How do you figure out what people will buy from you? It's a question that I get over and over again from both new business owners and those who have been
struggling to find the right way to package and price their produce or service. The biggest mistake I see is when a business owner looks at their offers from their own point of view rather than from the point of view of the prospective buyer. You can't know what people will buy from you if you haven't put yourself in their shoes. For the purposes of selling what you offer, forget about what YOU want and get good at discerning what BUYERS want.
I saw a great example of this about a year ago when I worked with a nutritionist who ate a raw food type of diet and wanted to coach clients about how to radically change their diet to eat like she did. She was a strong preacher for the raw food lifestyle, so much so that she didn't get in the least that she needed to engage in educational marketing (you'll hear more about educational marketing in the video below). She just didn't understand why anyone would NOT eat raw and actually looked down upon anyone who didn't get that it was the way we were all supposed to eat. She would say to me, “But Sue, why do I have to explain what is good about eating raw food? It's obviously better for them than hamburgers and cheesecake.” She had no ability whatsoever to think about her services from the standpoint of her potential buyers.
In the 6 minute video below I talk about how to know what people will buy from you and give you 3 tips that will help as you develop your products and services. Take a look:
Want more? You can click here to read a blog post about how to craft offers that work easily. And here's the link to a great book, The Micro-Script Rules, that will help you talk to prospects in the language they understand.
Can you think of one way you can tweak what you offer to make it more buyer-attractive? I'd love to see your comments below about how you know what people will buy from you.
Anytime you’re “messing with people’s food” you need to make sure you are approaching them in a way that they can deal with. A hard line or narrow approach limits how many people you can reach and help.
Yes!!
This applies in ALL arenas.
As a singer, I just sat down with someone who books artists (one of my most important prospective buyers),and she gave me advice that will really help me market myself more in-line with what she and others in her industry are looking for.
And, and, AND!!!
To start I will be QUINTUPLING my rates. YEP — raising them FIVE TIMES what they currently are, and I am sure I’ll get more business. I am so excited. Launching this today!!
And, my rates will continue to go up from there.
So, YES!! VERY important message, Sue, and one that we need to constantly be mindful of — as what we do shifts and as the needs of our ideal clients shift, too!
XO,
Katherine
Sue,
It is so true! The person who is the founder or the owner
of the business or concept often is so into their thing
they cannot see or understand clearly how everyone else
views them – their product or their service.
Great post, Sue. I’m going to check out the book you highlight at the end of your blog. Getting into the head of our ICA is important yet it’s something that can be difficult to do sometimes; especially when we are too close to whatever it is we are marketing. I like the phrase, sell ’em what they want and give them what the need!
Putting yourself in your customers shoes and not just assuming you know what they want or need but actually ask them is so critical in this rapid moving business world – ignore this at your peril!
The best advice I ever got was sell them what they want, give them what they need.
I also agree – there has to be a compelling need
Sue, wow I remember when I first moved to Tennessee that massage did have a shady connotation. i think you’re right about having to meet a pain point of your client.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you said, “compelling need.” Most people are looking to buy services when they have a need so your service or product needs to be a solution to your client’s most pressing needs. If you don’t know what those needs are you will have a very hard time selling anything or truly serving people.