March 28, 2024

Sales and Marketing Advice for Florida Business

How to create a marketing and selling message that will amaze prospects

Ron Stein | 2/27/2017

Changes in your industry move fast and new competitors are popping up all the time. Buyers are becoming much more sophisticated and it’s harder than ever before to get in the door.

The selling skills and marketing approaches you’ve been using are not enough. You need an edge.

What’s the single most important tool you can deploy to make a colossal difference in your selling and marketing?

Here it is: an amazing core message. That’s because there is no other element of what you do that has greater influence over a future customer’s decision to buy your product or service. Period.

You might say your social media or email blasts or networking is the most essential tool you have. And I’ll tell you all of those have your core message wrapped into them.

Think about it. Every time your business has a market facing “experience”, your core message is front and center -- or at least it should be. That’s not to suggest that a nifty phrase or sound bite is obnoxiously repeated over and over.

Not at all. Instead, a carefully crafted core message built on a your value position to the market is weaved throughout everything you do -- videos, website, during presentations, in your sales materials, and more.

And of course, while giving the dreaded seven-second introduction at a business networking event!

A battle-tested core message is the only way to stand out in a noisy market. That’s how you’ll grab the attention your buyer. The key is this: your core message won’t change, the way you use it will.

The companies that have the ability to grow the fastest are those that have the ability to quickly position their company, product, or service in the mind of the customer -- and clearly communicate why their products or services are the obvious choice.

That’s what an amazing message does for you.

Why your message matters. Whether you’re asked what your company does or considering the headline for your website’s homepage, a core message must lead with the why. A core message must catch your buyer’s attention at an emotional, gut level by speaking to their frustrations and unmet needs. The trick is to do this before introducing the specifics of your offering and making any claims to the problems you solve. Deep down our brains are wired to be in defensive mode and skeptical. Avoid this by speaking to the why -- not your why, but your buyer’s why. In other words, that inner voice that says, “Why should I listen to you.”

An amazing message, not just a great message. A great message makes an emotional connection, hitting a nerve. A great message offers insight into what’s getting in the way of success and helps to position your company, saying how you’re different. However, buyers don’t think you understand their needs or care about them -- they are cynical. An amazing message adds the why from the buyer’s perspective in the form of a peak at the big, desirable, and previously unattainable future your target market wants. Of course, this is a better future only you can provide. Do this right and you’ll get people to nod in agreement. Now it’s time to tie that to your product or service.

Flip your message. Sadly, most companies begin their messages with their product, service, features, or functions. And just as bad, they introduce their solution as the “truth” saying something like, “we offer [X] that solves [Y].” Seems reasonable enough, yet it’s sure to immediately put the reader or listener off, because to our subconscious it comes across as a claim without proof. It’s a big brain turnoff and not the way to start a conversation.

Meet Ron Stein at a Tampa Bay Innovation Center Tech Talk

Title: "How to Get People to Buy from You Instead of Your Competition"

Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Time: 8:30-10:00 am

Location: Microsoft, 5426 Bay Center Dr., Suite 700, Tampa, FL 33609

Cost: FREE but registration is requested

At the seminar, Stein will address, "Why should I choose you over your competition?" If competitors seem to get all the buzz and close more deals, then it's time to change marketing and sales techniques - online and offline. His TECH Talk presentation will offer practical strategies, tactics and examples to empower a team with a new way of marketing and selling that cuts across everything the business does, to help the company become the obvious choice in the market. For more information call (727) 547-7340 or to register, please click here.

Try this instead -- state the big problem with an insight to the buyer’s situation, transition to the hope you can provide (without mentioning your offering), talk about the path to get there, and now add the “what” of your product or service. Here’s one way to do that: “We looked at [the Big Problem] and thought, what if [the Big Idea]. Could you have a way to [the Big Future] by creating a [What You Offer]? That’s what we do” It’s like a mini-story in less than seven seconds that opens the brain to the possibility of a better future.

As Zig Ziggler said. “You can get anything you want in life by helping others get what they want” That’s why the old, boring and self-centered elevator pitch is dead.

Know the buyer’s why and weave that into your messages. Then, get the right message to the right person at each stage in the buying process, and you’ll win.

You know what you’re up against. Create an amazing core message and use it everywhere. It really will be a game changer for your company.

What’s your message?

Ron Stein is founder of More Customers Academy, helping business leaders build strategic messaging and positioning that cuts through the competitive noise to grow revenue. Ron has developed his own highly successful 5-step Stand Out & Sell More approach to winning new customers as a result of his twenty-five years of business development, marketing, and selling experiences. He works with a range of businesses, from startups to large corporations across industries including technology and healthcare, manufacturing, and financial services and banking. Ron conducts workshops, leads company meetings, offers keynote talks, and consults. He can be reached at 727-398-1855 or by email.

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