Business is about making money, not taking money. And what that means is creating real value. If you’re struggling to sell, it’s because you’re somewhere in the first 70% of the above scale.
Stealing
This is the bottom end of the scale. It’s theft in some shape or form – taking something from someone without the person’s knowledge or by coercion. This is criminal when blatant, but there are less noticeable and maybe even less intentional ways this happens in business. If people are not willing to buy from you and sales are slow, it may just be that you’re customers feel coerced, or that in some way you are taking something from them, without their consent or knowledge. This is not just their money but data, time, or energy as well. People might not put their finger on it, but they feel it. There is something they don’t trust enough to go through with the purchase.
Think about your purchase experience from your customer’s point of view. You might have a decent product, but if the purchase, booking, sign-up, application or whatever process (plus payment) asks more of them than the perceived value they’ll receive in return, they’ll be resistant to commit. Become empathetic. Don’t see it from your side only. Ask yourself if you would buy from you? If not, then there is a gap between what it will cost you in total, time and energy included, and the value you will receive. Don’t take anything without returning it with an equivalent or exceeded value.
Scamming
Before you skip this one because you think it doesn’t apply to you, give it a read, please. We know what scams are. But, in fact, any pre-sale promise that isn’t delivered adds a percentage of scammery (a made-up word someone might believe is real) to the exchange. And, if you need to punt tons of good sounding hard to deliver wording, your core product is sucky.
Don’t mislead people by getting them to believe they are buying more than what they get. Sure, when it comes to marketing, put your best foot forward, and present it well, but don’t about what they get. If a smidgen of scamming has crept into your approach, abandon all efforts to convince with fluffy promises and put that effort into product development and define, design or strength the unique value it offers.
Begging
This means thinking that people should give you their money, irrespective of the value you provide them in return. Seeing customers as people who owe you something. This causes you to get upset with anyone who declines or suggests improvements. Unless you’re a charity, you shouldn’t be thanking anyone for supporting your business. A business should only exist because its products or services allow it to. And those products or services exist because of the value people get from them. “Thank you for shopping here” or “Thank you for choosing us” – cool. Not “support”.
Money Grabbing
Money Grabbers are always talking big about money and love get-rich-quick business ideas. With dollar signs in their eyes, all they can see is the money on the table. They just want to grab the cash and count it. All too many people view business like this. Their first thought is always, “How much will we make?”.
The remedy? Focussing on giving value first. By focusing on customer satisfaction money will follow. I don’t mean to forsake all reason and let a customer take advantage of you. I mean, your customers, on average, need to be really, really happy with their purchase. Simple. Take joy in seeing customers happy and in your team when they make customers happy.
Hard Selling
This could be because of a few things.
- There is no need (maybe yet) for your product. If you believe your product is ahead of its time, well, you need a strategy to turn the tide, educate and make people aware of why it will be needed – that said, this is a tricky game to play.
- Or, you’ve got a ‘me too’ product. Lots of marketing effort and sales tactics to sell something pretty average or with no unique value offering compared to other products in the market. Slow down, stop being so desperate, make some honest effort to innovate, and build genuine, unique value into your selling. Sure, most of the biggest brands today were not the first in the market, but they made sure they were the best at understanding what value the consumer was looking for and developed increasingly better products. Lastly, your product might also simply be outdated if sales have slowed; that can be hard to admit if you’ve been doing it for a while:)
- Right product to the wrong people. Maybe you need to look at a different or more niche market. Your product might not be adopted by the pro sports people you thought it would, but it just might help people looking to get fit to start with a simple exercise.
Trading Value
This is legit. People feel you give satisfactory value in return for their money, time and energy. It’s a fair swap. Well done:) Your business will survive and perform decently if you work to ensure the quality continues. But if you want to grow, people need to get excited by what they get. Look for ways to offer additional value that no one else in the industry can quickly or easily copy. Give more, and you’ll get more business.
Example: In the power tool industry, drill brands compete on performance; power, speed etc. But when a power tool business really takes the time to understand the people using their product and then develop ways to give them more value than just power and speed, they might discover things like:
- Our focus can be on customers using our product for a more specific use – we don’t need to compete with power tools used in construction projects. We can focus on providing tools for IT companies that install equipment and cables inside offices where people need to continue working. This allows us to innovate and capture this more niche market.
- What might innovation look like? Perhaps, producing ‘Zero Dust Drills’ – lighter, quieter drills, that are battery-powered and have a dust vacuuming feature built into the front. This kind of value inclusion would allow us to position our brand as the drill of choice for IT installations.
Maybe your value has gotten lost in the clutter of trying to compete with other brands. Don’t wander off from the core value you offer by trying to please everyone at their every request or add features to keep up with the competition. Focus on what you do best, and do it best (Quality + Innovation). Doing this will naturally allow you to advance your value beyond what others who are trying to compete with everyone to win cheap sales can offer.
Giving Value
You’ve created a product or service of real value. And more than that, customers feel, whether expressed or not, that they got more than expected. Value is often subjective, and with products that are digital or services where lots of back-office processes take place, the value can be less physically tangible, so it’s vital that people feel it. It excites them or provides a precious solution for which they are happy to part with their money.
In some cases, a product is of real value, but the sales are not great. Apple’s 1977 marketing strategy talked about their need to present their products in the right way, not just have great products and we see how successful that has proved to be. So, need to be more clear about your value and offer it better. Communicate it with more confidence.
As advanced as marketing and advertising get, word-of-mouth marketing (whatever shape or form it comes in) will always be the most powerful. When one human being tells another about their great experience with a product or service, it carries more weight than any other form of marketing. Great, product, backed by marketing that better equips people to tell each other about the product is a winning combination.
Being Invaluable
Your product has transcended traditional utility value. People can’t do without it or can’t imagine being without it. It’s out of the question to consider something else or go without it. Their loyalty is undying; if you make a mistake and make up for it appropriately, they only love you more. You’ve repeatedly and excellently met their need and given them more than they expected. More than that, you continue to enhance the experience in ways that thrill. This level is what businesses can achieve by being authentic creators of value. Seeing your product as a means to provide people with true value, and not seeing customers as a means to an end, or quick sales and trickery as OK.