Put Your Visitors in the Driver's Seat
I was visiting a school office where the staff was desperately trying to find a driver for an upcoming bus trip. They had called most of their possible names and kept being turned down. The conversation was predictable, “Hi, can you drive a bus for us on Thursday? No? Thanks anyway.”
I stopped them before they made the next call. Their problem was they were focused on what they needed (a bus driver) and not why someone should agree to drive for them. They were forgetting their “unique proposition” or what was good about the situation for the driver.
They were using a brand new tour bus for this trip, not a typical school bus. There’s a lot of difference and that by itself could help them out of their predicament. I suggested the following conversation starter on the next call.
“Hi, we’ve got a new bus with a Caterpiller 300 horse-power turbo diesel and an Allison World 5 speed Automatic Transmission. The bus has an air-ride cloth driver’s seat, boosted a/c, arm rests, movable pedals, remote mirrors and cruise control. Could you drive this for us on Thursday’s trip?”
The next person they called said yes. Actually, he said yes loudly enough for me to hear from several feet away. This time they gave the driver a good reason to say yes. Most bus drivers don’t see this type of rig unless they drive for a tour company.
A lot of businesses do the same thing with their products and services. They just plop them out there with a semi-bashful approach, “Here it is and here’s how much it’ll cost.” They are relying on the customers to attach their own value to the offering without showing them how it will better their lives. This is a poor sales technique and results in many missed opportunities.
Most people, myself included, like to be shown exactly what benefits your products will give me. The power of the Internet is that you can show your potential customers exactly what they can expect. One of the most effective commercials I ever saw was shown from the driver’s seat of a car. All you could see was the twisting road ahead and hear the motor aggressively moving the vehicle through the gearbox. It was a white knuckle ride and worthy of the high price tag this Italian car demands.
Use the Internet to let your customers feel what difference you can make in their lives. This is an area where you can literally put them in the driver’s seat of your products and feel what they are missing.
Mike Myklin is an author, lecturer, and e-commerce owner who specializes in Internet Marketing. He can be reached through www.myklin.com where you can find archives of these articles.
I stopped them before they made the next call. Their problem was they were focused on what they needed (a bus driver) and not why someone should agree to drive for them. They were forgetting their “unique proposition” or what was good about the situation for the driver.
They were using a brand new tour bus for this trip, not a typical school bus. There’s a lot of difference and that by itself could help them out of their predicament. I suggested the following conversation starter on the next call.
“Hi, we’ve got a new bus with a Caterpiller 300 horse-power turbo diesel and an Allison World 5 speed Automatic Transmission. The bus has an air-ride cloth driver’s seat, boosted a/c, arm rests, movable pedals, remote mirrors and cruise control. Could you drive this for us on Thursday’s trip?”
The next person they called said yes. Actually, he said yes loudly enough for me to hear from several feet away. This time they gave the driver a good reason to say yes. Most bus drivers don’t see this type of rig unless they drive for a tour company.
A lot of businesses do the same thing with their products and services. They just plop them out there with a semi-bashful approach, “Here it is and here’s how much it’ll cost.” They are relying on the customers to attach their own value to the offering without showing them how it will better their lives. This is a poor sales technique and results in many missed opportunities.
Most people, myself included, like to be shown exactly what benefits your products will give me. The power of the Internet is that you can show your potential customers exactly what they can expect. One of the most effective commercials I ever saw was shown from the driver’s seat of a car. All you could see was the twisting road ahead and hear the motor aggressively moving the vehicle through the gearbox. It was a white knuckle ride and worthy of the high price tag this Italian car demands.
Use the Internet to let your customers feel what difference you can make in their lives. This is an area where you can literally put them in the driver’s seat of your products and feel what they are missing.
Mike Myklin is an author, lecturer, and e-commerce owner who specializes in Internet Marketing. He can be reached through www.myklin.com where you can find archives of these articles.
posted by Mike Myklin at 10:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home