When people feel doubt about conditions, they feel an emotional darkness. You can inspire hope by sharing knowledge.
Knowledge is like light. You can focus knowledge specifically where customers need it.
People are the only sources who can focus knowledge specifically. Books, articles, videos, etc. are useful only if a person can apply information directly.
As big retailers add more services, you need better services that fit people's lives. You need to understand their conditions.
You should make compelling offers based on their conditions, not just on your inventory.
On a local level, customers have similar conditions. You should know those general conditions, discuss customers' specific needs & customize solutions.
Some things can make conditions unbearable - 1) not being in control & 2) unknown causes & effects.
Even if people can't control everything, they want to control something. Coping is hard if people control nothing & don't know what to expect.
People get some relief when they know what causes a problem. After a problem is found, people can focus on preventing & mitigating effects.
Cause & Effect Story Lines
Purchase decisions can be based on cause & effect story lines. Even if people don't think of their lives as stories, they go from problems to solutions.
Descriptive ad copy should highlight benefits so people recognize products they need to improve their stories.
Stories might be simple summaries of conditions. Things happen in particular sequences.
Problems will continue unless somebody changes the conditions. Your ads should help people recognize conditions & what can be done about them.
To integrate your store & offers with people's lives, you need to know their stories.
What do they want? What will they want? What might interfere with their plans? How can they reduce interruptions?
When you help people identify specific causes & effects, you can help them make the right changes.
When you ask questions to help people solve problems you'll also get information for future offers.
You can ask questions like these:
When you think about potential changes, which change is most important? What makes it most important?
Which problem bothers you the most? If you could only afford to solve one problem, which would you solve?
We need to find the cause so we can solve the problem. What did you notice first? What did you do after it happened? Did that reduce the effect?
Are Their Priorities Practical?
Priorities are important. Reasons for priorities can lead to trying to solve minor or easy problems instead of what's most damaging.
You can base suggestions on customers' needs or preferences but preferences aren't always practical.
People might want to solve what upsets them most instead of preventing or fixing damage. Example - People might want to kill invasive insects, but they also should plug holes insects use to enter houses.
Though symptoms can be stressful, it's best to identify symptoms to solve problems. If customers can't afford to solve problems, maybe you can mitigate problems.
Diagnostic Scenarios
Stories can be organized into scenarios. Scenarios are organized details. Problems are diagnosed according to details.
When you consider local conditions, you can review your inventory & determine how people can use products.
What do people want to do? What do people want to avoid? What do people want to decrease or increase? What do people need to solve?
When you have those answers, check your inventory for solutions.
To write ads, go through answers to the questions above & write questions like these: Do you need/want ___? Have you noticed ___? Do you want to avoid ___?.
Describe how your products/services fulfill those desires & needs.
Scenarios can describe conditions for using products. Here are some examples:
For selling garden tools, you can describe soil conditions & explain how to use those tools.
For selling health products, you can describe symptoms & explain how to apply those products.
General descriptions can help people determine if their conditions fit those scenarios. Invite them to your store for specific information. In your store, you can ask questions & answer their questions.
When you do these things, you'll help people get maximum value. Compared to competitors, who don't offer information, you have information customers need.
Be An Advisor
Just like fiction, stories aren't totally original. There are familiar subjects with different details.
You can help people adapt options according to personal details.
Based on your inventory & local conditions, you can ask questions & determine which solutions to offer.
There are common patterns in some life conditions. Based on patterns, you can show people what might happen with or without solutions.
If you recognize patterns, you can help people avoid or mitigate some problems.
You can help people plan tasks, so they'll have time to learn how to get optimal results.
You can promote free consultations with purchases. If they buy from you, you can continue to guide them if they have questions later.
As you increase your trade skill, you're apt to learn what works for people in your area. You can show how to adjust to changing conditions.
You can tell customers if you think an idea won't work. They might want to experiment anyway. If there's a safety issue, you might refuse sell something & explain why.
Risk Reduction
Consider potential risks people face when they buy a product or service. Even if you can't remove each risk, you can reduce some risks. Example - When people use tools, there are probably common incidents. When people know a product's limits, they can avoid problems.
People need information to pick & use the best products for their conditions. You can help them avoid using the wrong products.
Avoiding risks is a major value. You can use information to reduce people's risks.
Sales may depend on whether people are sure about advantages & assured against risks of disadvantages.
Reassure customers by helping them know when & how to use products, so they'll avoid injuries or damage.
Risk reversal (refund or exchange) is important if a result is reversible. If a result is irreversible, people may want guidance to avoid waste.
Somebody might refuse to buy even if you think a risk is minor. For a socially evident product, people might risk disapproval if they don't know how or when to use a product well.
People might feel too embarrassed to ask for advice. To reduce risk & embarrassment, you can have advisory documents with products.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2018 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
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