Learn How Tuning Your Message Can
Move Your Customers to Respond
Feruary 2004 - BEK Best Practices Newsletter
By Cymber Quinn, President
Ink Communications, Corp.
What's one of the biggest problems that your
company faces today? Getting customers to respond to your
marketing and sales efforts. To return sales representative
calls. To commit to a relationship with your company, right?
More than ever before, most customers are more reluctant
to leap into a buying decision. They're overwhelmed with
choices, and they're doing the jobs of three or four people.
How do you get the attention of your customers long enough
to move them into lasting relationships with your company?
It's simple. Broadcast on WIFM.
What's WIFM, you ask? Well, you might think
of it as a powerful radio station with an amazing signal
that can reach every one of your customers. It's a metaphorical
station with the call letters WIFM that stand for "What's
in It For Me?"
Let's face it, all customers are tuned into
one, and only one, frequency when it comes to making buying
decision about their products. Your customers will buy
from you and work with you only if you tell them what's
in it for them. What will you give them? What will your
products do for them? What problems will your products
and services solve? What benefits can they expect?
And you can expect two magical things to
happen if you broadcast your strategic messages clearly
on WIFM:
- You'll attract attentive customers who want to hear
more from you.
- The customers who don't want your products and services
self-select themselves out of your sales pipeline.
The bottom line is that you'll get a lot
fewer blank stares, kiss-offs, and outright rejections.
In short, you'll spend more time talking to customers who
want your products and services. Read on...
"M" is for "My Perspective"
No matter how altruistic you think your customer is, from
their point of view, "it's all about them." They might
tell you that their company needs a software package
to measure business performance. But the reality is that
if they don't find a way to determine where the money
is leaking out of the company, they are in big trouble.
You know you can tell them how to solve their
problem, right? But stop. Before you ever put pen to paper,
or fingers to keyboard, you need to understand your target
customer and what motivates them to buy from you. I'm not
talking demographics here. Demographics can tell you who
might want your products and services, but not much about
why they would.
What Puts the Tick in Your Customer's
Tock?
You might think you don't know why your customers get up
in the morning, but I'll bet you really do. Go ahead. Surprise
yourself. Take a few minutes and answer these questions.
Go on, get a pen.
- What keeps them awake at night?
- What specific company problem are they trying to solve?
- How does this problem affect your customer personally?
- How senior is this person in the company?
- Can this person make the decision and cut the check?
- What else can you say about why your customer needs
your products and services?
If you know what your customer is thinking
when they see your messages, then stopping them in their
tracks is easy. You can then create compelling copy that
grabs their attention, diverts them away from all other
distractions, and keeps them focused on your message until
you get them to do what you want--whether it is to sign
up for your newsletter, call for an appointment, or purchase
your products or services. (Don't know what your customers
want? Read
Blair's terrific article on talking to customers .
What Do Your Customers Expect to Hear?
It's not enough for you to know the problems and fears
your customers have. You need to know what they are thinking
about when they see your messages. You need to know:
- How did the customer find your company? Through your
web site, referral, tradeshow, cold call?
- At what point in the sales cycle did you encounter
this customer? Have you just met? Have you provided presentations
and demos? Are you on their short list?
All your customer communications start with
a single-minded brand proposition. And once you have identified
where your individual customer fits in the sales cycle,
you MUST craft your message to meet their needs. You must
broadcast your message on "What's in It For Me."
"W" is for "What Problem Are You
Solving, and What Benefits Can I Expect?"
Now that you know who your customers are, get ready to
tell them why they should listen to you. You'll need to
present a clear, differentiated, single-minded proposition
that is relevant to your customers. This means you must
tell them WHAT your product or service does and WHY it
is of value to them. Why should they care?
Tell Your Customers What to Do (aka "Call
to Action")
Now that you've taken the time to carefully profile your
customer and craft the information you want to tell them,
don't stop here. Be sure to tell your customer what you
want them to do next. Don't assume that your potential
customer will call you. Ask them to call you. And offer
something so enticing that they can't resist calling. It
can be something you already offer--a free analysis of
their situation, a free demo of your product, a free sample,
or a limited-time demo of your product.
Or you can offer more information. Your message
can be as simple as this: "Interested in learning how strategic
messages can move your customers into action? Call me today." If
you have provided the most compelling "What's in It For
Me," your customer will call and demand more information
about how you can solve their problem.
3 Killer Questions for Winning Messages
If you're looking for the Cliff Notes version of this article,
here you go:
-
Know your customers and prospects inside and out. Write
down all the attributes of your ideal customers and share
it with your teams. You will never be able to communicate
with your customers if you don't know them.
-
Know your purpose in crafting a message. Is the message
meant for an audience that is unfamiliar with your company?
That's one type of message. If the customer is nearing
a decision point, then the message is quite different.
Make sure you know WHY you are writing.
-
Once you know who your audience is, and why you are
writing to them, only then can you craft all the excessive
content every company has down to the absolutely most
powerful, moving message possible.
Get Out of the Forest
Although messaging has a rather cookie-cutter feeling to
the process, the content is where most companies get
slowed. Everyone has their own favorite view of the company,
products and services, and it's difficult to get a customer-eye-view
from the inside. That's why it's so important to have
outside help during this process. An outside consultant
is perfect for this work, precisely because they're an
outsider. They don't have any personal attachment, and
can clearly reflect the views of your customers and your
own ideas back to each other to see if they match up.
And if they don't, they can help you craft new messages
that position your company to attract customers who want
you, and drive away the ones you don't.
Cymber Quinn is president of Ink Communications,
Corp., a writing and messaging service focused on the content
needs of the enterprise IT software community. She can
be reached at www.inktc.com.
Next month's topic: Metrics
for Measuring Your Success
For more information, contact BEK Enterprises
at:
Web: www.bekteam.com
E-mail:
Phone: 720-304-3300
Did you enjoy this article? Let us write
one for you. Writing services provided by Ink Communications,
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