Customers will pay you more if you relieve pains that are very painful and are currently going unrelieved. But all too often, we focus our customer acquisition strategies on relieving pains that are minor annoyances; nice-to-haves that are undifferentiated.
Then two things can happen:
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Our marketing messages are never seen or heard because they contain nothing of importance to prospects, or;
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Price becomes the key discussion item early in the sales cycle.
Both of these are self-inflicted wounds. They are a result of not really understanding your customer and what they are trying to achieve.
So go out and ask your customers these two simple questions (and then listen, really listen).
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Q1: How do you define success in your role? (Keep asking “what else?”)
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Q2: What gets in the way of that success? (Again, keep asking “what else?”)
What you’ll hear are the pains that your customer faces every day. You’ll hear how your customer defines success. And most of time, you’ll NOT hear the things that you thought mattered most to your customer.
Do you have a Big Strategy?
Take a 5-minute Big Strategy Assessment to get a better idea how your company is positioned for profitable growth.
~Tony