Tweet

The Truth About Customers

Written by: Jay Conrad Levinson

Article Overview: You may think you know why your customers buy from you, but there's a good chance they buy for reasons other than the reasons you think. Or they don't buy for reasons that may escape you.

The Truth About Customers

You may think you know why your customers buy from you, but there's a good chance they buy for reasons other than the reasons you think. Or they don't buy for reasons that may escape you.

People seek a wide array of benefits when they're in a buying mindset. If you are communicating any one of those benefits to the people who want them this very instant, you've virtually made the sale. People do not buy because marketing is clever, but because marketing strikes a responsive chord in the mind of the prospect, and its resonance makes that person want the advantages of what you are selling.

Your customers do not buy because they're being marketed to or sold to. Instead, they buy because you help them realize the merits of owning what you offer.

They often buy because you offer them instant gratification -- such as I sought when El Nino flexed his muscles and my roof began to leak. Sprinting to the yellow pages, I called the one roof repair company that offered emergency service, for there I was, smack dab in the middle of an emergency.

It was an easy decision for me. The company offered just the benefit I needed. I was in the market for a specific benefit and there it was, grinning up at me from the directory. If the company's ad heralded their new roofing materials, I would have ignored it.

Like most people, I was looking to buy a benefit, not a feature. Everybody knows that. But the truth is that people don't always buy benefits. They buy a whole lot more:

* They buy promises you make. So make them with care.
* They buy the promises they want personally fulfilled.
* They buy your credibility or don't buy if you lack it.
* They buy solutions to their problems.
* They buy you, your employees, your service department.
* They buy wealth, safety, success, security, love and acceptance.
* They buy your guarantee, reputation and good name.
* They buy other people's opinions of your business.
* They buy expectations based upon your marketing.
* They buy believable claims, not simply honest claims.
* They buy hope for their own and their company's future.
* They buy brand names over strange names.
* They buy the consistency they've seen you exhibit.
* They buy the stature of the media in which you market.
* They buy the professionalism of your marketing materials.
* They buy value, which is not the same as price.
* They buy selection and often the best of your selection.
* They buy freedom from risk, granted by your warranty.
* They buy acceptance by others of your goods or services.
* They buy certainty.
* They buy convenience in buying, paying and lots more.
* They buy respect for their own ideas and personality.
* They buy your identity as conveyed by your marketing.
* They buy style -- just the kind that fits their own style.
* They buy neatness and assume that's how you do business.
* They buy easy access to information about you, offered by your website.
* They buy honesty for one dishonest word means no sale.
* They buy comfort, offerings that fit their comfort zone.
* They buy success; your success can fit with theirs.
* They buy good taste and know it from bad taste.
* They buy instant gratification and don't love to wait.
* They buy the confidence you display in your own business.
It's also important to know what customers do not buy: fancy adjectives, exaggerated claims, clever headlines, special effects, marketing that screams, marketing that even hints at amateurishness, the lowest price anything (though 14 percent do), unproven items, or gorgeous graphics that get in the way of the message.

They also do not buy humor that hides benefits, offerings heralded with unreadable type, poor grammar or misspelled words, salespeople who don't listen, or things they don't fully understand or trust.

The best marketing of all involves prospects and informs customers. It builds confidence and invites a purchase. Best and most unique of all -- it gets through to people. That's why knowing the truth about them will help you to stand apart from your competitors and shine in the minds of your prospects and customers.

Related Articles
  To Tell the Truth
  Set Us Free
  Little White Lies
  Truth-Telling Game
  Network Marketing? You Can Only Go So Far on "Stretching the Truth!"

Article Tags: array, benefit, credibility, el nino, emergency service, good chance, instant gratification, love, marketing, merits, mindset, muscles, new roofing materials, reputation, resonance, responsive chord, safety success, truth about, whole lot, yellow pages



Related Forum Posts
Re: Two Useful Books To Help You Focus On The CLIENT - Hi David, To add to your thread, I'd like to recommend Jonathan Tisch's "Chocolates On The Pillow Aren't Enough: Reinventing The Customer Experience". Tisch's book includes content on "Welcoming Customers", "The New Art of Customization", "The Challenges of Customer Diversity" and "Offering Something Extra to Your Customers" to name a few.
How to Do Great Marketing with (Amost) No Money - I've given this presentation to CEOs many times. Now i can share it with you. But I cannot because I do not yet have 20 posts. Jeff Ogden, President Find New Customers
Me Too - So.... - I write. Its a form of 'pull' marketing that suits me, though I'm quite an outgoing person. I know all the stuff about it not being me, 'they're just not ready yet'. Truth is I'm not good with rejection and will walk if I get too much of it - so I do it differently. Each to his own I guess. Still, I wish I had the guts to do those 500, just to say 'I did it'! Will read that article!
Re: Are Business Owners too Old School to be Sold by a blog - [quote:140e27hj]Customers Pick Static Documents over Blog Entries 8 to 1 on Average[/quote:140e27hj] Interesting study. Just as a commenter said on your post... don't call it a blog. I agree.
Re: pitching - Friendliness is closely related to the concept of "permission marketing" as articulated by Seth Godin. The subtitle of his book says it all: "Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers." The old method was "interruption marketing" where you suddenly get an ad in your face whether you want it or not...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

TRADE SHOW FOLLOW-UP: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?

Severance and Separation Agreements

3 Key Factors For Raising Capital

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.