Friday, August 5, 2011

You and Apple

Today author and speaker Anne Miller shares a story that reminds us of the importance of shpwing value, not telling. Think about this great tip, and then make the change in your presentations!

One of the great joys of my business is that, while I frequently work in the digital and media space, I also get to work in other industries as well, e.g. investment banking, money management, professional services, even the pork industry! I am always fascinated by what people do and the challenges they have in selling their services or products. However while the industries differ, when these professionals tell their story, there is one failing they all seem to share...

They confuse laundry listing features, processes, models, and functionalities in excruciating detail with communicating the real source of their value: what their product or service does for the buyer. Does it increase ROI? Make buyers’ lives easier? Save them money? Give them a competitive edge? Enable them to sleep better at night? Increase their revenues? Cut their costs? Increase their transparency? Help them be in compliance? Avoid litigation? Protect their share of market? Reduce time spent on routine tasks? Make them heroes to their clients? Other?

That is what people buy, not the latest wrinkle in your model. The cliche about people not buying nails for the sake of owning nails but for the holes those nails make holds true.

Take a Tip from Apple
Writer Nigel Hollis' article in The Atlantic Monthly talking about the differences in advertising among consumer technology companies echoes this point very well. “Blackberry, Samsung or Nokia ads are often laden with so much information that the recipient is left in a blaze of numbers and claims. Instead of focusing on how people interact with technology, those companies focus on features and specifications...Now think about the Apple iPad. The first ads for the iPad did not focus on the product features, like memory, speed, or slimness. Instead they portrayed someone relaxing on their sofa using the product. The ads didn’t tell us what the product was. They told us how we would use it, accessing news and entertainment whenever and wherever we want.” The rest, we know, is history.

Are You More LIke the iPad or Samsung?
Whiz-bang technology notwithstanding, no matter what you sell, people don’t care what you have, or how you do what you do until they know what it does for them. So, step back from the descriptive minutiae of your offering and shift your gaze to the bigger picture of what that minutiae means to your buyers. Showing how your offer changes your buyers’ lives for the better will change your bottom-line for the better as well.

Internationally respected author, speaker and seminar leader, Anne Miller teaches sales people how to increase their business; coaches CEOs and senior management to communicate successfully to key constituencies; and enables technical people to transform complex information into simpler, meaningful messages. Learn more at www.annemiller.com

No comments: