The Road Less Stupid to Growing Your Business
In a recent presentation to the international online business forum "EllermeyerConnect.org", financial professional C. Brian Conners explains how business owners and professionals spend immeasurable time and effort trying to grow their business often with limited or dismal success.
IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 12, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In a recent presentation to nearly one hundred "Ellermeyer Connect Forum attendees, C. Brian Conners, MBA CDP explained how many business owners and professionals spend immeasurable time and effort trying to grow their business often with limited or dismal success.
Conners talked about just a few of the many reasons for subpar results:
- Not enough resources devoted to sales and marketing.
- Focusing too much of your selling efforts on promoting your product, services and their features and benefits.
- Not communicating what is unique and different about your product or services.
- Focusing on what you want to tell your prospects, instead of answering the questions they are asking or want answers to.
- Limited branding or no brand touch points and promises.
- Doing and spending time on the non-productive activities over and over, and expecting different results.
Interestingly, in a recent book he just read "The Road Less Stupid" by Keith J. Cunnigham, some great insights were triggered on opportunities to grow your business.
Just a few:
1. Are you asking the right questions about why your business is not growing fast enough?
2. Are you identifying the real problems not the symptoms to what is stagnating your business growth?
3. Are you testing and validating your assumptions?
One of the questions he said he asked himself: "Am I listening to the customer's pain points, decision criteria, and communicating how I can provide their desired outcomes?"
He went on to say that so often in our messaging we talk in the vernacular of products and services we offer:
- Features and Benefits
- Product and Service Terminology
- Price and availability
Conners stated, "As business professionals we do not speak to the customer's pain and answer the customer's qualifying questions in their terms. We speak in our own business vernacular. We do not address their 'Why Should They Care?' 'What's in It for Them?' 'How Does Your Product or Service Fit Their Specific Needs Better than Anyone Else?' 'How does your Brand complete the customer's decision matrix?'"
A good example of how this is being done, is the "My Pillow" guy. His advertisements hit so many different reasons to buy his product.
- A night of better sleep as a better outcome to a sleep-deprived population – an emotional psychological and health appeal
- My Pillow owner is part of the Brand – an American success story. Very personable with his choreographed open shirt with the cross as a witness of his recovery from addiction to personal success
- My Pillow owner tells his story to why he decided to create the best pillow and what were the criteria – why you should care and why his pillow is unique and different.
- The product is made in America for a vast audience that wants to buy American products.
- There is a discount to buy now – a coupon code – a call to action.
- What's in it for you in the design – non-allergic materials – health benefits without calling it out.
- My Pillow guy touches the product to show its elasticity and construction.
- Another bonus offer to increase the value proposition and another call to action.
- A personal guarantee
- A closing fun homespun anachronistic jingle to associate the brand with quality workmanship – the old-fashioned way.
- His messaging is consistent and repeated often.
My Pillow advertisements are like an infomercial but are less than 1 minute. Amazing, it takes less than 1 minute to communicate the reasons why you should buy now so to immediately satisfy a major personal, psychological, and physical health want – a better sleep – an emotional buy!
The success of his infomercial strategy has generated millions of dollars in sales making the founder very wealthy.
In his presentation he asked the question, so what can you do to communicate an emotional, psychological, and physical better outcome, why should your prospects care, what is in it for them, what is unique and different, how can you answer their buying criteria, and why should they take action now?
The obvious answer is to replicate what is already successful.
Since non-verbal communication trumps verbal communication, video is now more than ever uniquely positioned to build an emotional connection to your target audience. The hurdle of trust can be quicker to overcome because the senses are more engaged in answering the emotional non-verbal buying criteria.
Communicating to your target audience through a series of 1–2-minute videos can address your prospect's "Why Should They Care?" "What's in It for Them?" How Does Your Product or Service Fit Their Needs Better than Anyone Else?", "Answer Your Customer's Decision Matrix for Them", and then "What Personal Outcomes They Can Expect."
Conners recently embarked on his own journey to create a more effective online marketing presence working with a marketing and video production company. The marketing company with experience in marketing, video and tv production helped him create nearly two dozen short videos to answer his target prospect's most frequently asked decision criteria questions that build trust and my brand. He plans to do more short videos to more specifically answer the "Why", "What" and "How" frequently asked questions above, but also to expand on what personal outcomes prospects can expect.
Conners goal was to incorporate many of the successful online strategies that catapulted My Pillow sales and other recognizable brands to new heights, including maximizing the effectiveness of my social media and website, and PR for attracting targeted prospects. Even more exciting he is working on a thirty-minute television program for regional broadcasts here in Southern California. His hope is that this could lead to an educational, but fun TV series like the variety of Discovery channels like HGTV, Food Network, Ice Road Truckers, Own, Motor Trend, etc.
Conners shared this with the forum, which included many business owners and professionals who are looking for ways to increase their online marketing and visibility. If you would like to see the results of what he has done so far, go to his website at Myfapro.com or EllermeyerConnect.com and check out the content under the "Conner's Report & FAQ" sections.
Conners most important takeaway was to take action today to start answering your target prospects Why, What and How qualifying questions for them and what are personal, psychological, and physical outcomes they should expect from using your products and services. A short video or videos can go a long way to answer the non-verbal emotional buying criteria, shortening the time it takes for you to start increasing sales and growing your business.
Dwight Cromie
BusinessInsights.us
951-218-6081
Media Contact
Dwight Cromie, Business Insights Magazine, +1 (951) 218-6081, [email protected]
Dwight Cromie, Altek Media Group, 951-218-6081, [email protected]
SOURCE C. Brian Conners
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