Tweet

Solutions are meaningless without Buy-In

Guest post by: Sharon Drew Morgen

Article Overview: Recently I was part of an Ideation session in which an insurance company wanted web ideas to better serve their customers. Ideally, they'd end up with functionality that members would find helpful in their health care decisions, offer great customer service through added benefits, and keep them involved with the agency. What an amazing experience helping the insurance company serve their members. The agency set up some extremely creative exercises and group planning that allowed creative ideas to flow and soar. People gave their best, served the client and each other, with great respect and passion. Fun, creative, and successful. Or so it seemed.

Solutions are meaningless without Buy-In

When the final ideas were being presented, I leaned over to one of the clients and asked if he liked the ideas. He thought they were great, but wondered which ones they'd be able to implement given their budget. Plus he wasn't sure on the timing. "Probably will use some of this in the future." ARE WE CHOOSING THE RIGHT STARTING POINT FOR CHANGE?

What?? If the buyer didn't know how or when to use the ideas they paid a lot of money to get, what else didn't they know? How had they prepared for change? What was the initial set of assumptions? Were we all creating something the client wouldn't use? Their members wouldn't use? Did we focus on the wrong thing as a deliverable?

I then asked others from the client group how they'd know that their current customers (called members) would use the new site options, and also how they'd encourage a larger percentage - and new members - to use the site. They all replied: When new site options are available, people will know how to use them, want to use them, be drawn to using them.

Ah. Build it and they will come!

This is specious. Just because we know there is a great gym around the corner doesn't mean we'll use it. Just because we know there is a great product available doesn't mean we'll buy it. Indeed, sales fails 93% of the time.

As sellers, we're familiar with this. We know what buyers need (it's so obvious), we gather appropriate data, we pitch glorious solutions that fit - they really really fit. But the buyer doesn't buy. Why? Because the process buyers go through to decide to resolve a problem is not based on their need or our solution: they first must go behind-the-scenes to and manage their 'system' to get the acceptance necessary for change.

We forget that the current system people make decisions in is ‘fine, thank you.' Systems (and the people in them) don't change behavior just because new data is available. System will stay in tact, regardless of how well it could function with an added solution, unless the appropriate buy-in (relationships, feelings, politics, rules, future actions, etc.) is achieved. Otherwise the system gets disrupted. And the status quo is favored, regardless of the rational reasons for change.

So members of the insurance group who have not used the current website would not consider using the new one until they decide to get on their site, or make the on-line agency part of their life-style, or trust more, or or or...

Before creating a cool site, the insurance company had to address:

1. what stopped current members from getting on line

2. what members would need to know or believe differently to be willing to act in a way they had never acted before (i.e. use the website)

and then set up a way the members could design their own functionality.

CHANGE HAPPENS WHEN THERE IS BUY-IN, REGARDLESS OF THE EFFICACY OF THE SOLUTION

Our ideation session might have been: 1. X% of members should be using the site monthly: how can we help them decide to join us in an on-line community; 2. how can we maintain site visits over time and encourage new members; and 3. help online users design the type of site they want and create community.

Done right, the members would eagerly get online and buy-in to using the agency's site as part of their life-style choices and then become part of the design process. And in a community. And the insurance agency would be greatly differentiated, maintain their client base in a competitive environment, and have a dialogue capability that would enable them to continually understand how to keep getting better and offering what members needed.

As it was, our great ideas might have been under-utilized, and the client would have blamed the ad agency.

Assuming that a great site would draw site visitors is dangerous. Assuming our prospects need our solution, just because they have a problem that we can resolve, is specious. No matter how ‘right' we are and how necessary our solution, until or unless buyers learn how to manage the change that a new addition will bring, they will do nothing.

sd

Have a look at my new book Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can't buy and sellers can't sell and what you can do about it. It explains this in detail.

Related Articles
  Branding: How KFC Is Trying to Reclaim Its Brand Identity
  You Can't Sell if You Don't Get the Offer Right
  Ease Up On The Business Buzzwords Please
  What have I learned in 6 months of management? Part 1
  Waiting for Godot, Greatest Play of the 20th century. Not!
  THE WAY WE SEE THE PROBLEM IS THE PROBLEM
  Efficiency vs. Effectiveness: Knowing the Difference Can Alter Your Marketing Results
  Open Source Web Development and PHP Developers Are Made For Each Other
  The questions which lead to nowhere
  The Internet killed the Telemarketing star
  Chill Out Guide to opening the call to get an appointment
  Two Types of Decisions: Buy-IN, and BuyING
  Working Capital Management Is A Numbers Game When Cash Flow Financing Needs Are Now
  Putting Life in Vision Statement
  Design Process - Concept Development
  THOUGHTS ON PRODUCTIVITY
  Do Not Bring Me Problems Bring Me Solutions
  THOUGHT SHOWERING (BRAINSTORMING)
  Increase Sales by Selling Sustainable Solutions that Deliver Measurable Results instead of Benefits
  Confused About Canadian Working Capital Finance ? Cash Flow Financing Techniques That Work

Article Tags: buyincreative exercises, creative ideas, ideas, insurance, maintain site visits, site options, site visitors, web ideas



Related Forum Posts
Re: Website Name Help - Its good that you have come up with the idea of setting up a website for your business. Now As it is into Business Solutions, I would recommend that you also include this into the name of the website. This will help you getting better results as far as SEO is concerned. You can start building a brand with this name. As you have already got the name booked, you can try changing it to something on the lines of Business Solutions as in azimabusiness or azimabusinesssolutions. Its a long name but still is good from the SEO point.
Help me name my moms business - I think Infinity Cleaning Services sounds better than Elite Cleaning Solutions... Why the Solutions? What is there to be solved? You simply get a rag with some Windex on it and wipe away.... plug the vacuum and Vac Away, get a mop and mop away. Stick to Infinity Cleaning Services... ICS sounds cool...
Re: Do Follow Links - Websites That Search Engines See - It is good idea to allow do follow links on article directories, social media sites or for blog comments and so on. But most times people misuse this for getting backlinks to increase PR of their site's homepage That is why most marketers add "no follow" tag there so they could avoid meaningless posts, articles etc.... Orxan
Re: How Do You Check Google Ranking? - Hi David, Thanks for this post and the great replies (and thanks for the links Alan). This is something that has puzzled me in the past and as you say GT, we need to evolve and find other ways to get accurate results. Whenever I search for my keywords I always seem to be on page I and my website is starred which I have always assumed means that I have visited it before so the results are meaningless. I tend to do as you do David and search in Google from someone else’s PC which is not ideal at all. regards, Mal.
Re: - [quote="Shimmy":27z7e97p]I have had the website for 6 months and have done a lot of work to get a higher ranking and more google traffic. I am number #1 on MSN search engine but not even close in google. Why??? There doesn't seem to be a reason why the top websites are there. We have more content and more links, I believe. Any advice???[/quote:27z7e97p] More content and links doesn't get you to the top. Google wants high quality, relevant and anchored links. Quantity alone is absolutely meaningless.


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.

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

The Strong Leadership Formula

3 Pointers to Recruiting and Retaining Good Staff

The True Cost of Employee Turnover

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.