(sales x marketing) to the power of technology = extraordinary results

The 6 Influencers of Human Behavior

I was listening to an audio that came with a subscription to a series of panel discussions called "The League of Extraordinary Minds".  it was a conversation that the organizers of The League had with Tony Robbins.  In this conversation, he outlined the 6 influencers of human behavior:

1.  Certainty - people like to know what they're getting, what they can count on.
2.  Uncertainty - people like suprises and need variety.
3.  Feeling signficant, unique, special, or needed.
4.  Connection & Love
5.  Growth & Development – making progress
6.  To Contribute Beyond Yourself (you can't just get, you must give).

It works like this:  As you increase the number of influencers that you fulfill for your leads, prospects, and/or customers given your product and/or service, you can move them from mere interest to Raving Fan.

(In terms of knowing whether you're fulfilling them or not, for each influencer, you’re scoring a 7 on a scale of 1-10).

The game/goal is to fulfill multiple influencers with your leads, prospects, and/or customers - and as you increase them, their regard  shifts in terms of their relationship to your company, as follows:

1 = Interest
2 = pretty excited / satisfied
3+ = addicted to your product/service (i.e. RAVING FAN).

How does this boil down?  If you meet people's needs, you will have raving fans.  This must happen in the way that you acquire them, share information with them, and deliver your products and service to them.

How valuable would raving fans be to your business?

If you are curious about The League of Extraordinary Minds, here's a link so you can find out more.

Does Your Messaging Distinguish You From Your Competitors?

What is your Unique Selling Proposition? Is it unique? Does it distinguish you from your competitors?  

Next question:  Does your messaging do the same? In your industry where your competitors offer essentially the same thing that you do, how do you distinguish yourself?

In the first episode of Mad Men, Season 1, the issue with coming up with differentiated messaging now that they couldn't use what they'd always relied on (basically health-based messaging) -- how would a tobacco company distinguish itself?  There were 6 competitors -- all offering the same product, and essentially all were produced in the same manner.

If you've got a situation like that, then you could say anything.  As long as it's distinct from what your competitors are saying, and it's something that will land with your audience.  Even if your competitors do the same thing -- but they're not talking about it or highlighting that fact -- you could.

If people essentially are motivated based on perceived happiness from removing some pain or barrier, how can you capitalize on that, and build a distinction in your market that allows you to garner the regard and interest -- over that of your competitors? 

Take a look at your home page.  Then look at your competitors' home pages.  Are they essentially all promising the same thing?  Is it clear why you might pick one over the other?  If not -- then there is a HUGE opportunity for you to carve out a distinct selling proposition that others aren't exploiting, and provide the clarity that your leads and prospects are looking for.

Using my company as an example: In our industry, we are realizing that while we offer the most comprehensive tools for the price, we also provide service that is essentially unparalleled in our industry -- and our customers have told us so. We believe that it's important to make it easy for customers to contact someone for help -- offering both phone and email options -- and then providing timely replies and follow-up if people don't get through immediately.  We also listen to the needs of our customers -- and tie that directly into our product development process.  Something that seemed obvious to us, is evidently sorely lacking within our market space, and a way for us to differentiate our offering from that of our competitors.

What differentiates your company?  What can you say about yourselves that would make you unique and desireable in your industry?  Does that answer a need or a pain that people are experiencing - which would make choosing you the "happy" alternative?

Are We Really Marketing and Selling Happiness?

As we work to figure out and put together content that is not only engaging, but also compelling, we've got to get very clear about what our Unique Selling Proposition is.  Without that, what will guide the messaging that we generate?  How will we be able to stay consistent, and how will our prospects and leads know that what we offer will satisfy their needs?  How can we nurture our leads effectively?

Last night, I was watching the first and second episodes of Season 1 of Mad Men -- about the advertising industry on Madison Avenue, NY, in the 1960's.  In it, the main character was troubled and having a block about how to create the messaging for a tobacco/cigarette client.  The tobacco industry could no longer point to "health benefits" - so how would they differentiate themselves from any other cigarette.

Through different suggestions of his creative team, and the researchers, it was suggested that they approach it from "Hey, you're all going to die some day, so why not go ahead and enjoy your cigarettes now." -- Yeah, not a good idea... but why not?  For obviously a number of reasons, because people ultimately want to be happy.  People will take action when the bottom line is they'll be happy.  You don't sell doom and gloom -- happiness is much more effective.  But what makes people happy?  It may not be what you think.

Then, I was driving on some errands at lunch today, and listened to an MPR Midday program.  Speaking was Daniel Gilbert -- the author of "Stumbling on Happiness" (excellent book if you're interested).  He studies why people sometimes incorrectly predict their reactions to future events, and why we often guess wrong about what will make us happy.  You can check out the MPR story, and listen if you'd like, at the URL:

minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/08/10/midday2/

And I started really thinking about what we offer - increased effectiveness, freedom from reliance on IT, easier to manage and launch marketing efforts, and I realized that behind every one of those is the alleviation of some pain -- some gloom and doom -- with what?  Happiness.

You'll be more happy if you're more effective with your marketing efforts, right?  You'll be more happy if you pass true sales-ready leads to Sales, right?  And they will be too!  You'll be more happy if you can launch your marketing campaigns on your timeframes without relying on the schedule of your IT or webdev folks, right?  And you'll be more happy if you can get more done with less -- especially in the resource-strapped economy we're experiencing.

Bingo -- it's all about happiness... the key is how you tie into that in a way that compels leads to take action and move forward.

What do you think?  Let me know -- I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.  Just getting this simple point and translating it to your marketing and content efforts could make a HUGE difference in how you distinguish your offerings from the competitors.

Here's to spreading some holiday happiness!