From 99 Marketing Traps and How to Avoid Them*
One proven winning strategy is to do more for your buyers than a competitor is willing to do.
More product for less, better service for less … it’s all about winning business any way you can, doing whatever it takes to add customers.
The problem is, at what price? How far can you cut price? How much more service and attention can you provide, and still stay profitable?
Trying to do more may seem admirable, but it can also be a marketing narcotic: When do you stop? How do you stop?
And if you do stop delivering more – because you can no longer afford to, or there simply is no more to deliver – what will be the effect on the buyer and on your sales results?
Will buyers live on the gratitude of what you have already done for them and keep buying from you out of devotion for what you did for them in the past?
Uhhh, … not likely.
Here’s the reality with buyers: Give them more than what they expect today, and that “value added” will become their expectation tomorrow. Deliver anything less tomorrow, and they will feel gypped.
Deliver the same, and they will wonder why they just don’t feel as good as they once did about buying from you. All they know is that something is different, and gee, someone else might be better. Or just as good … and cheaper.
If you’re going to make added value the linchpin of your competitive strategy, do so with the realization that once you start, there’s no backing away without damaging buyer relationships and top-line sales.
How To Help A Brand That Has Fallen Into This Trap:
Don’t go there. Doing more than expected will win you sales and short-term customer affection, but at what price? It certainly won’t win you business in a way that is profitable, or sustainable.
What you did yesterday doesn’t really matter in today’s marketplace. The mindset for today’s customer is, what’s in it for me right now? They ask that question at every sales opportunity. And the only confirming answer that matters is this: “I buy from this company because their quality is good (i.e., good enough) and I know they’ll take care of me. I can’t be sure that the competitors will do the same, and I don’t have time to really check those guys out.”
Don’t give away more than you are asking the customer to pay for. If the “more” you deliver today is inherently better than what customers can get from your competition, great! Just don’t try to deliver more today than you can reasonably expect to be able to deliver profitably from now on.
*Available now at Amazon.
No comments:
Post a Comment