Nov 30, 2020 | Customers, Sales
We all use mental models, it is how we get through life without overloading our cognitive capacity all the time. Mental models are evolutions way of enabling us to respond automatically, without a lot of thought, over, and over again, as we come up against similar situations.
They are a bit like driving to a destination. The first time, you need a map, but as you do it a few times, the route becomes automatic, you are responding rather than thinking.
How good would it to be to be able to build a mental model of your customers minds as it relates to the product or service you provide, to enable them to just go there almost automatically?
First step. Distil down how they see your offering to its essential core. To do this you need to understand the how, what, where, when, and why of your ideal customers potential use of your product.
How it is used, what they do with it, where or what context it is used in, when it is used, and why they should source it from you.
With work, you can arrive at a sentence, sometimes two, that describes in a customers words these elements that add up to create the value they derive from your product.
Second step. Recognise this is an iterative process, one that can take some time, and benefits hugely from talking with customers. Therefore, once you have what you think are the distilled words, test them, understand the reasons you get the responses you got, and adjust your proposition if necessary. Use a process to enhance and eliminate items from the list with customers. For example:
IF .. Summary description that captures the mental model you are creating
BY… Removing, adding, changing, tests the variables that influence behaviour
WILL.. Improve performance. Summarises the expected impact
BECAUSE…. Understanding the reason this resonates more than others in your customers mind.
This is a simple process that uses the pretty standard continuous improvement cycle, Plan, Do, Check, Act, in a slightly different context.
The other thing to remember is that copy sells, you need clarity in your copy.
Third step. Live test with customers, this is in effect a minimum viable product of your value proposition.
Fourth step. Roll out the final proposition. Adjust as necessary based on feedback and factors in the market that influence behaviour over time
This is a challenging process, way too easy to take a short cut which will erode the impact of the end result. It is a process that evolves over time, so you need to be constantly looking critically at your offering through your customers eyes to understand the manner in which you can add value to their lives, in return for their money, and referrals.
Oct 9, 2020 | Customers, Management
I just had another of those moments that caused an unpleasant ‘tummy churn’.
A post from a so called ‘business coach’ that promised a ‘business turnaround in 90 days’.
Perhaps they know something I do not.
Having stumbled around in this arena for 35 years, I have not yet found anything like the template that can make any sort of promise like that.
Yes, there are sensible activities you can do that when done well will create the opportunities for significant change and improvement. Sometimes a complete revision of the business can be kicked off, but events rarely happen like that in the absence of an outside catalyst.
Every successful turnaround I have seen, or been involved with, has had four common characteristics:
- They have identified and taken immediate action that addresses the current activities that cost more than they generate in customer value. In other words, putting customer service and satisfaction at the centre of consideration.
- They have taken the immediate opportunities, often staring them in the face, to increase revenue
- They have removed the usually obvious wasted effort and activity which when eliminated delivers incremental cost free capacity.
- They have ensured that the actions taken are scalable.
In that 4 part formula is a host of improvement opportunity, and difficulty.
And, it is never completed in 90 days. It is a journey, with a first 90 days, followed by another, and another.
To promise a ‘90 day turn-around’ is fantasy. It simply cannot be delivered; best you can do is to take a big first step along the road. However, taking that first step is often the hardest one to take.
Beware of the gold tooth brigade!
Sep 10, 2020 | Customers, Small business
Regularly, I find myself in a discussion with those who sell their time and expertise rather than a physical product, talking about price.
How do you set it?
After 25 years of doing it for myself, you might think I have some tips?
Well, I have plenty of experience and some scars, but it remains a really tough question. It is especially tough when there is not much work around.
There are only two driving considerations:
- How long the project will take me.
- What is the value of the project to you.
These two factors combined with my standard rate will define a quote.
Generally my quotes are fixed, if I make an error in scoping in my favour, OK, if the error is in your favour, good luck to you.
I will not haggle, either the knowledge and experience I have is of value to you, or it is not.
However, there are a few mitigating factors that can influence the price.
- Project scope. I am an expert in specific areas, not all. Often there is the opportunity for you to use others who may generate a better outcome more quickly. In that case, I will recommend a couple of people to you, people that I would trust were I in your shoes. In that case I will not clip the ticket in any way, unless you need me to project manage the ‘subbie’. This may reduce my price, as it no longer consumes my time.
- Timing. As I work on projects, there are times when I am up to the gills, and others when there is plenty left over. If your project is flexible in its timing, and I can get to it in those slower times, perhaps we can agree on some price flexibility as well. However, that is unusual, as what seems to be a ‘dry patch’ has the habit of suddenly turning into a downpour.
- For some reason, the project we are discussing is more than just interesting to me, as those are the only ones I take, but compelling, addictive in its potential to make a difference. Again, rare.
I am a stand alone freelancer, an expert in a narrow but very deep field, trading my time, experience and knowledge for money. I know a lot about a wide range of other things, but do not claim expertise of any great depth. Generally, I do not do projects that require those skills, except as a catalyst and enabler of the areas of deep expertise.
The focus should be on the value that will be delivered, not the price.
Maybe that helps you to think about your own pricing strategy.
Jul 29, 2020 | Customers, Marketing
It seems almost every business owner I meet claims to be customer centric, yet, ask their customers, and you get a different response.
Human nature is that we put priority on what is important to us, rather than looking at something from the other side of the equation. It is simply easier for us to compute, and in the short term, more satisfying, to think how well we are doing.
Go out to some customers, potential customers, and importantly, former customers, and ask them some simple questions:
- What is the most painful situation we might be able to help you with?
- How did we do last time solving it?
- How could we make it easier to do business with us?
- What would make us so compelling that price no longer mattered?
- How would you explain our value proposition to your neighbour?
- What would make you choose our competitor over us?
- How are we different to our competitors?
- What one thing would you change about the manner in which we service you?
- What words would you use to describe the relationship we have: supplier, partner, collaborator,
Rank yourself on these questions to gain a real picture of your customer centricity. If you are doing well, you are answering all the questions your customer may have, giving them the information they need to make decisions. The ultimate test is to be able to tell them that your product is not the ideal one for them, and recommend an alternative.
Do that, and they will trust you forever.
Jul 27, 2020 | Customers, Sales
Every business needs a flow of leads that can be turned into a transaction, and better still, a relationship that includes numerous transactions.
You have current customers, who are, hopefully, very happy with your service and products. What better source of more business could you ask for?
In his seminal book ‘Influence’ published 30 years ago, and updated several times since, Dr. Robert Cialdini noted one of the 6 principals of persuasion is ‘Reciprocity’. The sense of obligation created when you do something, even a really small thing, for someone else out of pure generosity.
You do something generous for them, and they will feel obligated to, at some time, do something in return.
When that something happens to be a referral to someone they know, who could use your services, and with whom they have a relationship with mutual trust as a foundation, and they refer you to them, it is like money in the bank.
I have a client who has made successful referrals a central KPI of his workforce. His service requires that his employees are in peoples homes, and so trust is a fundamental part of a successful project completion. When those happy customers refer him to someone else, the conversion rate dwarfs anything coming from other sources. It is not always immediate, people are not always ready to buy when you are ready to sell, but when that time comes around, he is always at the front of the line.
Ask yourself a very simple question, and implement the answer to double your sales at very low cost.
‘How can I engage a customer in a way that they offer to refer me to their networks’?
You will probably find there are some simple answers to the question, including doing a great job for your current clients. However, the most effective way is to do something nice for them, with no (obvious) agenda.
My client has a modest bunch of flowers delivered to the lady of the house with a personalised thank you note attached. The note includes the suggestion that they might know somebody who would benefit from his services, and he would appreciate a referral.
A simple gesture, with a profound impact.
Leads are great, genuine referrals emerging from trusting relationships are money.
Jul 13, 2020 | Communication, Customers, Strategy
Writing an email sequence is not as easy, or effective, as the videoed on-line courses (special deal $695, ends at midnight) would have you believe.
The templates and advice is all pretty vanilla although useful, but does not get to the heart of why people buy from you, and how, amidst the tsunami of stuff coming at them, they pick out yours.
Many seem to think digital is different from the old fashioned advertising I grew up with, and it is, tactically, but strategically, it is the same.
A potential customer goes through some sort of journey that differs in every case, but generally follows a process:
- recognition that there is something of interest out there for them
- Awareness that the stuff out there has relevance to them as a solution to some sort of a problem they have, or have recognised as a result of the discovery process.
- The problem now seen becomes something that has a value in its solution
- There is activity seeking that solution
- Choosing a supplier, and installation of the solution
- The after sales process, where they can be persuaded, assuming you did a good job, to be an advocate for the problem you solved for them, and more specifically for you as the solution provider.
The process by which this all happens is not a nice logical ‘Sales funnel’ where progress is made in an orderly manner. In reality is looks more like a huge ball of tangled fishing line, a real mess. Seeking to put order to the mess makes sense so long as you do not lose sight of the simple fact that the whole thing will resist the orderly, sequential nature of software, and revert to the mess at any and every opportunity.
The targets of your ‘content’ at each stage also has wrinkles.
You have current customers, the easiest to reach, potential customers, those you really want to reach who may have the problem unrecognised, some who may have recognised their problem, and you have advocates, those who might amplify your content.
The further audience is the wider community, out of whom all the other three groups emerge in one way or another.
Therefore, you need to mix and match between the mediums and the message to maximise the outcomes of the investment in content. You do this by the combination of focus on specific market personas. This includes personalised messaging of current and past customers, as well as more general communication of the problem/value proposition equation to gain reach into the varying audiences, to generate marketing leverage.
How deeply have your considered your mix of content and medium to reach your preferred audience?
Header credit: Maksym Kopylov via Flikr
