Picture a big purchase. Maybe a car. Or a house. A financial product.
The salesperson is pleasant enough. But there is a problem…..
They have spent all their time telling you about how great they are at doing what they do.
They have won awards. They have the top numbers. The best products…..
How are you feeling about this purchase right now?
My eyes would be glazing over at this point.
What about you?
Now let’s take a look at the typical website.
They have a product and you are interested……
But all they talk about is how great they are. Literally every aspect of what they have on their home page is about them.
Hmmmm.
The problem is one of perspective.
Let me explain…..
The experience is everything
Let’s imagine the salesman out for dinner in a restaurant.
He’s in one of the most expensive restaurants in the city.
The service is impeccable.
The food is exquisite. A gastronomic experience from start to finish.
Course after course of art on a plate.
And priced accordingly.
Anything he wants he gets.
No bread for the table? No problem.
Don’t like cheese? They have him covered.
Wine list? Yes sir. They have an encyclopedia sized list with the very best…..and they have a top notch sommelier on staff to personally answer all of his questions.
The salesman is going to get the best possible experience at this restaurant.
The table is carefully appointed. The service is designed to enhance his status. The menu has beautiful descriptions printed on expensive paper. All of which makes him feel important. Successful. And magnanimous when it comes time to tip on the bill.
Anything he wants in that restaurant they can and will do.
Now this is exactly what you would expect at a great restaurant right?
……but they never told the salesman how great they were. They never said they were the best…….
They showed him.
Because it’s not about the restaurant. It’s about the patron.
It’s about what he or she wants.
It’s about enhancing his or her experience.
And yet, on so many web sites, advertisements and businesses the attitude is so much different.
It’s all about them instead of their customer or prospect.
Who is important to your prospect?
Look around you.
If you are selling a product or service and spending all of your time telling the customer about how great you are, you are missing the point.
Every consumer cares about one thing: themselves.
They care about how great they are.
They care about how they will feel.
They care about what they think.
They are interested in what they believe.
They want something that will benefit them.
And yet so many businesses are busy talking about the thing their customer doesn’t really care about all that much.
If at all.
Because all they do is talk to themselves about themselves.
So what’s the solution?
Greatness comes from the customer’s perceived experience
A good place to start is to remember that your business is in the business of serving someone else.
Even the businesses you serve with your business are made up of people. It is the people that decide whether to use your company’s products or services for their company.
Your customer doesn’t care how great you are. Your customer cares about how great their experience is dealing with you.
So expressing yourself as the “best”, the “greatest” the “most” does nothing for you.
It raises resistance in your customer. Because nothing sounds less credible than hyperbole.
Being the best requires no statement. The greatest? That’s for someone else to confer on someone or something.
In other words when you provide a great experience, service or product, these terms can be granted to you by others.
If you have to tell someone how great you are…..well, you aren’t really that great are you?
A reputation is earned from serving others
You have to show them. You have to give them what they want in their world. You have to enhance their experience on their terms.
When you address the thing your customer cares most about they will tell others about whether you were the best or the greatest. It’s not your job to tell them how great you are.
And that’s because your customer cares about one thing: themselves.
So why is everything in your marketing and promotional materials talking about you?
Why is your marketing material about what you want? What you care about?
Because you are just like your customer. You care about what you care about…….
The problem is: it doesn’t sell.