Integrate Your Store with Customers’ Goals

I’m using functionality to mean ability to produce &/or maintain results. Functionality could mean a number of functions like differences between basic & scientific calculators or basic cell phones & smart phones.

Necessity is tied to functionality. Customers won’t feel they need functions until they understand the benefits. Will they use functions enough to justify higher prices? Would past experiences have been better if those functions were available?

Help customers compare product functionality with their goals & future needs. If products have similar functions, compare dependability & quality, so customers don’t lose benefits.

Promote Experiences to Sell Products

When you find experiences that would be enhanced by product functions, you can promote those experiences & those functions. To persuade customers to adopt experiences, determine how to optimize various aspects. Examples: If experiences are at home, how can people maximize benefits over a time period? Can they refresh those experiences each day, so they’ll have some variety?

If those experiences can only happen away from home, suggest location selection criteria. Which other products &/or services would add benefits &/or reduce limitations?

Usability is closely tied to functionality. Physical Compatibility Example: My fingers are compatible with many basic calculator key sizes. Scientific calculators have more functions & smaller keys.

Physical compatibility can also be a factor in handles, tools, containers, etc.

Dexterity, physical compatibility & skills are necessary to benefit from functionality.

Determine what people need for physical compatibility while planning projects & tasks. Examples: ladders, longer handles & hypo-allergenic materials

Physical stores are better for checking dexterity & physical compatibility than web-based retailers. Web-based retailers can describe necessary dexterity & skills, but your customers can try products while you guide their choices. You can help them find tutorials to optimize dexterity & skills based on their goals, materials & tools.

Find products & services you need for integrating with customers at any skill level.

In sports, crafts & construction projects, skillful people might recognize compatible equipment, but beginners might need guidance. You can help beginners avoid frustrations, so they don’t lose interest in some games or project types. In addition to tutorials, are some products easier for beginners?

You might inspire more interest by helping with customized results to increase personal benefits & overcome limitations.

Adjust Benefits & Avoid Problems

Stores can offer what people need for adjusting benefits & avoiding problems as conditions change. Example: ‘(Store) is dedicated to helping you benefit from gardening. People use gardening for nutrition, exercise & personal satisfaction. Your full benefits include tutorials for ergonomically using equipment plus exercises to avoid stiffness based on doctors’ recommendations for best results. Since gardening is part of your self-care, you need the best equipment & techniques.’

Offer long-term benefits. Garden shops can help beyond harvesting. Example: ‘You’ve mastered gardening skills & rewarded yourself with tasty, fresh food. Now with (products), you can preserve & deliciously prepare foods in any season. Instead of eating your fill in fall, then avoiding those foods, you’ll treasure your favorite flavors all year.’

Optimize Customers’ Results

You can increase customers’ satisfaction with product selection consultations & customized instructions for projects. Consultations help with functionality of products & results, so customers get expected benefits. Customers’ expectations are shaped by desires & perceptions of their conditions. Explore how to use products & services to adjust conditions to accommodate customers’ desires.

Project results might not fit customers’ expectations, desires or perceptions. Guide their planning by comparing local conditions with their long- & short-term expectations & desires.

You can develop other options by combining your perceptions with theirs. Example: ‘I notice different ways people use (product). When they want (result), they use it to __. How would that work for you?’

Questions can bring insights for enhancing customers’ current conditions & skills.

You can help customers explore options with questions. ‘With this product, you can do this. What more could you have if you did this?’ ‘This problem seems small now, but it can lead to __. If you solve this problem, you could prevent that & benefit with this. What would it mean for you to experience this?’

Too many retailers sell products without service. You can help people improve reality by using products to increase options. When people have more options, they can adjust to changes & possibly have less stress.

Ask about customers’ goals & their current tools & materials to be sure products are compatible with each other & customers’ goals.

Link Satisfaction with Your Store

Sometimes, functionality can be improved with small adjustments. Example: I had lawn mower problems until a mechanic recommended using premium fuel.

Link your business with people’s improved results by listing adjustments to improve results &/or reduce frustrations. Put these lists on your letter head so your contact information is included.

Urge customers to check your lists often, so they combine & maximize big & small benefits. Specify maintenance tasks, so people know what to schedule to avoid losing benefits.

Though people want big benefits, emphasize total benefits of multiple incremental improvements, so you can add more value than competitors. Example: ‘Each improvement from these tasks will add to your comfort. Keep warm air in. Keep cold wind & small insects out.’

Big Promises & Big Disappointments

People might not believe ads for big improvements after they’re disappointed. When you explain how products work & tasks produce results, your advertising claims will be credible. You can promise specific ways to prevent & solve urgent problems by adjusting functionality & customizing results.

Manufacturers complicate some products with excessive functions some people won’t use. If complicated products are customers’ only option, help people focus on functions for specific results. Offer Example: ‘Life & products are becoming more complicated, so (store) specializes in results you need for specific purposes. Advice is focused on your life, so you get the right products & information.’

Your store should be an optimal resource for people who want & need functionality to control particular results or conditions.

Control is hard without knowledge about preventing occurrences & reoccurrences of problems. Help people understand how to use products to control causes & effects. Help people evaluate conditions to determine what interferes with functionality & control, so they can prevent & solve problems.

People shouldn’t rely on cheap products because when problems hit, people need quick functionality & control. Offer Example: ‘When you face emergencies, you need quick results, so you need reliable products & necessary information. (Store) has (products) & advice for your emergency response. (Store) is locally owned & focused on local concerns.’

Based on local conditions, help people know what to expect & how to be prepared with products.

Increase Benefits & Reduce Risks

Customer integration includes connecting needs with benefits & reducing risks. Your offers should reduce people’s risks. Though risk reversal is valuable, so people return products they don’t trust, your recommendations can reduce frustrations of product returns.

Your superior quality should encourage people to ignore risks of cheap product offers. Advise people to focus on quality for long-term results. Example: ‘When you need long-term results, you need extra quality. (Store) offers advice about tools & materials to be sure your projects successfully produce results you expect. Maintaining results can be like running a race against rough weather, so choose lasting product quality. Since you can’t control weather, you need to control your results with (products).’

Your product & information offers should show customers’ results & experiences are important to you. Your product & information quality should match customers’ needs & expectations.

Risks or Safety

Even people, who like calculated risks, want safe zones. They prepare for risky experiences. Safety & comfort are individual interpretations. People want safe, comfortable homes & exciting experiences.

Analogy: Sky divers depend on equipment to control some risks. They use knowledge about things they can’t control (like weather), so they know when conditions are favorable for success. Though they aren’t totally safe, they’re comfortable enough for action.

Since safety is established with limits & some limits are set by product quality, people need to know how to evaluate reliability.

They need great attention to details, so they know which details matter for success & failure. Example: Some limits are strict; others are optional.

Some find adventure in high risk, but they need some boundaries.

Skills & product specifications set boundaries, so people know what to expect & can achieve goals.

When you know people’s goals & which risks & boundaries they accept, you can recommend options.

How much structure & how many details are necessary for safety (certainty) or satisfaction?

When experiences are based on discovery, people don’t start with all details.

Even when customers know what they want to experience, they need knowledge to increase quality. Ask what customers want to discover & how much certainty they want. Help them plan their adventures & determine which products to choose based on what they want to do & where.

Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.

Copyright 2020 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

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