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How to capture clients

The Power of Why: Breaking out in a competitive marketplace, by Richard Weylman

NO MATTER what service or products you sell, the market place is crowded with alternatives to your offering. (Next week I will be reviewing The Age of Oversupply, which addresses the causes of this problem.)

The goal of this book is to improve the performance of you company as well as amplify your presence in your market’s consciousness. The model is applicable to all manner of businesses, and the book is a six-step guide to the process.

The title, the Power of Why, refers to the starting point of the method - why are your customers buying from you? Typical answers are that you were first to market; you have the lowest prices, the best distribution, and so on.

Other starting questions include: why are your customers shopping around – are they “loyalty neutral”? Why are your competitors winning more business?

The challenge, Weylman explains, is “how to reach, capture, and keep this type of customer whom I define as 'delighted advocates'."

Based on years of research and as many in consulting to companies, Weylman has concluded that the mistake most companies make is rooted in their unique selling proposition (USP). They primarily promote the company from their perspective, not from that of the customer.

Think of how many businesses promote themselves in this way: “We provide unique website designs.” “We were voted number 1 again!” These are examples of being business- or product-centric, and not customer-centric.

Being heard and accepted in this noisy, crowded, ever-changing marketplace has never been harder. To the customer most businesses in the market look, sound, and act the same.

What you do or who you are or how you do it is not the answer to the most important question a business needs to ask. Rather the question is: why would people want to do business with our company rather than another?

The alternative to the USP is the UVP – the unique value promise. When customers are deciding to buy, they have one focus: they want to know how doing business with you will be good for them.

The UVP is focused on emotional meaning, personal benefit, and clear customer outcomes that will capture and keep customers.

What consumers seek is very different now. Weylman has concluded that customers want a business that “believes so strongly in what it can provide that it’s willing to make a clear, buyer-centric promise of outcome - up front, unconditional, and unqualified”.
 
Thinking you are distinctive is not the same as consumers finding you because you always deliver, at every level of the organisation, and in every contact, on your consumer-centric promise.

Here are some examples of customer-centric promises that have made these companies iconic in their markets.

Olive Garden is a chain of authentic Italian restaurants. Their UVP is: “When you’re here, you’re family.” This is a perfect destination for lovers of Italian food who want casual, relaxed dining where they don’t have to be self-conscious about the kids.
 
The UVP of Southern Air-conditioning, a repair service, states: “We are on time, or you don’t pay a dime.” If you have waited for hours for your technician to show up (as we all probably have), that would certainly appeal. It is a response to a real need – I do not like waiting around wasting my time. This is of far more appeal than that they have been voted number 1 again.

The steps to take in finding this UVP do not start in the boardroom. Step number one is to go and visit your best clients or customers and ask them why they like dealing with you. Not in general terms, but quite specifically. Weylman recommends taking them out to lunch or coffee and probing for real answers in a casual setting.

This is to be done with a number of customers. Then look for trends and patterns and formulate the most compelling into the UVP.

Having a UVP is very different to living the UVP.

Weylman visited the air-conditioning company and asked them how they were able to achieve their “on time or don’t pay” promise. He was told that they schedule appointments far enough apart to provide a buffer for travel and unexpected or long repairs. They also have “floaters” whose job it is to make every appointment on time, in case the assigned technician is delayed.

Once a company has their UVP, the work begins. Staff need to understand the UVP’s centrality to the company and how to live it. Systems need to be reviewed, refined, or changed to fit in with the UVP. Non-compliance cannot be tolerated and needs to be addressed firmly and fast.

The market is overcrowded. Attracting and retaining clients is becoming harder. This book is worth reading.

Readability:   Light +---- Serious
Insights:        High --+-- Low
Practical :      High +---- Low

 - Fin24

*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy. Views expressed are his own.

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