Looking to increase sales in 2022? (Who isn't?)
Then it's important you understand the four questions you need to answer for potential customers on your website, emails, sales pitches, and social media channels.
If you don't answer these questions, potential customers will subconsciously search for a competitor that does.
Answer them and you'll convert more prospects into buyers than ever before.
1. What problem do you help customers solve?
If you don't clearly define the problem you help people solve, potential customers will ignore you.
In order to grab their attention, you must associate your products or services with their survival.
Can you help them save money? Can you help them make more money? Can you help them save time? Can you help make them healthier? Can you help them gain status?
Associating your products or services with a potential customer's survival opens a story loop in their minds and earns you the right to enlighten them.
Enlighten them and they commit to giving you their hard-earned money in exchange for the product or service that helps them survive.
2. What is your solution to the problem?
Once you state the problem you help people solve, potential customers will continue listening only if you provide a simple plan that helps them solve their problem.
Enlightening a potential customer about how your product or service can help them survive simply means telling them how. You must communicate clearly.
Mr. Winter makes walk-in coolers and freezers, but that's not what WE DO.
We help keep perishables fresh so small businesses that sell perishable goods (restaurants, convenience stores, flower shops, etc.) can make and save money. This is the controlling idea of our "plot". Everything else we do is simply a "subplot" of the controlling idea.
(Soon enough, Mr. Winter will also be in the business of saving time but that's for another email at another time...stay tuned 😉)
Wait a second. Did we just open a story loop? 🤔
3. What will my life look like if I take you up on your solution?
Once you've identified the problem and positioned your product or service as the solution, you must tell potential customers what their lives will look like when they hire you.
For example, if you met someone at a party and asked them what they did for a living and they responded "I'm an at-home chef", you'd probably ask a few questions about what they like cooking most, how they became an at-home chef, etc.
But if you asked another person the same question at the same party and they responded with...
"You know how most families don't eat together...and when they do they don't eat healthy? I'm an at-home chef. I cook in people's homes so they can eat well and spend more time with each other."
The second at-home chef is going to get all the business at that party. Not because they're necessarily better or cheaper, but because they piqued people's curiosity, enlightened them, and then showed them what their lives would look like after they hire him/her/it.
In short, the second at-home chef invited them into a story in which they are better positioned to survive and thrive.
4. What do you want your potential customer to do next?
If you answer the first three questions in the subconscious minds of your potential customers, they're ready to make a commitment. They just need you to answer the next question on their minds...
"What do I need to do to buy your product or service?"
Every great marketer and salesperson includes a clear call-to-action in their marketing and sales efforts.
If you want potential customers to "call us", "email us", "visit us", "get a quote", "order now", "fill out the form", "sign here", then tell them.
People do not take action unless they are challenged to take action.
Let me say it again. People do not take action unless they are challenged to take action.
Don't make people figure out what you want them to do next. Tell them.
In Closing
You don't need a bigger marketing and sales budget to grow your sales in 2022 (although that could help).
You do need to think long and hard about what it is you and your business do, focus on clarifying your message, and then show empathy for your customer's journey.
As always...stay aware, stay educated, and most importantly, stay cool.
Talk soon,
Old Man Winter
Recommended Reading: Building a Storybrand: Clariy Your Message So Customers Will Listen
