But what if massive competition exists in the toad and frog cereal niche? Then you’ve got to differentiate yourself. Finding a way to stand apart from the others selling a similar product would be best.
Or you can go a different route, the way companies like Apple roll, to find out what people WILL want. You see, all of the most excellent products were at one time non-existent. No one knew you could ride in cars, so they used horses and maybe buggies. Then along comes the car – something no one had seen before, and people quickly realized they wanted it. Decades later, consumers didn’t know they wanted computers and the Internet. Nor did they know they wanted cell phones and then super sophisticated ones, but people desperately wanted them once they were introduced.
So if you can find a want before it even exists, you have no competition – at least for the first few weeks and months.
And you can take this even one step further. It’s not just a matter of finding out what people will want; it’s also a matter of finding a way to offer it to them that takes the work out of it. Imagine if Apple sold its products as kits that had to be put together – would they sell as many phones and tablets as they do now? Doubtful.
There was a time when computers were sold as kits. You get the plans; you buy the parts; you put together your computer. So who had computers during this time? A relative handful of people liked to tinker with electronics. It wasn’t until several years later when computers were sold ready-made, that the market took off.
If we were looking at this as a tiered system, with each subsequent tier being preferable to the previous, then the first tier is the old standby of offering customers what they already want. The second tier provides what they want before they know they want it. And the third and final tier is to provide what they want before they know they want it and take all of the work out of it for them.
Sell them the ready-made solution where the only action they need to take is to decide to buy. Make them feel suitable for taking that act like they made a real contribution to getting the solution you’re offering. In essence, you’re giving them the satisfaction that they accomplished something important when they hit that order button. But YOU are doing the actual, honest work, whatever that might be.
If you’re offering a revolutionary new WP theme, install it for them. If you provide a complete business solution, set it up for them. If you’re offering an irrigation system, an automobile makeover, or even an exercise program, make them feel that all they have to do is make the decision. That’s it. Then you will do the rest.
Of course, you and I know that they will have to do work in many cases. But that’s not something they want to consider during the sales process. In the example of the exercise program, all they have to do is show up, and then you will guide them step-by-step. They don’t have to think about a thing; they follow along. You’re making it appear as though you do the work when they are the ones working.
Is this deceptive? Not in the slightest. If you say you will build them a website and then send them instructions on how to do it themselves, that would be deceptive. But if you make the site for them and then they have to update it themselves, or if you show them exactly how to exercise, but they have actually to move their bodies, you truly are taking the lion’s share of the work of thinking out of it for them.
When you are romancing the customer in the sales process, it’s okay to make them feel 10 feet tall for simply “taking action.” And it’s also a brilliant move to continue congratulating them for their wise decision since this will make for happy customers who don’t cancel.
Find out what people want, or better still, what they WILL wish to, and then remove the work as much as you can, and you will have a winning business model.
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