Dealing Drugs:
How do you spell relief?
People have needs (pain) and we as business people need to relieve that pain through the benefits of our products.
The more serious the need, they greater the price they will pay voluntarily, as demonstrated by Shakespeare’s King Richard the Third, who cried out, “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
Instead of following the illicit drug dealer model (who sells temporary relief that wears off quickly, requires higher doses to return to the same level of relief, and carries a range of potentially damaging side effects), we need a business model which offers positively addicting benefits.
These benefits include permanent relief that’s more effective with repeated doses. Lets them step up to more powerful stuff that takes them higher and keeps them there. And step up further to the seriously hard-core stuff.
The answer: Stop trying hard. Offer what you can easily and consistently deliver. Then promise a little more and deliver that consistently.
To sell our products, we need to be drug dealers who sell not only pain relief but a way to get them to that higher level in life. Otherwise, we’re just selling a temporary buzz rather than a permanent solution. Once our customers come down off their high, they’re back where they started, or worse. And unlike the illicit drug dealers, our customers probably won’t come back to us for their next fix.
You can pick the point on the needs spectrum to decide where you sell relief, ranging from:
- Aspirin customers: I need to get rid of this throbbing headache
all the way to:
- King Richard the Third customers: I need to save my life and I’ll give you a fantastic deal
You can see that as you venture toward the King Richard the Third end of the spectrum, you have the potential to charge much more for your pain reliever.
At first, you might feel that it’s unethical to charge more for relieving pain in a dire situation.
And perhaps your view is distorted by the idea of taking advantage of people, consumer protection laws (charging more for umbrellas during rain storms), and the abundance of NGOs (nonprofit organizations) that do good work around the country and the world.
Let’s be clear: You’re not trading aspirin for the only horse of a lowly peasant who lives in a mud house. You’re trading a horse for a kingdom with a king who lives in a palace filled with servants and who has offered you the trade.
But you are guilty of taking advantage of people when you get them to hand over their cash for your goods that don’t relieve their pain. Which happens a lot in the ordinary, everyday marketplace. But hopefully not with you.
What do you think about offering your customers permanent solutions rather than temporary fixes? Does it affect the revenue you make? And what about seeking out the King Richard the Third customers of the world and getting exorbitant compensation: Am I just a dirty rotten scoundrel?
No related posts.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Delivering long-term value is a great ideal. Unfortunately, most salespeople are judged on last-quarter’s results. The short-term fix is the only thing most sales managers are willing to see, and that’s what they’ll push on their sales force.
My takeaway is that if you’re selling something in an organization that is fixated on the short-term, take what you’ve learned and go work for yourself. YOU and your ability to solve problems are the ultimate permanent solution.
Tony,
I agree with you on starting your own gig if you’re trapped in the short-term fix mentality,
and especially if you can see King Richard the Third possibilities that they can’t see or won’t pursue.
And it’s sounds like the sales managers you describe run “churn and burn” sales operations while keeping their eye on the clock that counts down the quarter, which means a lot of dead junkies (dissatisfied customers).
You know that building a customer base takes time and happens in incremental gains.
You may also know that most businesses are “small” businesses - the US has 23 to 25 million of them - and my guess is that many of them are fixated on longer term solutions for the customer when compared to the publicly traded company counterparts. That flexibility is a major advantage.
Certain products (airplanes, military weapons, privately contracted government services such as trash collection) have a long sales cycle, measured in years or decades, even if the company sales are brutally measured in Wall Street quarters.
I think there are lots of King Richard the Third opportunities. How about the $5 for eye drops to temporarily relieve pain compared to the King Richard the Third solution of laser eye surgery?
Anyone else want to comment:
Are most sales managers fixated on the short-term so that they can’t develop longer-term strategies? How do you carve out an advantage from this?