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The Smoked Meat Sandwich Principle: what the market knows versus what people feel

By Patrick Gant

communicate with emotion, photo by Sean Walsh

Photo by Sean Walsh on 500px

The market can’t tell a Montreal smoked meat sandwich from bologna on a stale bun.

It just knows which one is selling more right now. And that’s what it follows.

It usually does this rather well.

On the other hand, the market pays little attention to how much skill goes into to curing, seasoning and choosing the right way to carve a hot brisket. It doesn’t line up on Montreal’s Main in any season to wait for a seat at Schwartz’s. It doesn’t have a sense of taste.

It can’t understand the experience of melt-in-your-mouth delicious, versus bland sustenance.

It has no memories.

It just knows the price of lunch and who’s buying.

People, on the other hand, are a lot more complicated. We make choices. We’re motivated to take action by more than facts.

We’re hard-wired to make distinctions between things, even when the differences aren’t as obvious as, say, between a tasty smoked meat sandwich and its cheap alternative.

That’s why communicating with emotion matters so much. People are better engaged and more open to what you are offering them when you appeal to all their senses—selling on benefits and experiences versus just features and facts.

Markets act and follow.

But people feel their way to their choices.

The value of your existing customers

By Patrick Gant

Earlier this month, I attended a small business forum and the discussion there soon turned to finding new markets for products and services. There were plenty of great ideas about finding new customers, and yet surprisingly there was little said about how taking care of your existing customer base can help boost that bottom line.

Finding and landing new business is still the most expensive kind of activity that an organization can engage, whereas reaching out to those who already know you is virtually risk-free.

How expensive is it, you might ask?

Flowtown’s infographic geniuses are all over this with some eye-popping facts about attracting and retaining your customers:

it’s up to seven times more expensive to acquire that new customer than it is to retain an existing one
you risk having a 50% attrition rate on dormant accounts
even just a 5% increase in retention rates can yield substantial boosts in profits.

So what’s the best way to capitalize on that loyal base of people who are already sold on the great work that you do?

My good friend (and long-time client), Colleen Francis offers rock-solid advice on going well beyond the piecemeal approach of calling people haphazardly. The right way is to engage a client retention system. Make it a habit in how you do business.

Don’t confuse what people buy with what you are selling

By Patrick Gant

“What people buy and what you sell are not the same things.” This is something I’ve believed as a marketer and copywriter for a very long time.

I was reminded of this recently while re-reading Cory Doctorow’s criticism of the iPad, way back when it was a brand-new thing.

His argument, in essence, was that the iPad failed because it’s not a computer.

Well, he’s half right. There’s nowhere that I can see in the box-copy or in Apple’s online material that says this device is a computer.

That’s not an oversight. And it’s not that the iPad isn’t a computer (it is).

It’s just not important.

Most people don’t want to buy computers. They want things to help them do stuff.

It’s no different than what we see with cars. Sure there are some who love to tinker and pull things apart and revel in the technical details of how the car operates. Then there’s the other 95 percent who just want something that runs well, looks good and gets them where they want to go and are entirely uninterested in the technology making that happen behind the scenes.

Realizing this is what fuelled a lot of the deep thinking that went into designing the iPad. Really…what would be the point of a MacBook Air minus a keyboard other than just being a MacBook Air minus a keyboard?

It’s not a coincidence that in 2007 Apple quietly pulled the word “computers” from their corporate name. It’s not just because their product line has outgrown the word. It’s because the meaning behind the word is not all that relevant to a large segment of the population.

They build and design computers. But what their customers buy are devices that help them do things.

What you are selling and what people buy are two different things.

Danger, Will Robinson! Beware of classic mistakes when asking for referrals

By Patrick Gant

A brand-new article we’ve prepared for Engage Selling Solutions, based on the sales presentations of Colleen Francis.

Referrals can be really powerful selling tools when used correctly and as part of a formalized plan. However, there’s a right way and a wrong way to ask for referrals. Too often, sales people and business owners commit classic mistakes in asking for them and assume, based on their disappointing results, that referrals might simply not be worth all the effort. Referrals do work. More

How to Send Your Sales Skyrocketing (#5)

By Patrick Gant

A brand-new article we’ve prepared for Engage Selling Solutions, based on the sales presentations of Colleen Francis.

#5. Handle Objections Skillfully

In this five-part series, I’ve shared with you a range of activities that you can engage today to help turbo-charge sales in your business—no matter whether you are a sales professional working solo or managing a sales team. I’ve identified for you what you need to do at the front-end of your sales cycle—defining your best customers, obtaining referrals and testimonials and making better use of all of these in how you sell to your prospects. I’ve also talked about how to engage your sales math and why this is an important step to take if you’re determined to join the ranks of the top-10 percent of sales performers in your organization. More

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