Many of us are playing out a script as buyers. We have our guard up and our default reaction to an offer is to decline or say, “No,” before a seller can even explain what they do. Just try observing the salespeople peddling their wares at the mall to passerby shoppers.
You may be selling in a completely different environment with customers that are thinking differently altogether. For any chance of buying to happen, there has to be an environment where you cause your customer to think. This means:
- Getting the customer to look at a situation in a whole new way
- Inviting the customer to dialogue
- Positioning your buying experience for curiosity
- Spotlighting the depth of a problem
- Opening a person’s mind to new possibilities
- Helping someone buy rather than trying to sell them
- Connecting
When designing your marketing campaigns or putting together a strategy to court a new buyer, consider how the content, design and experience facilitate the customer to think and consider something new, namely your offering. This is why thought leadership is so effective. Your buyers are able to gain value from how you frame problems relevant to them and see how you lead them through the problem-solving process. Your insights are able to be put forth.
Strong branding messages and calls to action that invite a valid next step which matters to the buyer are compelling if you help the buyer think. It’s an opportunity to highlight a state of dissatisfaction. Discontentment with a present reality compared to a future possibility could be used to help the problems seem large and the solution feel enticing.
Look around at the touch points your buyer experiences. Some may need to be modified altogether. Others may need a small tweak to increase their effectiveness in the sales process. Inject messaging, content and thought that helps your buyer wake up from their automaton state and consider new realities – your view of the world. It starts the buying discussion which is most of the battle in today’s marketplace.
How could you get your buyers to think more?