Stop Being You
Schedule an hour in the coming week to attack a writing project. Close your door and hold your calls. Then, put yourself in the mindset of your bulls eye target customer.
Contemplate what about your company would attract them to become your customer. Jot down what they might tell their friends (in their own words) when you’ve met and exceeded all of their needs.
Assemble these thoughts as a letter to your company. Print it out and read it aloud. Now, take the key points and think in terms of a radio commercial. Where’s the “WOW!” that would grab someone’s attention? What’s the Unique Selling Proposition that differentiates your company from the competition?
Mindful of your customer’s needs, what’s the one thing you can tell them – that they probably don’t already know – that would stop them dead in their tracks to become your customer?
It’s an energizing exercise to force you to switch hats between provider and consumer. You get to ask the tough questions and then answer them in the safety of a writing exercise, away from a board meeting. And you can raise your own tough questions – which the consumer might not conjure up on their own – and then be the hero by saving the day.
If you have trouble getting started, read a handful of e-mails and snail mails from your customer base. Ask your co-workers what they’ve heard from your customers, both pro and con. Put so many paints on your palette that you’ll always have plenty of choices to draw from when you start to tell your story.
You may not craft the next great radio commercial, but if you take the time to complete this exercise, you’ll almost certainly gain new insights that will help you improve some part of your marketing and sales process.
The key is to just stop being you.
Mark Lipsky, President & CEO