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If you want to own your market, buy it. Not with money, which would be the easy way out. Buy the market by understanding exactly how it sees you and then embrace it—buy their opinion. A nice play on the word “buy” don’t you think? You thought I was going to ask you to spend money. I want to show you how to save money, time, and energy.
It is very expensive and difficult to fight and change the market. If the market is telling you who you are and what they will buy from you, buy their opinion and own that perception and offering. When you are exactly what the market wants, you will own that market. You also have to find out what the market is willing to pay for, even if what they want is not what you feel is the core of your business.
What if the market does not see you as you want to be seen?
Great question. This means you have an identity problem.
If you have an identify problem, first figure out exactly how the market sees you.
What does the market think you do?
Who do they think you are?
How good do they think you are?
There is a reason that the market has its perception—something in your branding and marketing is leading the market to what it considers a logical conclusion. Go back to your marketing and pretend that you know nothing about you or your business. What is the first thing, the first message that you see? What image does your website, marketing flyer, and daily attire say about you?
Big Blue (IBM for those who are too young to recall their nickname from the 60’s through 80’s) got their reputation because of their development of the safe reliable equipment. All of their marketing was based on the simple premise that their stuff would always work. Price was not the driving message, and IBM never attempted to compete on price. There was no question on what IBM stood for—the best computer for those who needed reliability.
You may also have an offering problem because the market may not see value in what you want to do. I worked with someone who was so passionate about what he wanted to do that he could not see that his prospects were simply not interested. The more he told them why they needed it, the less they listened. The market did not place any value on what he was preaching, and no one was buying. Even when the price was moved to zero, he couldn’t sell it.
However, when we redirected his same skills into a slightly different area, the market bought it immediately. You must pay attention to what the market wants, not what you want to sell. If the market sees you as “the go to person” for leasing, then forget that you prefer to do loans and become the leasing czar everywhere you go. As a side note, he should have been listening instead of talking while selling, but that’s another subject covered in detail in my book Get INFOCUS Get Cash© at www.getinfocusgetcash.com
Once you have bought the market’s perception of you, it is time to get it to buy from you. To get the market to buy from you, focus on one very clear identifiable and valuable benefit that the market will pay for. Be arrow sharp in your message and marketing. Your message must be short, concise, and memorable. “We turn websites into assets.” “We help people be visible and get noticed.” “We help salespeople become filthy, stinking, rich.” These are short result oriented messages that are easy to remember. Unclutter your business card, website, and marketing brochure. Less copy has more impact. IBM, Dow, Lilly, Microsoft and Apple business cards have a small logo, contact information, and sometimes a tag line. Too much information leads to too many indecisions.
If the market cannot readily identify the value in what you offer, you will not sell anything. It is very expensive in time, energy, and money to change the perception of who you are in the market. You must be incredibly objective to see the world through the eyes of your market. People don’t give a rip about what you sell, they only care about how they will benefit. Make that benefit crystal clear, make it memorable, and make a lot of money.
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Jeff Bowe is a professional sales trainer, sales coach, and outsourced sales manager. He is the principal of ACTUM Group and the author of the 500 page masterpiece, "Get INFOCUS Get Cash". His site can be found at ACTUM Group. He can be reached by email HERE, or by phone at (317) 577-3750.
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