How vague is your Selling Proposition?

My mother used to say; “I learn something new every day.” It’s an old and worn out cliché for sure. In my life, it developed into more of a challenge. It seemed both natural and necessary in order to ensure I stay relevant in business life and ahead of my competition. “Learn something new every day or go broke” is how it played out for me. Nothing could be more accurate in the global society we humans have created for ourselves.  If this sounds familiar, then you are human just like the rest of us. Having said that, what follows is a significant insight that I only recently picked up. I’ll share it here.

Below is a document that I use in the early stages of any project. It identifies all of the elements in a complete Selling Proposition (sales massage). We review it with clients to determine the elements we will include in our quest to develop their most powerful Selling Proposition. That includes revising a sales message currently in existence or creating one for a new business venture.

Over time I have become aware of how each of these elements work in distinct ways, and of the relationships that exist among many of them. This information has been gathered in a very special way that allows me to conclude they are absolutely valid.

Approximately ten years ago I invented a process of exposing element by element, the elements of the Selling Propositions of many different products and services. The projects ranged from cooking sauce to cat litter to condoms to video games and far beyond. In doing so I also tracked the results and observed how consumers reacted to them. These insights are powerful not because of their brilliance, but because of their origin. The more I dig, the more I find and the more I share them with those of you who have an appreciation for their value. Their value is that they are real and can be counted on.

What follows is a recent insight as a result of several client comments on the nature of the Benefits (highlighted in yellow), which I had recommended we consider in the development of their Selling Proposition. The comment was that they were too vague. The tendency was to want to work on them to have them be more specific. That, as it turns out, is not a good idea.

I say the function of the Benefit is to express what the consumer gets out of using the product or service. “Less Work” is a great benefit for sandpaper. Notice that less work is not about the product; it’s about the consumer/user. My client wanted me to be more specific, asking, “What does that mean?”

For a number of years now I have been creating Benefits and then driving them with Attributes (highlighted in yellow) that empower them, and watched the research scores soar. I use the sandpaper example frequently. LESS WORK when followed directly by “Cuts 3 times faster” and “Won’t clog” literally drives sales. All that is great, but here is what I did not know.

As a result of the client request, I went back through nine recent projects to review the nature of the benefits that scored well and they were all vague. I now know why.

Think of the Benefit and the Attribute as working together. The benefit comes first and acts as a bold claim. By itself, it has no credibility and is disbelieved. It’s perceived as just BS as far as the consumer is concerned. Followed directly by the supporting Attributes, the two work than as a unit and we know they literally drive purchase. Equally important, the benefit needs to be vague so it has broad appeal. As it becomes specific, it begins to eliminate consumers from consideration. It should act like a huge funnel that grabs the consumer and shoots them to the Attribute driver that closes the deal.

Also remember the proximity of these elements. If you locate them together on a package or in a commercial message, they will perform for you. If you spread them around the package or throughout the commercial, you will lose. I have had all this verified by observing research. This is very real. I work with the brightest marketing minds on the planet and even they often miss this.

Here’s a challenge. Now that you have read this, go check your sales message to see if you are conforming. My experience is that very few, less than 10%, of the sales messages I encounter daily, even contain a Benefit. Let alone use it in a powerful way.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below

Free Enterprise is a Fundamental Law of Nature

I remember my marketing professor back in college explaining the fundamentals of Free Enterprise as if it were created at a prestigious university back in the eighteenth century by a group of learned professors. It was not. It is instead a law of nature that came into existence several thousand years ago in consort with the arrival of Homo sapiens on this planet. Furthermore, I suspect it has existed before that on other planets that were capable of sustaining intelligent life.

Isn’t that a weird thought? Consider the following:

As a guy who works with Free Enterprise on a daily basis, I spend significant time analyzing how it works with the idea in mind that I might get a leg up on all the other marketing minds in this great country of ours. We are, by the way, the marketing capital of the world.

With so much attention on Free Enterprise, I naturally began to wonder how and where it came into existence. There are those who would say we, in this country, chose it back in our formative years when we chose capitalism. They say we chose capitalism over a dictatorship, or socialism, or communism, or a monarchy or whatever else was available at that time. Those who chose capitalism back in those days characterized Free Enterprise as the mechanism that makes capitalism work. They would often say, “it’s the engine that drives it.” Again, they referred to as if it was somehow created to accommodate us humans. I suppose there is a modicum of truth in that point of view, but I think, it is to miss the true origin of Free Enterprise.

So, who is responsible for its` existence? Well, I say no one is responsible, but I know who caused it. I give all the credit to two people. They are and shall remain forever nameless.

I say one day, a very long time ago, there was one person on Earth. That was the first person and on that day there was no Free Enterprise. That person roamed around picking fruit, nuts and other food to placate hunger as it occurred. Life was pretty simple. In short order, because this person was intelligent, this person began to collect the food for future consumption. That was very logical and also very simple.

On another day, I’m not sure how long this took, but on another day, a second person showed on Earth. These two soon met and guess what? The second person looked at the first person and said, “you have what I want”. In that instant Free Enterprise was born. It only took two people. It was never going to happen with only one person and it will always be present until or unless somehow this planet once again becomes inhabited by only one person.

As more and more people appeared, they all continued collecting stuff and noticing the stuff of others. Notice how often you and I notice the stuff of others. That fundamental law of nature is the basis of all the “stuff” that we humans collect and exchange. As individuals, we have absolutely no choice in the matter of Free Enterprise any more than we can choose or not choose gravity. In populated areas of the world, gravity is no more prevalent than Free Enterprise. If you think not, try to stop it or try to find a populated place where it does not exist. There is no place on Earth where people inhabit that it does not function. Think about that. Not in prison. Not in a cult. Not in a commune. Not on the street. Or, anywhere else I can think of.

So what is to be learned here? First off, I think it is a great societal equalizer and is in the main responsible for the downfall of Communism, Socialism and all of the other “isms” that do not accommodate or acknowledge Free Enterprise into their systems. It is akin to trying to design and manufacture airplanes without accommodating or acknowledging the law of gravity. It simply can’t be done.

Secondly, I think it is useful to understand that no matter what down trends or, for that matter, up trends occur in the marketplace, the natural law of Free Enterprise will level the playing field. For instance, how far down can the stock market go? Is there a limit? You bet there is. I say it can’t go to zero or anywhere near zero because buyers will appear. They just will. For those of you who are feeling insecure with the current flakey stock market trends, take heart in what you just read.

Here’s the punch line and I suggest you stay present to it as long as you are selling anything (stuff) to anyone. It will serve you well. The ultimate and forever the strongest Selling Proposition is, “I have what you want.” Make sure you communicate, “I have what you want” and you will be successful…I guarantee it.

Cheers, 

Keith Chambers

Keynote Marketing Speaker
Creative Marketing Consultant
(310) 473-0010
www.chambersgroup.com

follow my blog by clicking one of the links below