. We accumulate “stuff.” But this is more important than most of us ever imagine: Consumers typically buy the IDEA that they move IMMEDIATELY from one state to yet another, better place when purchasing the “product.” Understand that, and watch your sales carefully. Those numbers are tied directly to your willingness to engage your customers on this level.
Get to know the kind of people who buy what you’re selling, and then create a simple process to move them from where they are now to what they really want: Satisfaction. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling. And you can take that, as they say, to the bank.
READY TO START TALKING SALES AND MARKETING? PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT?
Required reading:
