Every company has a story. In that story, the hero — your company — overcomes enormous odds, grows larger, helps more customers, and achieves a valued market position. That story is a huge part of your “brand image,” so telling it with excitement and enthusiasm is a fabulous way to impress your customers and move the sales forward, right??
Uhhh…, wrong. Telling customers your “brand” story will either irritate them or bore them. And that’s a shame, because there IS a story you can tell that will move the sale forward. It’s just not the story that you’ve been told to tell. Let me explain…
Marketeers love a good “brand” story, and never hesitate to spout it to customers, to the press, and to the world, as many times, and in many ways as possible. They crystallize that story into a “brand message”, with a logo and tagline, then stick that message into every brochure and advertisement. They insist that every email include the brand message, and call the sales reps on the carpet if the official brand message isn’t on the first page of every sales proposal.
That’s what branding is all about, eh??
There’s only one thing wrong with the ubiquitous brand message: It does absolutely nothing to help you sell. Nada.
Here’s why: customers don’t give a rodent’s rear end about YOUR story.
To your customers, that carefully-crafted brand message is just so much yada-yada-yada. Every second you waste telling them about YOU and YOUR FIRM is merely trying their patience. At best, they’ll think you’re bragging. At worst, they’ll just be bored.
What customers DO care about is THEIR story…the one where THEY are the protagonist and where THEY achieve success.
So if you want to make selling easier, you’d best ignore your brand message in favor of something that’s FAR more powerful. It’s called a “field message” and it’s the secret behind big time B2B success.
What is a field message? It’s not YOUR story. It’s the customer’s story… as impacted and changed by what you have to offer.
So forget about that “brand message” and create yourself a “field message.”
This afternoon, I’ll explain EXACTLY how, so stay tuned.
