Mike Cooper
Have you ever heard someone say, “let’s compare apples to apples”?
In case you haven’t, what they are trying to do is compare two different items that are very similar and seek to establish the small differences between them. Consumers do this exact same thing when deciding whether to purchase a product or service from your business or the competition.
Let’s take a bigger bite into this. If we are comparing apples to apples here, how many options does one have to compare? On quick research (I could be wrong here, I am a marketer not an orchardist) there are over 7,500 different varieties of apples grown around the world. But I only have access to a few 100, so that should be easy to pick, right?
Do you see my problem here? What seemed like a simple decision is far more complicated than it looked. To me the next logical step would be to figure out what the apple will be used for. Am I going to eat it right away? Bake something, juice it or place it on someone’s head and shoot it with an arrow? I am sure one specific type of apple is going to have the best “explosion” factor when the arrow hits it, right?
As much as I need the target practice, I don’t see you jumping to volunteer your head to place it on, so I am going to pick an apple that is great to eat right away. The Honey Crisp Apple has become my favourite! Let’s rewind a quick minute though. With the research I have done, I have narrowed down my decision from 7,500 to just 1. However, after all of this hopefully entertaining dialog, I still have one last decision to make. Where am I going to buy it?
Let’s look at some options:
- Convenience: closest store in this case grocery store
- Community: support local business or in this case a farmers market or local label identification
- Quality: Your orchard sells organic
- Neighbourhood: There is an orchard on my drive home; I will swing into their fruit stand
- Price: If I am on a tight budget I may go for the cheapest place
Getting into the core of my message here, chances are your business fits into one of those options. I am sure you can come up with some other examples of why people would buy your products or services. This is important because there are many options available of where and who to buy from. What you need to establish is what makes buying your product or service different than any other business. Stop focusing on the fact that you have items to sell, and instead focus on why someone should buy from you. These cannot be superficial things like “good customer service”, or “we are the best at what we do” because anyone will get those answers.
Ok, before I am finished with chewing on this apple, I want to plant this one seed that will help your business. Stop selling yourself short!
You know who you are, if you are reading this right now. Stop walking up to the customer and saying “Hey look at me, I have the cheapest price!”
I see businesses doing this all the time. “We are the cheapest in town!” The problem is that if price is the first conversation you have, what else do you have to bargain with? The biggest problem with starting the conversation with price is that you tend to only attract people that are cheap. They will always want a better deal. They will be angry if you raise your price by 2% to make a living. The second they see a better deal they will leave as loyalty is not an issue.
There are so many other ways to bring a customer in the door and your specific qualities, features and story are the greatest tool you have.
Instead of focusing on what the bottom line is you can sell your products or services for, take some time and figure out what they are willing to pay for the service or product! ■
Mike Cooper is the owner of Black Mountain Media. See what Black Mountain does at:
or send Mike a note at: mike@blackmountainmedia.ca
You can also call: 778-214-0519
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