What Is Your Next Customer Doing, Right Now?
How do you know who is ready to buy from you, right now?
How do you know who else would be willing to buy from you, if you managed to speak with them?
How do you know who else would buy from you if only they knew that you existed?
How do you know who else would buy from you if only they understood the difference your service would make?
More people want to buy from you
We can thank Chet Holmes, once again, for explaining the mentality of buyers in any given market, with his handy Buyer’s Pyramid.
Knowing that could so easily appeal to the full 70% of your target market, how do you get their attention?
Talk about your service
Talking about your service will attract the top 3% of the pyramid.
These are the people who are actively looking for the exact thing you sell.
They are running Google searches to find your product or service. They are asking friends for recommendations.
If you sell “blue widgets, ”they are talking to people about “blue widgets.”
Talk about your features
Talking about your features will attract the next 7% of the pyramid.
These are people who are open to buying from you.
They may not be asking friends for recommendations, but they have browsed options on the internet. When they hear a passing mention of your service, they may think “I should look into that.”
By focusing on your features, you are immediately highlighting what makes your service special or different. This audience is not in dire need of a solution, but are very open to the idea, and pointing out how you are better or different or easier to use, etc., will make a difference to them.
Talk about your benefits
Talking about your benefits will attract the next 30% of the pyramid.
They have nothing against buying your service, they simply aren’t thinking of it. They have either never heard of it, or never thought it might apply to their work or life.
If you talk about your service or features, you won’t find this audience because they simply aren’t paying attention to content or news or ideas about your service.
Once you talk about benefits, you will spark their interest.
This audience needs to learn how what you sell makes their life better. This is all about their outcomes. Benefits mean an explanation of your service, in the context of your clients’ work or life. Focus on benefits to get this audience thinking about you.
Talk about your clients
Talking about your clients will attract the top 70%.
The next 30% of the pyramid are people who actively think they do not need your service.
It is through client stories that they can begin to understand that perhaps they could actually use what you sell.
With a client story, you give them something with which to identify. They may think, “I am similar to that client, and so if it benefited them so much, why not me?
Client stories also allow the audience to see your service “in action”, so to speak. It gives a full narrative of what the business was doing, how this service was utilized, and how much better they came out after the fact.
The nice trick is: talking about clients will also attract the 40% of the pyramid above, so this is always a good subject.
And the last 30%?
Don’t worry about them. You have plenty of new clients to serve now anyway.
How do you create loyal customers?