No matter how fantastic a sales person you are, no matter
how much training you have had, no matter who you work for
or what you are attempting to market or sell, there is one
thing that cannot be changed: Across all business segments
today, and within each of those business segments, both
products and services are available in an ever widening
array of choice.
Consumers can "have it their way" today and they are! A
customer can customize a hamburger, an ipod, a car, a
computer, and a non-fat-mocha latte brewed at 110 degrees!
Customers are wide eyed for new choices and opportunities
in the marketplace. They are savvier than ever, and have
the resources necessary to find what they are looking for
easily. The internet has increased the consumer's ability
to source from around the globe in a matter of seconds.
But this is not all! It gets worse, much worse. There is
a rarely thought about but very important phenomenon that
has grown to epidemic proportions today in our society.
Noted psychologist and author, Jon Kabat-Zinn, in his book,
Coming to Our Senses, states, our society suffers from what
we can call a "consistent and a constant state of partial
attention."
Ask yourself this question: If you are on the beach and
you are talking on your cell phone, are you really fully
and completely at the beach? If a consumer is at the mall
in a store shopping, but is on the cell phone at the same
time, is he really present and at the store? The
implications of this are immense as we try to garner the
wandering eyes and minds of the consumer and direct it to
what we have to sell them. Dealing with this is a
challenge, and if you choose to ignore it, your company's
success will wither on the proverbial vine of consumer
choice and attention deficit disorder.
A noted creative director from GSD&M Advertising, who has
handled the likes of Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart and
others, made an important observation. The criteria for
measuring effective creative advertising these days have
changed. In the new world, a message on a billboard on the
side of the freeway must be able to immediately and
completely convey an intended message to be effective,
otherwise, it is useless.
What this should immediately spell out for you as a
salesperson tasked with marketing your products and
services is: DANGER.
A state of constant partial attention, combined with a
plethora of choice in both products, services and from whom
they are consumed, means that your chances of being noticed
in an ever deepening "sea of competition" are not only
slim, they will continue to get slimmer in the future!
So no matter what you are selling, gaining and keeping
customers will become significantly more challenging in the
years to come. This is especially true for products and
services that typically are sold mainly on price, with no
thought GIVEN to OTHER qualities that YOU and the BRAND
contribute to the transaction.
Is it that we are doomed to competing on price alone and
diminishing sales and margins if we sell highly
commoditized products and services? The answer is
YES---IF---we don't understand one simple fact. Just about
every firm selling a heavily commoditized product or
service has something very real, unique and critical to
brag about.
Where sales consultants fall short, is: they are not given
a thorough understanding of the total brand value the firm
delivers in the marketplace. Therefore, they cannot
effectively compete on anything other than price.
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With more than 20 years experience in corporate turnaround
environments, John Males brings expertise to clients in the
areas of management, sales and negotiations. His customers
include some of the world's most successful firms and
recognized brands. John can be reached at
info@fathomtraining.com or http://www.fathomtraining.com
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