You’re NOT in the (What business you’re in) business…
You’re in the MARKETING business.
Read those sentences again… and again… and again. Digest them. Understand them. Internalize them. Make them an integral part of your business philosophy. Because unless and until you do, your business will be no better and no different than any of the other choices your prospects and customers can select to do business with.
Let me explain by using the insurance profession as an example, and as I do, think about how these principles might apply to your business.
It’s a well-known fact that very few people (if any at all), want to actually buy an insurance policy. It’s true, they may want the benefits, security and piece of mind that insurance provides them and their families or their business, but they don’t necessarily want to spend their money on an insurance policy. But, what do most insurance sales people sell?
They sell insurance!
No wonder the business is so difficult. It doesn’t take a Harvard degree to figure it out. If you sell insurance… and know that people don’t want to buy insurance… why would you continue to beat your head against the wall trying to sell it?
Consider the way most people shop for auto insurance. They call up a number of insurance companies and ask for a quote. The agent or his or her representative asks what coverage the caller is currently carrying, and gives a quote based on those figures.
The caller then thanks the agent or staff member, and goes to the next number on their list. They keep repeating that scenario until they’re convinced that they’ve found the lowest price… and whichever company comes in lowest gets the business.
But, wait a minute. Isn’t there more to buying insurance than just “low price?” Well, sure there is. And you and I both know it. And so do most insurance agents.
Why is it, then, that nearly every agent from nearly every insurance company you call tries to sell on price… knowing that there’s probably someone out there with a lower price than they can quote?
Why is it that so few agents try to differentiate themselves from their competition, and change the prospect’s base of thinking away from price, and on to other, more important things?
Price is important, don’t get me wrong. It’s very important. And it carries a lot of weight in a prospect’s buying decision.
But it’s only one of many factors that a person needs to consider when making their buying decision.
In actuality, there’s very little difference in insurance policies issued by any number of insurance companies in the same geographical area.
And likewise, there’s usually very little difference in the products or services you sell versus those same types of products or services sold by your competitors.
General overhead costs, utilities, phones, supplies, wages, and product costs are also similar for most companies that sell like products and services.
So, if all those factors… similarity of products and services, overhead costs and product costs… are pretty much the same, the prices charged by each individual business must, out of necessity, be pretty close, as well.
It’s true, that one company may, for example, obtain a lower purchase price on their products and as a result, be able to offer a more attractive sales price for a certain period of time, but eventually, things change and the playing field becomes pretty level once again.
There are other factors not to be overlooked such as investment income and tax write-offs or advantages that can play a role in the prices businesses charge for the things they sell.
But overall, all things considered, the prices charged for the goods and services from one company to another similar company are going to be fairly close over the long haul.
