Is Success Measured with Shallow, Quick Quantity or Deep, Lasting Quality?

Discounters appeal to people wanting quick benefit quantity without considering long-term satisfaction from benefit quality.

A lowest price criterion can bias people’s step-by-step evaluations from planning to results. Higher-price product benefits might feel like cost-overruns. People might expect faster, better results than conditions allow or products & methods can create.

When low-prices & short-term perceptions are used to evaluate results, successful long-term efforts could be perceived as delusional failures. Offer specific high-quality benefits to guide purchasing & realistic long-term expectations.

I use success & failure analogies to avoid offending people. Books & cartoons feature anthropomorphized animals to teach lessons without ethnic stereotypes.

Bears & humans disregard rules & nutritional reasons for appropriate food. Humans disregard logic of quality because cheap prices satisfy emotions.

If Yogi Bear expects to survive on human-abandoned food, acquisition costs might seem like bargains. If Yogi disregards nutrients & thinks fishing is burdensome, fish acquisition costs seem extravagant. Raiding two picnics might be easier than catching one fish.

In WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter analogized Success Delusion with this: "The bear was about to clamp onto an unsuspecting airborne salmon jumping upstream. [An UNUM] headline read: YOU PROBABLY FEEL LIKE THE BEAR. WE’D LIKE TO SUGGEST YOU’RE THE SALMON."

See the Big Fish I Caught with My Rod!

Will friends’ referrals or authoritative endorsements help people choose products from your store? Which consistent & nascent issues do people discuss? How do/can your offers fit people’s discussions? What would induce discussions of your ability to affect result quality & satisfaction levels? You should help customers make social connections beneficial. Give customers information & insights to share with knowledgeable/authoritative people & evaluate your offers.

What should people know when planning/revising projects?

Since preparation requires knowledge & other resources, which criteria assure customers can influence conditions?

If you expect people to buy goal-achievement resources, offer the most possible. When customers regularly depend on you for advantageous goal-achievement, you’re integrated into their lives.

When weather, inflation, supply-chain disruptions &/or other issues affect people’s planning progress, consultations can reveal product & method options. When people’s efforts seem blocked & high-value seems out-of-reach, offer descriptive compelling options.

Clayton Christensen wrote people hire products for jobs-to-be-done.

Offer Example: ‘When you need (benefit), consider long-term results as if you’re hiring workers. (Store) advantage offers include screening product qualifications for your jobs-to-be-done. Products should be compatible with your desires & long-term stress-relief. Discounters push products without concern for your well-being. (Store) is dedicated to your life-quality.’

If people seek opinions about product & method choices, you should be chosen for authoritative guidance.

Consultation/Evaluation Example: This case study plan was successfully adapted to (local conditions) with knowledge & methods defined & refined according to results of (ABC) & emerging indications. Differences between those conditions & ours are __. Because of those differences, let’s (BCD) substitute for (ABC). Step-1 is adapted because (difference) & will be finished with (products & techniques) creating (result). The gap between your goal (full benefit) & (result) is __ & can be filled with (supplies & techniques). (Skill) is necessary for (techniques) & can be learned with (tutorials). Step-2 includes (products & techniques) to create (full benefit).

Boost customers' confidence by guiding them to learn applicable information & skills. Academic counselors open resources & opportunities for students. Introduce customers to achievements you can help fulfill.

Start Small & Increase Credible Momentum.

If loved ones have compatible conditions, people might recommend products after experiences of fulfilling needs & desires. People can help with referrals if you authoritatively evaluate conditions, goals & resources compatibility. You can be perceived & endorsed as an authority as you learn & share knowledge.

Trust involves predictable reliability & relates to determining whether to attempt diagnoses & repairs or ignore problems. Information inspires trust so people avoid failures & lost opportunities. Explain why & how to solve problems plus futility of ignoring problems. Describe your approach to projects, so people will join you.

Referrals are based on interpersonal trust & help inexperienced people. People are apt to approach you about potential trouble when you establish predictability by restoring/maintaining/controlling past, current stable &/or emerging circumstances.

Anthropomorphized bears might anticipate winter & think Yogi gets enough picnic baskets, but hibernation preparation is no picnic! Yogi might be stable now, but will he survive? It’d be Success Delusion if Yogi fills up with human food & feels successfully prepared. He could hibernate but might not emerge. Hibernation is an intermediate result for optimal living.

Success Delusion can be illustrated with the Three Little Pigs. Two pigs might feel successful after building stick & straw houses. Shelter & safety aren’t identical. It’s vital to consider all threats because preparation for one hazard doesn’t guarantee total safety.

Household ambiance control is a long-term goal that can be disrupted by typical weather & destroyed by storms.

Analysis: We want (benefit) in our current condition. What will indicate condition changes? When indications come, how will we prepare? Current/emerging problems are __. We’re evaluating our preparations with these criteria: __. We want (benefit), so we (do action). If we notice (indications), we’ll change plans or preparations.

High-Quality Products Have Specifications; Solutions Have Criteria.

People should consider personal, long-term costs when choosing options. Differentiate short-term easiness, quickness & cheapness from what creates better, long-term benefits. Discounters ignore those & offer easy, quick, cheap purchases.

If Yogi doesn’t learn about hibernation, picnic food might seem OK because it's easily obtained. It’s vital for Yogi to learn about fulfilling sustenance requirements.

Human nutrition is a valid analogy because opinions & requirements vary. Doctors compare averages & treat aberrations. Activities & rest burn average calorie levels & food replaces calories plus nutrients that alter calorie use & replacement.

It’d be a Boo-Boo if Yogi thought there’s no need to hibernate. As winter hits, humans stop picnicking, so baskets probably aren’t available. Yogi would need to prioritize other food for hibernation or survive winter without preparation.

People have comfortable biases, reject uncomfortable facts & need remedial help. Adjust best, better & good offers for early preparers, last-minute movers & late-comers, plus explain necessities.

Whether Yogi prioritizes picnic baskets or bears prefer certain fish, biologists might emphasize criteria based on current or emerging needs plus resource comparisons.

Bears might want to pig-out while fish are plentiful without understanding digestion, metabolism & energy-production aren’t instant. Storms & other problems can hit before bears adjust to extra weight & finish preparations.

Humans choose junk foods causing sugar spikes & crashes without sufficiently satisfying hunger. That’s analogous to cheap stuff not fulfilling expectations.

Even if discounters accept returns, consumers expend time & energy returning stuff instead of finishing projects. After that waste, prevention could be too late, so people need remediation.

Criteria, Plans & Readiness

Will customers do testimonials about how you relieved their frustrations?

Help customers combine information, observations & experiences into criteria, so you can add insights to their plans.

Consumer conversations & activity observations can reveal expectations. Consumer advocates & complaint forums reveal frustrations. Compare product quality with those expectations & frustrations, so you know what to offer & how to guide customers.

How Much More Value Would Bring Satisfaction?

People might feel their lives are incomplete & yearn to 'have it all’ without defining ‘it all’.

If billionaires have it all, can they actively enjoy it all? Example: While enjoying Activity-A with Product-1, Product-2 is in-storage because it’s made for Activity-B. Seasonal changes limit activities & return-on-investment.

Affluent people buy from discounters when cheap products seem to fulfill criteria just like expensive versions. Emphasize how your advantage offers make activities optimally enjoyable & financially practical.

You influence customers’ attention-to-detail by investing attention in step-by-step effects so quality lasts. Your success depends on demonstrating importance with thorough guidance. Your concern for benefit quality indicates concern for customers.

Take-it-or-leave-it attitudes indicate customers are low priorities. When choosing between ambivalent competitors, stressed people opt for low prices.

Yogi might prefer picnic baskets because injuries prevent effective fishing. If you dismiss him as afraid of drowning & recommend a life vest, you wouldn’t be integrated into his life. That lack of integration would block future sales & referrals.

Though Yogi should recognize his limitations better than others, he might not realize how injuries interfere with fishing techniques. Maybe his limitation is limping. Which techniques would be restricted by limping? Which techniques could he do instead? Which techniques should/shouldn’t Yogi do?

If Yogi agrees fishing is better than picnicking, how should he rate readiness for technique riskiness? Would numerical or verbal ratings be meaningful? Example: Though (Technique-A) is generally high (#9) in effectiveness, because your injury is ___, Technique-A) is moderate (#5) in riskiness. (Technique-B) is moderately (#6) effective & might require more time, but it’s low (#2) in riskiness. You can feed yourself without jeopardizing your recovery. This tutorial shows how to do (Technique-B) despite your injury. If pain increases, rest & eat __. Retry tomorrow.

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Can We Be ‘THERE’ Successfully Despite What’s Changed?

Since established common methods aren’t necessarily optimal, monitoring product & condition changes is important.

Analysis Example: (Result) was optimal when (positive condition) because (products & efforts) created & maintained (benefit) but it was disrupted by (negative cause). (Upgraded products & methods) can eliminate (negative effect) & make (upgraded benefit) practical. Recreating (original benefit) wouldn’t overcome (current condition).

Changing conditions disrupt effective practices making product & method updates necessary. Best practices sustain functional hope & beliefs about influencing current conditions. Insights come from cause & effect observations plus developing theories. People might theorize nothing is better than effects they’ve created.

Analogy: Since chemical compounds vary in reactivity, people might interpret reactions as maximums. Catalysts can increase positives & decrease negative effects. Your advantage offers should bring catalytic effects for expanding benefits into advantages &/or reducing deficiencies.

I’m still emphasizing importance of people’s ‘THERE’. Though a goal (there) might seem unachievable or ordinary, retailers should avoid assumptions.

Example: People didn’t understand why I (teenager) wanted to be a he-man. I never wanted a huge physique. I didn’t want to be scrawny. He-man bodies were possible, so I figured a few inches of muscle should be easy. I was frustrated until I learned each inch required hours of exercise. I had some knowledge (exercise instructions) without catalytic tips about diet, repetitions & rest. Each incremental inch was a temporarily motivational ‘THERE’ which became an unsatisfactory ‘HERE’ because my long-term ‘THERE’ seemed out-of-reach. I was frustrated by minimal increments until I learned other requirements. I realized combining increments & adjustments could get me ‘THERE’ but I didn’t have specifics. I didn’t get enough information from manufacturers’ equipment exercise charts.

Integrate your store into customers' lives with specific guidance toward success & encouragement to set more goals.

Back to Bears

I’m using an analogy to avoid stereotypes & sensitive issues. It may seem lame, but hopefully isn’t offensive. Please adapt this with your understanding of customers’ self-perceptions, needs & opportunities.

In WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter explored Success Delusion starting with: "The bear was about to clamp onto an unsuspecting airborne salmon jumping upstream. [UNUM’s] headline read: YOU PROBABLY FEEL LIKE THE BEAR. WE’D LIKE TO SUGGEST YOU’RE THE SALMON."

Bears plod ahead without apparent knowledge-based plots. For biologists to help without interfering, they’d need answers before offering options. Do bears habitually go to rivers remembering they’ve eaten fish or notice fish while drinking water? Do bears intentionally hibernate or become sleepy after eating? Some fish parts aren't digestible so survival isn't assured by consuming numbers of fish. How do bears know if they've eaten enough pounds? If bears benefit more from fish eggs, how do they identify females?

How Can Customers Most Effectively Define Plus Fulfill Desires, Needs & Intentions?

Subconscious minds operate habitually when trying to increase or decrease feelings. Bad habits form when negative effects aren’t APPARENT. Cause & effect theories might lead to using incompatible products & methods.

Incompatibilities are apparent AFTER negative effects start. By persevering based on theories (magic thinking), people might waste resources because they believe any product versions bring desired effects. If people accept reality too late, they might not have resources for productive actions.

Discounters push cheap products which may be enough for people who identify & temporarily settle issues. Help customers compare methods & product quality to desires, needs, expectations & obstacles. Determine what can be prevented or repaired by analyzing which causes & effects started problems.

As an optimization specialist, offer attractive options to appeal to people expecting high-quality benefits. Which personalization options are practical? Personalization promises thorough benefits plus pride fulfillment, so people have extra incentive to invest for long-term quality.

Though pride & confidence are intangible, you can motivate people to build & preserve those as benefits. Stress can increase if intangible benefits fade, so ask questions to understand what could & should affect customers' goals. People want benefits of certainty from the best sources so explain how you’ll help avoid losses &/or create benefits.

Best Versions of Better

In Good to Great, Jim Collins’s first Hedgehog Concept circle is what you can be best at. Explain why your offers are the best options for specific results. To create best results for your business & customers, develop a category of options & optimize the best options for specific customers’ lives.

Hedgehog Concept genetic encoding is ONE success criterion. Salmon & bears have major problems despite genetic fitness for natural conditions but humans change nature. Anthropomorphized salmon could be more successful with help defining threats & obstacles plus opportunities to advance.

Be your category opportunity authority by helping people recognize plus use effective, efficient implementation resources. People might perceive positive indicators as total successes while disregarding negative evidence. Confirmation biases seem to indicate familiar things added up to previous success.

Analogy: People notice 7+4+9=20 is still valid without realizing -8 is emerging & changing conditions. Maybe people had the best genetic encoding closely fitting positive factors until negatives reached level -8. Or people might try imitating successful practitioners whose genetics were optimal for other goals.

Bears might return to the same river & semi-submerged logs. It’s not a good combination as wet, rotten logs become weaker & fish-eating bears become heavier.

Consumers might be so eager to fulfill passions, they might not think about combining resources to overcome emerging conditional forces. Emerging forces can erode resources plus hamper or stop efforts.

Since success encoding isn’t automatic, define importance of concepts (examples: normal, results & high-quality).

Your Hedgehog Concept best at, passion & economic engine can be adjusted based on niche members’ passions.

Customer Integration strategies connect resources to fulfill customers’ needs/desires. Customer Integration tactics integrate results & benefits into people’s lives. Your Hedgehog Concept differentiates your store by optimizing those results & benefits into advantage offers.

How does your Hedgehog Concept fit local consumers’ conditions & marketplace gaps?

What can you uniquely offer to fulfill needs better than competitors? Competitors might have the same suppliers as you or stock generically similar products. Without your help, people might try inferior products for general problem categories.

Position your store based on how you apply knowledge to products & needs. Use your knowledge to help customers diagnose problems plus evaluate products & tasks to develop precise solutions.

Product comparisons (different ingredients & specifications) won’t always indicate how to get the best results. Some customers need somebody to ask the right questions & make suggestions.

People might plan ahead without anticipating changes including product availability & compatibility. Since completion can be incremental or delayed, do customers’ goals, resources & methods fit past, current plus emerging conditions? People might combine modernity with tradition, example: Family recipes, inherited bake-ware & new ovens might be incompatible.

For your Customer Integration Hedgehog Concept, be the best at bridging gaps & protecting vulnerabilities in local people’s conditions. How do competitors’ weaknesses & vulnerabilities leave consumers’ vulnerabilities unprotected? Do competitors offer high-quality products for filling those gaps or just short-term or partial solutions?

Explain how short-term or partial solutions cost more because excess maintenance & remediation require more resources. Explain how you fill or prevent gaps better.

Motivate Customers with Your Passion

The second Hedgehog Concept circle is what you’re deeply passionate about. When your enthusiasm connects with customers’ priorities, customers can emotionally feel & logically notice your understanding. Discounters are passionate about profits more than quality, so customers might be frustrated because products fail too soon to fulfill passions.

Offer Example: ‘Your desire for (benefit) might be passionate or mild interest. Invest money, time & energy into top-quality. If you sink resources into cheap products & ineffective methods, you’ll have more stress & less enjoyment. (Store) customizes kits based on your satisfaction standards for (benefit).’

Biologists say hibernation is more than sleeping, so bears need nutrients from salmon. Bears are well-equipped for land-based foraging.

Bears hold slimy, wiggling fish while enduring fast-flowing rivers plus walking between & on slippery rocks. Despite wounds & miserable conditions, bears need many fish over the course of multiple days.

Whether bears eagerly gorge on fish or just satiate hunger, biologists might encourage bears with effective methods or nutrition information. Anthropomorphized bears might complain, “Our sprained knees make fishing harder.” Biologists could yell, “Those bears have problems too. If you don’t eat enough fish, things will be worse!”

If frustrated people quit, what can you offer to inspire high enough interest to encourage customers to reach for higher fulfillment?

Offer top-quality inventory, motivation & guidance to attract customers to you as a subject authority. Offer knowledge for evaluating product specifications plus quality &/or interpreting problem or opportunity indications. Motivated people might proceed if they recognize problems or opportunities, plus have necessary skills. Skillful people can advance when they’re motivated to learn information & buy products.

Success depends on boosting people’s motivation, knowledge & skill levels. Your advantage offers should motivate people to perceive, pay attention to, believe & prioritize your offers.

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Successful Results Start with Evaluating Plans

Let’s build on previous posts including Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter’s Success Delusion analogy from WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE plus my introduction. We’re anthropomorphizing salmon & bears in conditions not optimized for them. Bears ruin salmons’ one chance to spawn.

I’m delicately approaching disability issues because customer integration can help people with sensitive issues.

You might not know why somebody can’t/won’t use products or methods. People won’t buy if opportunities are apparently gone. People might reject personal, social or environmental condition changes & necessity of different products or methods.

Information with sensory input can enlighten people by clarifying inaccurate perspectives. Use facts, sounds, sights, flavors, fragrances &/or feelings to link people’s experiences with benefits you offer. Mental &/or physical shifts change people’s comprehension.

Real estate case study: People wouldn’t buy a house near train tracks because of potential noise. An agent setup a TV, scheduled showings when trains went past & sold the house. As people enjoyed a TV show, train noises were minor, brief distractions. Or was the TV a distraction from disruptive noises?

People have different tolerances. After entering during a cold night, I might say your store is pleasantly warm but the lights are too bright. Physical discomfort (eye strain) can interfere with idea receptivity. You could conclude sensory shifts affected my comfort & ask questions about my goals while my eyes adjust to lighting. When I’m comfortable, I can accurately compare your suggested products to my goals.

As I adjust, my perceptions & comfort will change. Perceptions affect comfort & vice versa. Exposure triggers reactions & distractions from other sensations. v Salmon Proceed Despite Dangers.

Human actions impede fish more than natural obstacles plus bears have more options & wider visual ranges. Fish have limited abilities in natural environments & people try helping by adapting human-made dams. (Fish recognize water, but ELEVATORS?!) Fish might be confused if you offer help with living in water because they’re unaware of other possibilities. Comparing rivers & oceans could optimize preparations.

Help people understand possibilities & use cognitive labor (goal-organized thinking). Example: This (after) option fits (before context) because __. It’ll fit your goal when you (methods).

Like some people, salmon accept only one 'THERE' (spawning river), but people accept possibilities for getting to a chosen 'THERE'.

Consultations raise customers' & your understanding of conditions & help compare desires with available benefits.

The concept of never swimming in the same river twice expresses life fluidity. Salmon hatchlings might experience flood-stage. Spawning adults might get stuck in drought-stricken river-beds. Limited vision limits physical & mental perceptions.

If fish could process information, conditions limit ability to receive information. If fish could perceive unfavorable conditions, they have limited physical abilities no matter how well they swim. Persistence is only good for those who are prepared. Like salmon, people might persevere without knowing or admitting they’re unprepared for conditions.

It can be awkward to explain necessary methods & urge customers to improve skills, choose better products or get somebody’s help.

Consultation Example: ‘I’m committed to helping customers understand necessities for achieving goals. I also need to understand people’s abilities. If I misinterpret your abilities, please forgive me. I want you to have the best affordable benefits. It’s why I’m explaining how (Product A) is worth the higher price & better for your goal than (B). Results might seem similar until wind & heat cause warping & leaking.’

Retailers & consumers act as if they don’t need anybody’s adaptations despite available advantages. Offer options to motivate people who think they’re doing everything possible. Your OBVIOUS things might seem foreign & unnecessary until you connect offers (ways to get ‘THERE’) to customers’ desires, needs & criteria for results.

Current tools, materials & methods seem to work, so how will you explain the necessity for different resources to solve or prevent current, future or potential problems? How will you assure customers your suggestions won’t compromise established positives? Learn about customers’ current benefits & goals, so you can compare your offers plus explain why your criteria should be considered.

Sore Throat from Eating Fish? Never Happened Before

Did the first fish-eating bear imitate another animal or give-in to curiosity or extreme hunger? Bears might imitate what works for others.

Land-based animals drink from rivers & could notice strange legless creatures. Apparently, they’re slimy, yet satisfying.

Sharp fish bones can become imbedded & obstruct throats because of infection & inflammation. Animals probably won’t link causes & effects. Swollen-throated bears might misattribute throat trouble after previously successfully swallowing fish without removing bones.

Customer integration includes inspiring curiosity & hunger for progress, so customers are open to advanced knowledge & imitating best practices. Explain reasons so people don’t skip inconvenient methods. Salmon might be an acquired-taste, but are nutritious.

People can advance incrementally & determine if results indicate progress or necessary adjustments. Set comparison criteria for determining step-by-step adjustments & successful results, so people don’t proceed & blame bad luck.

Failure delusion can happen like when Rufus recognized problems but not reasons. Rufus remembered his wife stayed faithful 50 years despite problems & thought she brought bad luck.

Since evaluation requires insights & mental energy, it’s easy to consider superficial factors & ignore deep, uncomfortable details. People might own or have access to resources, but think there’s nothing left to achieve because nobody offered more opportunities.

People might think there’s no hope if they experience more frustration than success. It’s why I write about offering functional hope with products.

Offer Example: ‘Create more & higher quality (benefits) with less frustration. (Store) offers guidance for you to identify problem causes. Whether your barriers are problems or insufficient resources, don’t give up on opportunities. You’ll create relieving benefits & decrease irritation because we'll review what’s worked & didn’t, so you’ll achieve goals. (Store) has options for increasing effectiveness & efficiency to save your time with high productivity plus reduce fatigue. If you’re too tired from (project) or run out of time for other priorities, you may need better products & methods. Let’s check your goal, results & conditions, so we can determine which optimization criteria will boost your success. Let’s find what you need for converting possibilities into achievements. If you haven’t started (project), it’s time for optimizing productivity & bypassing frustration. If you have preliminary results, let’s evaluate current conditions because you might need & want better results.’

Will Resources & Methods Fit Goals & Overcome Obstacles?

Since rivers are narrower than oceans, salmon can’t swim around all obstacles. Maybe they can jump, but they should consider: 1) Do they see the whole obstacle & what’s around it? 2) Excessively high jumps increase vulnerability plus require energy needed for swimming upstream; 3) Do they recognize plus know how to avoid all risks & threats? 4) How should they compare risks of jumping & not jumping? 5) If necessary while jumping or going between obstacles, can they change directions, including reverse?

People might focus on resources for success without considering resources for preventing failure. People might bias problem diagnoses to fit their knowledge & tools.

After solving problems, people may recognize advanced cases without knowing how to identify & stop nascent recurrences. Guide their processes from causes to effects, so customers accurately expect to interrupt or prevent emerging cause & effect recurrences. Do solutions prevent recurrences?

Offer Example: ‘(Symptom) indicates (problem) is starting to mar (material). By stopping the cause now, you can restore surfaces & prevent severe damage. (Kit) guides you to identify, end & prevent (problem) causes plus it includes restoration & repair supplies & method instructions. At (Store), you’ll have the comfort of having the best resources, so you’ll be confident about results.’

Causes can’t advance without connected components. Can you help customers identify & exploit vulnerabilities of causes or effects to disrupt emerging problems?

Coach customers to keep components separated &/or break connections like replacing or patching leaky pipes to stop mold. Example: People might suffer from medical symptoms after eliminating obvious causes. Equipment could detect mold spores in/near walls around pipes. Kits could provide instructions, tools & materials for minimally invasive repairs to replace or refurbish what’s damaged plus intermittently test to confirm mold remediation.

Can you help customers identify & reduce personal vulnerabilities? How can you augment customers’ abilities to recognize & close gaps?

People can become more vulnerable if they misdiagnose problems &/or make product & method mistakes.

Consultation Example: ‘Let’s consider what you know & can learn about current causes & effects without disassembling anything or disrupting current results? Has anything disrupted plans already? Any previous actions are experiments we can learn from or adapt. What seemed to almost work until you noticed something unexpected? What indicated results went astray? Let’s develop criteria for your desired benefit & make a preliminary plan. As you study these criteria, imagine working this plan where you’ll use these products. If you notice things won’t fit or work out, write your impressions so we can discuss them & finalize a plan.’

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Success Means Benefiting From Getting THERE

Let’s continue from the previous post.

Customer integration can involve sensitive issues beyond my awareness so I’m using this analogy to avoid potential stereotypes. It may seem lame, but hopefully isn’t offensive. Please use insights to adapt this to how customers perceive themselves, their needs & opportunities.

In WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter explored Success Delusion starting with: "The bear was about to clamp onto an unsuspecting airborne salmon jumping upstream. [An UNUM] headline read: YOU PROBABLY FEEL LIKE THE BEAR. WE’D LIKE TO SUGGEST YOU’RE THE SALMON."

Let’s anthropomorphize salmon & bears. Their conditions aren’t optimized for them. Though abilities are adapted for their primary environmental areas (salmon in oceans), risks increase in secondary areas (rivers). Bears have more options for safe movement & waiting for opportunities to fulfill purposes for being ‘THERE’.

Without planning, they adjust by grabbing fish & choosing to eat immediately or on dry land. Salmon swim around obstacles (possibly bears’ legs) without recognizing threats.

Like salmon swimming in oceans & rivers, people presume succeeding again in similar conditions without acknowledging risks & threats.

Success motivates people to continue fulfilling purposes possibly without adjusting for new reality. Sub-purposes are important for adjusting to fluctuating obstacles & threats.

Sub-purpose 1= set goals from expectations & needs. S2= evaluate total conditions for goal feasibility. S3= determine how conditional elements change & how to adjust to fulfill expectations & needs. S4= plan for obstacles & threats to determine which resources fit goals & conditions. S5= overcome obstacles & threats. S6= Are remaining resources sufficient for goal-achievement? S7= goal-achievement.

Consider If Plans Are Enough Instead Of Wondering If You’ve Planned Long Enough.

Bears & salmon don’t set limits. Salmon won’t replenish if bears prevent spawning, Naturalists figure bears stabilize salmon populations. Excess salmon could obliterate resources & endanger the species.

As individuals & populations, people might push for too much without extrapolating: ‘If we do ABC for X years, we’ll create JK. Unfortunately, DEF will happen & cause GHI. If we do AB for Y years, DE can happen & cause GH. GH would be inconvenient but won’t prevent JK.’

Salmon gain size, strength & experiences before spawning in rivers where they hatched. Salmon can gain oceans of predator-evading experiences without applicable knowledge for rivers. Hatchlings survive by fitting through small spaces while swimming downstream without much jumping. They don’t attract much attention from bears hunting for big prey.

Even if people think they’ve been ‘THERE’, they haven’t done that.

Berry eating requires less energy from bears than scrambling to catch slippery, moving hatchlings. Small bears might benefit from a few hatchlings. Big bears might use more energy to catch a hatchling than they’d gain. River rocks & silt can be slippery, so awkward (not smoothly practiced) movements can cause injuries.

On land, bears use muscles differently than walking on & between slippery rocks while water buffets them. Muscle fibers develop based on how they’re challenged. Infrequent activities require more energy because they don’t build effective, efficient mental & muscle memory.

Hatchlings aren’t threats but hunting for them might be risky. Threats might be low but risks might be high.

People might not realize inefficient methods & cheap products could effectively bring insignificant benefits instead of fulfilling expectations.

Even after improving mental & muscle memory effectiveness & efficiency, people might be disappointed by cheap products. People can create advantages by comparing benefits with risks & costs (money, energy & time) of specific products & methods.

You can differentiate from competitors by helping customers with cognitive labor of unfamiliar topics, comparisons & decisions.

Salmons’ struggles are wasted when they die close to spawning. Advantage offers should include assuring customers’ benefits are worthwhile compared to risks & investments.

When people get ‘THERE’, are they too stressed because they & resources are exhausted? Which resources are necessary to gain benefits proportionate to total investments? Low-priced products don’t ensure full preparation or necessarily reduce financial risks.

It’d be like bears raiding picnic baskets for hibernation preparation. It’s seemingly easily obtained (cheaper) food, but without nutrients bears need to recover from activities, change bodily functions, survive without eating & emerge from hibernation.

It’s easy to focus on what’s visible, but multiple subtle factors affect partial failure or full success. If partial success is achieved, will results fail eventually? Help customers find optimal resources now, so they aren’t like starving bears running to rivers in mid-winter, scrambling for scarce food & weakly searching for hibernacula.

Full Success Requires Preparation, Timing & Resource Acquisition.

Help customers define ‘HERE’ & ‘THERE’ plus times when conditions will be favorable. Guide customers to plan their best affordable paths.

Your offers can affect whether people retreat to man-caves or she-sheds to rest, hibernate until they’re ready to try again or abandon projects. If people need to assess priorities before planning new steps, you can offer information so people can use the best criteria to decide which option is best.

Whether people have imposter syndrome or just think they have minor deficiencies, they might have unrefined qualifications. They might have rough skills & need practice &/or different methods.

People might misdiagnose problems & do the right things for the wrong problems. Did failure happen because of wrong timing, products &/or methods? If people were too stressed, tired, distracted, etc., they might’ve missed details. Maybe customers can repair & regain resources & save incomplete projects. If missing details are hard to identify, customers might have to restart.

Bears go to rivers & eat a lot of fish to prepare for hibernation when salmon spawn. Some are eaten by bears. That coincidence gives bears an advantage.

Humans create advantages by learning from case studies & choosing leaders to coordinate efforts. Retailers should be leaders because customers might act on immediate convenience & advertised bargains instead of considering options & scheduling actions.

Like leaping salmon, when people invest resources to establish momentum, they have sunk costs & would have to expend resources to change directions.

As an advisor, you should help customers connect experiences & information. Even when people need to act urgently, they should avoid contraindicated actions.

Consultation Example: ‘While (problem) emerges, you can prepare (project steps) you’ll need for whatever happens. When we know how severe (problem) will be, we can determine if it’s a hurdle you can jump or wall you can’t climb. I'll ask questions to guide you to the best kit to fix (damage) at the time you can prevent recurrence & preserve your investment in this (project). We need information & observation to discern if the current damage or impending potential damage could be worse. When you invest in (products), let’s be sure you get maximum benefits. You should decide if cautious delaying might prevent or secure benefits. People might succeed without waiting, but they might suffer if (risk) works against them. Since each person can withstand limited risks, it’s important to consider your current stress load. Based on current risks & resources, what can you afford to do later? What’s urgent now?’

Whether bears need to hibernate to recover after stress or because resources are scarce in winter, they change how they fulfill priorities. Help customers determine what & how to change plus when.

Personal recovery needs depend on stress which affects when people are ready for challenges. Are people ready for daily intensity plus total duration of projects? It’s easy to misjudge how soon benefits will be created.

If each benefit requires relatively equal resources & effort, help customers prioritize what will be most fulfilling.

Example: If results are appealing for sensory purposes, achieving WOW levels for each sense could be great, but possibly overpowering. The effort could be overwhelming & fatigue could decrease enjoyment. Help customers achieve more meaningful & possibly easier to achieve WOWs. Which sensory stimulus is already ‘HERE’ & doesn’t require going ‘THERE’? Which stimuli could be added like decorations?

When customers feel rested, are they ready for full or incremental journeys? Based on personal & financial resources, which WOW can customers afford to add to ‘HERE’ or ‘THERE’? If journeys are incremental, what could achieve incremental fulfillment & avoid frustration?

Emphasize how different factors & increments would synergize for full effects. For sensory factors, you can ask if people want to increase alertness or induce relaxation. Do they want flowery or fruity scents? By asking about favorite memories, you might find ways to recall & enhance feelings & thoughts with textures, scents, flavors, colors, sizes, weights, thicknesses, sounds, etc. Stimuli can link past & present experiences so people can mentally return to a previous ‘THERE’. Memories can remind people what made past experiences special or what to avoid in current journeys.

When you present benefits, describe options plus achievement requirements, so people can choose based on desires & abilities. If people can’t achieve each goal aspect or are disappointed by primary results, they can consider other options & adjust plans. After experiencing limited options, people might return for your help with full satisfaction.

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Review Conditions & Define Expectations, So Customers Achieve Total Success.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion are important. Notice: Understanding isn’t listed. Since I won’t ever understand all issues, I’m avoiding potential discriminatory stereotypes.

This analogy may seem lame, but hopefully won’t offend anybody. Please adapt this analogy with your understanding of how customers perceive themselves, their needs & opportunities.

In WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter wrote about Success Delusion with this analogy: "The bear was about to clamp onto an unsuspecting airborne salmon jumping upstream. [An UNUM] headline read: YOU PROBABLY FEEL LIKE THE BEAR. WE’D LIKE TO SUGGEST YOU’RE THE SALMON."

Because of how people choose to perceive reality, they might overestimate skills & underestimate vulnerabilities. When conditions seem familiar, people might think they’ve accounted for all threats. After people have been ’THERE’, done that, they feel ready for it again.

I'm expanding this concept for retailing.

After using inferior products, people might claim success without considering results won’t last long. Project kits should specify completion criteria for judging success.

Though total quality depends on EACH input, people skimp on (seemingly minor) methods or products. Discounters set manufacturers’ quality standards & are less concerned about results than consumers, so differentiate with your concern about result quality.

Offer Example: ‘Before you start (project), (Store) consultations will review what’s practical & necessary for your budget & long-term success. Discounters push products to boost their profitability. (Store) inventory is chosen for your success in local conditions.’

Why Doesn’t Satisfaction Last?

Let’s anthropomorphize salmon.

Salmon stop eating when returning to spawning rivers & deplete even the best food. The healthiest salmon decline without maintenance in dangerous conditions. Keeping stomachs full depends on what goes in & how fast it’s used.

Their abilities to prepare are limited. They would thrive if they’d accept incremental knowledge & products as they progress & conditions evolve.

Though people follow instructions, they might expect benefits without looking at conditions upstream. After fulfilling requirements (without considering obstacles), people feel entitled to satisfaction (metaphorical full stomachs) without maintenance.

People might feel ready to benefit from results, but low product quality limits duration & numbers of uses.

Example: Since mowers vibrate, vibrations make cheap materials & fasteners more vulnerable to friction. As parts are damaged & overheat during normal use, cheap mowers can’t cut as much grass as good mowers.

Normal Doesn’t Mean Safe

In Jim Collins’s Hedgehog Concept, genetic encoding is ONE success criterion. Salmon & bears genetically fit natural conditions & do normal things with different results.

Since success encoding isn’t automatic, define importance of concepts (normal, results & high quality).

Offer Example: ‘Even when you do (methods) correctly, results depend on product quality. Normal local conditions might not fit discount product specifications. (Product) users are satisfied because at (Store) products & instructions are matched to goals. Because (product) is high quality, (Manufacturer) confidently warranties it for 5 years. Plus, (Store) offers guidance for choosing & using best (product) versions for your needs. If your needs change, let’s review differences & make adjustments.’

Offer successful results by helping people compare value criteria.

People overconfidently assume whoever/whatever got them ‘HERE’ is enough to keep them ‘HERE’ or help them return.

They might feel insulted if you imply they’re wrong. Explain how changing conditions disrupt ‘HERE’, so different resources & methods are necessary for stability.

Example: ‘In this case study, he used (product & method) 6 years ago because (condition change) caused (negative result). He’s been enjoying (benefit) 9 times per month because the quality is high & maintenance is easy.’

People figure they’re logical, but react emotionally. Show your store is the best source for specific benefits by integrating it with emotional reactions to logical conditions.

Example: ‘Let’s consider which factors we can optimize, so you can prioritize those factors you can make appealing & comfortable. I understand you’ve noticed (opportunity & problem) & you want (benefit). As (season) starts, (problem) increases, so you’ll need (products & methods) to create (benefit) to fit your criteria & optimize (opportunity).’

Economics was developed based on rational humans deciding what’s best. Distracted, stressed humans don’t always think logically about causes & effects.

If causes can’t be eliminated, how much cause reduction meaningfully reduces effects? If risk acceptance is necessary, what’s the most serious risk? What’s the best way to tame emotional reactions to that risk?

Back to the Analogy

People & salmon feel compelled to fulfill purposes despite difficulties & risks. Offer physical resources plus condition-specific guidance for lower difficulties & risks plus higher benefits. That fits reality because nobody can remove all risks.

Example: Sedentary living includes health problems plus possible furniture & building collapse. When we leave home to find risk reductions, we increase other risks. In effect, we tell people if they insist on doing ABC, at least reduce risks by doing X, Y & Z.

Salmon leave favorable conditions & return to what seems safe. They survived before but this time they’re adults swimming upstream. It’s different for hatchlings swimming downstream undetected in shallow water. When salmon return, they & river conditions are different.

You can explain emerging risks to persuade people to prepare based on current information, but desires, memories & society are influential. With social proof, salmon advance together confidently because they're successfully fulfilling their prime directive. They feel ready for more risks.

Maybe lamprey eels have latched on, but haven't killed them. Bear spray offers for $X seem meaningless because after evading a bear they think they can evade every bear anywhere. Beware of humans & eagles!

Logically people realize past success DOES NOT guarantee future success in medications, investments, retailing, etc. Emotionally people feel they’re in control.

If you believe or act as if your success is guaranteed to last or increase, why would you expect consumers to change stores, products &/or methods? Adjust your attitude before expecting anybody to adjust theirs.

Though rivers are shallower than lakes & oceans, fish are built for water, so what could go wrong?

Salmon skillfully, successfully swim for survival needs until CHOMP! If salmon were sentient, unawareness of bears might seem like functional hope.

Since salmon are deep water predators, they’re unfamiliar with rivers (except as hatchlings) & land-based predators. Salmon use more energy than usual while swimming upstream. Their previous swimming didn’t fully prepare them for swimming upstream & jumping while evading predators.

CHOMP Happens but Isn’t Inevitable.

Since CHOMP hasn’t happened to them yet, some will figure CHOMP only happens to others. Fatalistic fish might think CHOMP happens no matter what, so preparation won’t help.

Define avoidable & unavoidable problems, so resources are devoted to diminishing vulnerability to unavoidable problems.

Compared to fish, bears aren't as inhibited or vulnerable in those conditions. Starving salmon are vulnerable because of diminished energy & shallow water, but they MAN up - no pain, no gain.

Does pain include known &/or unknown risks? Which pain avoidance efforts reduce gain? Which gain methods cause less pain? How can pain & risks be reduced without significantly reducing progress?

To avoid misdirected advancements, it’s important to define what gains are & aren’t, so people don’t take on unnecessary pain & risks.

Stephen R. Covey wrote about leadership, management, effectiveness & efficiency in THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE. His analogy was managers improving working practices & conditions while pushing workers to efficiently hack through the wrong jungle. They didn’t want the leader to stop their ineffectiveness.

Customer integration includes fully effective, efficient offers. Earn repeat business with advantage offers of leadership & project management, so purchases & projects won't waste people’s money, time & energy. Preserve people’s motivation, so they’ll eagerly take on more projects.

Guide project scheduling for starting, reaching milestones & evaluating preliminary results. What would indicate it’s time to detour or change speed?

It’s important to focus on short- & long-term positive & negative effects. Immediate inconveniences might distract attention away from emerging problems.

An analogous salmon might think, “Just a little further, I can make it. It’s shallow here but I can jump.” CHOMP! “Something isn’t quite right!”

Salmon wouldn’t recognize bears as threats to avoid or which behaviors increase hazards, so jumping would seem inconveniently necessary. Fast-flowing, cloudy water is analogous to pressure for quick action. As people respond quickly, perception is limited plus internal & external resistance increase.

Whether customers are illogically certain or uncertain about opportunities & problems, your advantage offer should include clarity.

Offer Example: ‘It’s time to check for (problem) because it interferes with (opportunity). (Store) has checklists for guiding you to maximize effectiveness & efficiency. Here’s a sample: (Symptom) indicates you should (method) with (product). (Reduced symptom) indicates progress, so you should continue (method) until resolution. (Unusual symptom version) indicates an additional problem; you can test (product 1 & method 1). (Reduced symptom) indicates a successful test, so you should adjust (method 1). (Advanced symptom) indicates you should stop (method 1) & start (method 2) with (product 2). (Resolved symptom) indicates you should start the next step.’

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Lead Customers So You’ll Get to Your There.

In WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter wrote, “There is a place where you can be a financial pro who listens well and delivers the message that he cares more about his clients’ goals than his own needs.”

Instead of piling products onto people, optimal retailers empower & equip customers for physical & cognitive labor. Customer integration empowers & equips people to create their ‘THERE’ or ways to reach an existing ‘THERE’.

Case studies can indicate routes to an existing ‘THERE’, but practical route access requires matching knowledge with physical resources. Knowledge (empowered cognitive labor) identifies steps to determine what’s necessary.

Customer integration is also your way to benefit from delivering optimal messages about superior value.

Increase Your Influence with Better Integrated Value

Customer integration makes influence part of the value of your advantage offer so people will seek your influence over their results. Influence & integration will increase together as your advantage offer enhances people’s lives by adding or maintaining positives &/or reducing negatives.

People might perceive their status quo as borderline negative & modifications as more inconvenient (stressful) than beneficial. There are stresses in 1) struggling to achieve goals; 2) tolerating negatives & 3) enduring declining conditions. Which modifications are affordable? Which affordable modifications can be made more convenient plus improve enough factors to reduce long-term stress?

Help customers decide if problems warrant higher priorities than other issues. Determine how to decrease hassles of modifying conditions & increase benefits of efforts. Urge people into action while uncomfortable elements are adjustable by explaining options of stopping declines & starting improvements.

Influence consumers by helping them influence their conditions. Though you probably won’t detect all constructive & destructive elements, defining elements can help you determine what aided or hindered positive & negative changes. Like artists making pictures vivid by adjusting color brightness & depth, you can adjust what makes elements good or bad.

Make your leadership a source of customer advantages by shaping beneficial decisions. Example: ‘Eliminating (factor A) requires (products & methods) & makes fixing (factor B) possible with (materials & tools). It’s necessary because __.’

Without guidance, providing products can be like dealing cards without explaining games. Rules can be like information without strategies, tactics & reasons.

Explaining games/methods can be leading with examples & answering “What if” questions, so beginners gain benefits. Leadership increases value for followers. Retailers can lead customers to help them manage conditions.

Share Leadership

The internet has a lot of information about & from paid influencers. Groups can be community leaders & unpaid influencers who are or work with nonprofit organizations. You can donate or offer discounts to encourage people to share information about results. Your charitable contributions should be disclosed but are perceived differently than direct payments or bribes.

Knowledge & method adaptations can bring higher quality benefits when consumers learn from & imitate leaders' & groups' results. They can lead by example with local results plus asking & answering questions.

Examples: Would (benefit 1) help you more than (benefit 2)? Why this, but not that? How did you adjust methods when you noticed (problem)? How did you make (benefit) last?

This would give your advantage offer social proof.

As leaders & influencers help you & customers, you gain profits & can contribute more. Tutorial sessions can be community events.

Optimal project leadership requires tactic development with available resources & strategizing to maximize tactics & resources.

Retailers should lead customers with information about current & emerging conditions. It's important to define opportunities & problems, so available resources (information, insights, methods/skills & products) can be combined into plans.

To evaluate alternative plans, consider participants' values & goals. How do opportunities fit participants' values & goals? How do problems interfere with values & goals? Do problems threaten people &/or property enough to delay pursuing other issues so efforts are focused on major threats?

Evaluations can also verify strengths & weaknesses/vulnerabilities of resources, opportunities & threats/problems. What might limit durable usefulness of resources? What might interfere with durability of opportunities?

Decision-making can be easier by using paradigms. Here are some metaphorical examples: If we figure problems are vulnerable enemies, what do they leave undefended while they attack? Will anything in the conditions stop or decrease their attacks? Will they wear down our defenses with constant attacks? If we only defend, will we reduce or just maintain vulnerabilities?

Examples: Insects eat plants & lay eggs. Eggs & larva are vulnerable to chemicals & predators.

If insects eat leaves, they can't remove chemical residue & their focus on food decreases their attention on predators. How much pesticide residue is enough to hurt harmful insects without hurting people & beneficial insects?

How can we encourage just enough predators to disrupt harmful insects without disrupting people?

When you (customer) consider your values & goals, would predators be disruptive? How can we control the numbers of & exposures to predators? If we don't attract enough predators, what's our maximum chemical level without hurting predators & us?

After decimating plants, will insects lay eggs & be worse next year? If we don’t plant this year, will we disrupt emerging larva or only decrease our productivity?

Do strong scented, beneficial plants repel insects?

With these considerations, which strategy would maximize tactics & resources? Let's use that strategy to make a plan.

Another Perspective

Suzi McAlpine writes about leadership & accepted my suggestion about insights applying to customer service. I’ve included URLs for some of Suzi's blog posts & my responses. I've read some other posts without commenting. Suzi's posts are valuable for various leaders including employers. Community groups can adapt them & work with retailers to offer value to communities & individuals.

https://suzimcalpine.com/4-conversations-to-have-with-your-new-team-member/

I'm including an example:

“What aspects of the job are you feeling most confident about, and least confident about?”

This can be adapted for customers: What aspects of the project are you feeling most confident about, & least confident about?

Let's build your confidence while you build your project.

Some people learn well from audio/video tutorials, but others prefer to read.

Should we find videos or are you more comfortable reading books or articles? Which tools & materials have you used most?

Do you want to take pictures as you finish steps so we can review your progress?

https://suzimcalpine.com/feedback-tips-for-the-conflict-avoidant/

I’m glad you included the subjects of customers & control because we need to guide each other to make course corrections. Sudden changes can cause losses of control to become damaging. When bosses set this example with subordinates, they can do it with customers.

Example: ‘This plan has 5 steps based on what we know now. As you implement this plan, you might uncover other symptoms or problems. If you do, please report them so we can adjust. This isn’t about who’s right or wrong. It’s about the best long-term benefits, so we need to be sure preliminary results fit our goals. We have more knowledge & wider perspectives than just one of us. If conditions are different or change differently from what we expect, let’s respond as quickly as we can.’

https://suzimcalpine.com/four-questions-to-ask-yourself-when-faced-with-a-big-decision/

What you wrote is VALID for validating decisions.

You seem to advocate establishing distance between emotions & logical reasoning plus trying different perspectives. That distance is important. Though emotional reasons can be important for morale, logic is necessary for decreasing stress & maintaining long-term total health.

Emotions rise & fall minute-by-minute. Logic should be long-term & depends on conditions, so what’s logical can change when conditions change. If something FEELS right, how long will it seem right?

Are condition changes already emerging? Will values be adjusted with those changes? How are values limiting or expanding options now? Will those limited or expanded options be viable when changes are complete?

If future options would better fit new conditions, would those options fit your current or updated values?

Do current negative emotions indicate you’re uncomfortable with changes generally or are you hesitant about ramifications of your actions? Are negative emotions really intuition indicating caution?

Your suggestions can validate intuition or reveal illogical conclusions.

https://suzimcalpine.com/3-common-myths-of-coaching-and-whats-true-instead/

I’ve been writing about functional hope to help people go beyond intentions to implementations. Coaching helps people focus on how to add functionality instead of hoping things will happen. Your questions are functional in determining what works/will work plus finding interference causes & effects.

It’s vital for building businesses with workers & giving customers reasons to stop hesitating. Prevent & solve problems now to end stress sooner. Reducing stress clears minds for more productivity which reduces stress more & helps with more productivity.

Lead People Out of Stress

Firefighters are leaders because rescue includes finding & leading people who might feel relatively safe because fire hasn’t reached them yet. Firefighting equipment reduces firefighters’ risks but trapped civilians wear regular clothes. It’s important to communicate, ‘I can make a safe path now. Soon there won’t be any safety including HERE. Let’s leave safely together now!’

Safely rescue customers now!

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

You’re Here, So You Need This to Get There.

Let’s integrate WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE by Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter.

I didn’t answer some questions below. Adjust questions in consultations to approach issues from different perspectives. Questions are valuable to inspire curious minds to investigate possibilities.

If possibilities are uncomfortable, let’s explore expanding consumers’ opportunities. When we can’t turn our backs until we face it all, let’s examine things to determine what we should prepare for, pass or fix.

‘WHAT’ designates necessary qualities & quantities of tools & materials plus methods for creating & maintaining results.

‘HERE’ designates satisfaction & dissatisfaction with results plus reasons for retaining or changing.

‘THERE’ designates goals & expectations of how & when resources will produce benefits. ‘THERE’ could designate intentional &/or unintentional effects causing other effects.

Conditions Can Be Like Leaky Containers.

People might think bigger quantities bring better quality. People are probably dissatisfied no matter what or how much they add to ‘HERE’ if they don't acknowledge or are unaware of negative causes & effects.

Vulnerabilities might remain so monitor resource availability for repairing what might deteriorate. Identify quality boosters plus vulnerabilities that cause quality boosters to leak out.

Do customers define good quality as perfection, effectiveness &/or efficiency? Excessive resources can decrease efficiency & increase expenses without increasing effectiveness.

You should know people’s criteria for their desires. Example: Lawn mowing is legally required, but appearance is a personal & social concern. Fertilizing & watering can improve appearance & increase required mowing.

Some retailers sell without considering benefits or drawbacks. Differentiate your store by offering goal achievement resources for customers' prioritized benefits.

Offer Example: ‘Summer brings (problem) & (opportunity). (Store) has information & equipment so you can prevent (problem) & have time to enjoy (opportunity). Some retailers want to load you up with products. They’ll sell whatever you buy but won’t guide you to make your best choices. If you buy too much X without Y, you might persevere & fail. Persistence is important but hard if you don’t have necessary resources for fulfilling purposes. Let’s work together to maximize (benefit) functionality & make your persistence profitable for you.’

That offer includes consultations. Example: ‘Based on how you describe (conditions), your goal requires (quantity) of X. Others might recommend more. Instead of buying more X, you can invest in (quantity) of Y. That combination will create (benefit) based on these instructions.’

WHAT in Creation is THERE?

‘THERE’ might seem incomplete because visualization is easier than physical creations. When people arrive, ‘THERE’ becomes ‘HERE’ & might be too uncomfortable to stay.

Explore satisfaction criteria like this: ‘Let’s be sure your plan allows full satisfaction. What will indicate your goal is achieved? What might indicate whether you want (benefit 1 or 2)? Let’s be sure you can upgrade to that when you’re ready.’

Journeys might be more satisfying than destinations for achievers who feel energized by challenges. For people who need rest stops, challenges are burdens. Interrupted challenges can weigh heavily.

If efforts (to create customers' desired ‘HERE’) were interrupted, is it practical to finish now? Is finishing ‘HERE’ a prerequisite of creating ‘THERE’? Determine that with refined priority criteria plus information about current conditions & product availability.

Without information, people might try (again) without fully effective products & methods. Help customers balance personal fulfillment expectations with accurate possibilities of creating better conditions.

Have customers over-idealized ‘THERE’ so much they’re dissatisfied because ‘HERE’ feels too bland?

If current results fulfilled expectations, why are people frustrated now? Do people want to ‘GET THERE’ because ‘HERE’ became unsatisfactory? If ‘HERE’ is declining, help customers compare advantages of reversing that decline or going 'THERE'.

If people aren't comfortable with any options, it might be tempting to do what's least expensive to reduce potential financial risks. You can justify high-quality (expensive) options but also compare inexpensive options.

People might be frustrated if you sold an expensive upgrade, but they learned you had good, less expensive options.

If some options can be upgraded, help customers rate potential desires if they can afford better options later.

Which benefits of ‘HERE’ should be preserved &/or adapted before or while people go ‘THERE’? Compare benefits of ‘HERE’ & ‘THERE’. If ‘HERE’ is eliminated, will creating ‘THERE’ be easier/less expensive or harder/more expensive?

Does anything in ‘HERE’ or ‘WHAT’ make ‘THERE’ possible? If ‘HERE’ & ‘WHAT’ creation & maintenance aren’t optimal for getting ‘THERE’, which resources are necessary for optimization?

The Tough ‘GET’ Going

‘GOT’ & ‘GET’ designate implementation of methods for going ‘HERE’ & ‘THERE’. Advantage offers should include plans, products & learning methods to make 'GETTING' easier & more complete than competitors’ offers.

People become familiar with ‘HERE’ & ‘WHAT’ & might hesitate to use unfamiliar things to ‘GET THERE’ or upgrade ‘HERE’. How much unfamiliarity will customers tolerate? Customers might need potentially unfamiliar products &/or methods to achieve goals. What can you offer to increase customers’ satisfaction & decrease stress from unfamiliarity?

If preserving ‘HERE’ seems as inconvenient as creating ‘THERE’, maximize benefits & minimize hassles.

If ‘HERE’ & ‘THERE’ seem equally beneficial, which requires less expensive maintenance? Help customers maximize effectiveness & efficiency, so efforts don't offset benefits.

If processes are long, urge customers to determine whether their needs/desires might change before goals are achieved. People might want to iterate & upgrade as they assess changing conditions.

After goal setting & product purchases, people might lose interest in ‘THERE’ & think purchases are wasted. That would make future purchases harder to justify.

Do your best to help people recover from regrets of buying from competitors plus avoid regretting purchases from you.

What might rekindle interest? What else can be done with products & who might use them?

Link purchases with progress plus benefits coming from starting &/or restarting efforts. Progress adds to ‘WHAT’, so condition improvements are better & easier to implement.

People might tolerate ‘HERE’ because improvements &/or ‘THERE’ alternatives seem too difficult. Help people make ‘HERE’ tolerable while they compare options & develop goals.

Starting or restarting will seem less stressful & more productive when you help people optimize criteria, skills & methods. That can link productivity with your store.

As you perceive how emerging causes affect people’s results & goals, guide customers what to adapt, adopt or drop.

Consultation Example: ‘(Outdated product) made (result) successful, but it’s less effective now. You’re probably dissatisfied because (condition) changed. You would need (basic upgrade) to establish the same effect. (Premium upgrade) brings progress by creating & maintaining (optimal benefit). Let’s design your methods based on new conditions & your expectations.’

Unless fully functional benefits are turn-key, methods affect quality of ‘WHAT’, ‘HERE’ &’ THERE’ plus affect how long results are satisfactory. Turn-key benefits can lose adequacy at varying rates depending on quality & conditions severity.

Products are created based on assumptions of how & how often they’ll be used.

Cheap products fail, are hard to repair & have short warranties. Some expensive products are built for obsolescence or too technical/expensive for owners to repair after warranties expire. Global supply chains are interruptible. These are reasons people don’t always know if they’ll ‘GET THERE’ or how long they can stay ‘HERE’ or ‘THERE’.

Criteria should optimize cognitive labor & functional hope, so customers clearly perceive & optimally implement opportunities.

Advantage offer criteria should guide consumers to create ‘THERE’ satisfaction that's better & lasts longer than satisfaction with ‘HERE’ &/or competitors’ ‘THERE’. What do you add &/or help customers add to be sure total resources are wisely invested to achieve ‘THERE’?

Grass Is Greener Over ‘THERE’

It’s important to be ready for ‘HERE’ to become uncomfortable no matter how hard it was to arrive. Even if people just arrived ‘HERE’, it’s important to define ‘THERE’ & be ready to move.

Satisfaction can wear off quickly when options are perceived emotionally, but not logically compared. Use knowledge to help people consider if they’re getting or expecting enough quality & quantity as conditions change. Were products & results installed optimally, so benefits are complete & long lasting?

Since expectations match people’s knowledge, offers should include information, challenge expectations plus set satisfactory criteria. Inspire fascination with available possibilities just beyond customers’ knowledge to inspire them to learn more. Assure customers you’ll supply resources to fulfill fascination you inspire. Offer quality to fulfill fascinating criteria.

When options are available, people might think their limited knowledge covers their best criteria. As people consider differences between ‘HERE’ & ‘THERE’, help customers determine alterations they can & prefer to make. As much as people might be dissatisfied now, they could regret big changes more if they buy inadequate resources.

Businesses promise customers can have ‘set it & forget it’ benefits; show your concern by helping people avoid set it & regret it results.

Product specifications & knowledge of changing conditions should be future focused. Consumers’ knowledge & criteria might focus on the past & present because people tend to resist changes. It’s important to define which changes are inevitable or at least too extensive & expensive to fight.

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There

In “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There”, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter wrote:

The professor asked me how I knew I had no mechanical skills. I explained my life history & told him about my dismal showing on the Army test. “How are your mathematical skills?” he asked. I proudly replied that I had scored a perfect 800 on the SAT Math 1achievement test.

He then asked, “Why is it that you can solve complex mathematical problems, but you can’t solve simple mechanical problems?” Then he asked, “How is your eye-hand coordination?”

I said that I was good at pinball and had helped pay my college expenses by shooting pool, so I guessed that it was fine. He asked, “Why is it that you can shoot pool but you can’t hammer nails?”

That’s when I realized that I did not suffer from a genetic defect. I was just living out the expectations that I had chosen to believe.

Retailers Should Help Expand Boundaries

Advantage offers add value to increase product benefits for creating & maintaining superior results.

You might think it’s easy to insert tab A into slot B, but vision &/or manual dexterity troubles interfere. Advantage offers can adapt products &/or conditions, so limitations won’t interfere.

People might need more leverage or smaller tools for small hands. When you consider possible barriers & feelings, your offers can be more appealing & persuade people to inquire so you can guide them.

If people think you don’t understand their conditions, but are willing to learn, you can win their preliminary offer acceptance. Consultations can win full acceptance by showing product benefits & your advantage offer combine for optimal results.

Customers might think they can’t do things until somebody examines their beliefs like Goldsmith experienced.

Consultations should cover insufficiencies in conditions & customers’ abilities to create plus sustain solutions & preventions. If people couldn’t do something because resources were missing, you can help determine logical reasons & fill gaps.

You can add questions like Goldsmith’s [above] to this example: ‘Since (current result) won’t produce (benefit), you need to upgrade with (materials) & (tools). Necessary skills include __. Learn those from classes or tutorials to gain these long-term benefits: __. Those skills require movements like in these activities:___.’

Consultations Can Optimize Confidence

Overconfident people might start projects & be derailed by predictable complications. Hesitant people might exaggerate complications. Case studies can reveal precautions & workarounds.

Startup kits & guidance should include problem indications so people are productively confident & return for more advantages. Solutions might require interpreting indications to determine when to adjust plans. Example: After discovering rotten wood, you can avoid weather exposure by preparing replacements before removing damaged wood.

Test offers to find optimal challenge levels to attract ideal customers based on their needs & comfort levels. Psychological factors affect whether people approach or avoid situations. You can change people’s confidence & perceptions, so people recognize benefits of approaching problems & acknowledge risks of avoiding responsibilities.

People might think achievements are pinnacle performances they'll never surpass or indicate they're ready for bigger challenges. Advantage offers can increase people’s potential for more pinnacles.

Offer Example: ‘After achieving (result) with previous technology & information, you can create (benefit) with the new technology of (products) plus advantages of (Store) knowledge base. Let’s be sure (benefit) closely matches your needs & desires. If you experience complications as your project progresses, let’s explore adjustments.’

People feel confident until personal, economic or social changes add extra burdens &/or overwhelm resources. Determine if or how current resources can contribute to desired results & if conditions indicate customers should adjust goals.

Mistakes are likely when stress interferes with customers’ concentration & discernment. Decrease stress by helping customers control as much as possible with high-quality products & knowledge. Clarify reasons like this: ‘You can be confident you’ll create (benefit) by using (product) with (method). It’s important because __.’

Sensory Preferences Affect Perceptions

People learn visually, auditorily or kinesthetically & benefit from different instruction forms. Stress can make it harder to accommodate mismatched learning methods & instructions.

Dominant senses affect perceptions of intensity & importance.

Explain how your advantage offer makes benefits possible & how you help customers turn possibilities into realities. ‘This kit has instructions & products to restore (benefit). As (result) emerges, you can compare (color/sound intensities or textures) with your expectations. If necessary, you can use other options to make adjustments.’

Despite multiple problems, only perceived problems are prioritized while unnoticed troubles can block solutions. Example: Vehicle fuel tanks accumulate impurities that can be shaken loose & clog filters. Full performance restoration requires high-quality parts & labor including filter replacements.

It’s analogous of people doing major preparatory tasks for trips or projects without awareness of other necessities for complete results. Detail-oriented people might incorrectly assume they’re aware of each detail.

Details Create Differentiation

Motivate people with optimized benefits & provide necessary details.

Which facts & methods are included in full preparation, practices & follow-up?

People might skimp on inconvenient tasks & perceived extra expenses. Explain what fulfills people's motivations. ‘(Result) partially fulfills of your goal. You can fully achieve your goal by adding (product & method).’

What specifically do high-quality products & project steps add to goal achievements? How do products &/or labor increase long-term convenience & prevent inconveniences? Which problems do products & your advantage offer prevent, solve or mitigate? How much money & time can be saved if the work is done now? Which additional results, benefits & advantages would persuade customers to not delay?

After people secure outcomes, they might settle for cheap products to manage results. It’s important to guide goal setting based on reality. Help customers recognize value, so they invest enough to ensure full esthetic &/or functional benefits.

Consumers don’t naturally have your knowledge or assurance. It’s your responsibility to invest resources to infuse your confidence by explaining how offers fit customers’ goals.

If you don’t help customers understand, how can they be confident? If they buy without accurate understanding & make mistakes, you & they lose opportunities.

Use detailed descriptions to mentally cultivate benefits, so consumers perceive benefit value. Describe how to install benefits into customers’ current conditions to show your understanding & knowledge bring advantages to people.

Analogy: Travel agents' descriptions express understanding of clients' conditions & expectations, plus what’s necessary to prepare & reach destinations.

I’m over 6 feet tall & won’t tolerate hours of traveling or days staying in conditions made for people 5 feet tall. Even if I joyfully anticipate destinations, I demand an understanding of accommodations.

I’ve heard offers from travel agents based on their experiences as sophisticated world travelers. To varying degrees, they seem to understand novice perspectives.

My perspective is: In 4 years of Navy enlistment, I went 75% around the world; 75% of the world is covered by water. To persuade me to travel, they would have to overcome negative memories before opening my mind to positive possibilities. Even nonprofessionals don’t understand why I perceive traveling as negative.

Some travel agents escort clients to destinations.

In effect, when you make offers, you might be halfway to the result (consumers’ THERE) or more, but consumers are still at their HERE.

Though customers want the result (destination THERE), they might object to the equivalent of travel modes &/or accommodations.

As you help people achieve your understanding of THERE, they can help you understand methods people need to reach THERE. Synergize those concepts into hybrids to withstand turbulence.

Imposter Syndrome - If Only I Could

People might feel some version of inadequacy: unprepared, unqualified, outclassed, &/or overwhelmed. When you detect their feelings, ask about missing resources?

If people started projects & discovered they need other resources, ask about progress & determine what’s left to achieve goals.

People might be fully functional & hopeful when starting with all necessities, but conditions changed requirements.

Ask for condition descriptions to determine deficiencies. These subjective impressions might be inaccurate to varying degrees, so customers might need your objective feedback. Subjective impressions of conditions might be accurate & people might be frustrated because they expected better quality results from discount store products.

Customers expect your high opinions of your inventory, so compare product specifications with conditions & goals, so your guidance might seem objective. Helping with this cognitive labor can create or restore functional hope.

People commonly think, “If I’d have known then what I know now.” How can that hindsight be integrated? Is it too late to use hindsight plus previous resources? Which updated resources are available to fill current & emerging gaps? Which adjustments would make plans & resources fit emerging & predictable conditions?

Cognitive labor includes assessing conditions to recognize & differentiate risks & nuisances. If resources are used to eliminate nuisances, there may be fewer resources for removing risks.

Nuisances might make conditions uncomfortable, but risk reductions are necessary. Some efforts are risky, so help customers determine what’s necessary. Emerging unmitigated conditions might be worse than nuisances.

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Do You Need People to Accept Unfamiliar Offers?

Are you doing what’s necessary for your store to be & remain a popular choice for a benefit?

Do you test or reject conceptual offers & innovative methods? If you reject unfamiliar marketing methods, why expect consumers to buy what they haven't tried?

Don’t expect different results without trying different methods & offers to attract different people.

“Are You Talking To Me?”

Identify intended recipients. Authentic niche members know enough to evaluate product benefits & your advantages when you compare those with members’ lives & goals. Describe how offers are better than people's current experiences & competitive offers.

To adequately test offers, you need enough authentic niche members to interrupt routines to evaluate benefits & advantages. Help people justify purchases with details. What’s special enough about offers to warrant people postponing other things to concentrate & buy?

People Disregard Been-There-Done-That Offers.

Product names & prices don’t offer advantages to accept or reject. People can engage with offers of specifically customized product benefits to achieve goals.

If people don’t engage regularly with your offers, you aren’t in their routines. Most probably don’t routinely pay attention to & evaluate your offers.

Test offers to determine which facts induce people’s curiosity & preliminary confidence to inquire. When people inquire, consultations can connect your advantages to people’s goals.

If you won’t break routines to adequately test offers, why would you expect anybody to break their routines?

Some retailers complain about fickle consumers, but some retailers are so fickle, they don’t experiment.

Do You Reject Anything That Isn’t a Proven Success?

For those who only invest in proven successful methods, invest in Sears, Roebuck/Kmart. Their combined methods were built in more than a century of power. Oops, they didn’t last!

Long-term success happens when people start small & adjust based on results. Mainstream methods started as theories before becoming dull, unnoticed routines. You need new messages relevant to people’s goals because advertising success depends on Attention, Interest, Desire, & Action.

Realistic retailers test approaches to find new successes & readily replace fading business practices. It only happens by investing a percentage of revenue into testing new options. Long-term successes come from creating methods to find better approaches & replacing lower performing practices.

If you copy mainstream advertising methods, copies would be new in your conditions but old for consumers.

Advertising success starts with earning attention with opportunities relevant to consumers concerns.

Diversify To Optimally Compete For Attention.

In repetitive surroundings, do you notice new things more than familiar things?

When you use repetitive methods, they blend in with common surroundings.

Humans perceive familiar things as settled because threats &/or benefits seem to be reduced, so more attention seems unnecessary.

If threats still have longer term effects, change explanations so people understand how your advantages make product benefits more effective &/or efficient. Explain why offers are better than current conditions & competitors’ offers.

It’s important to have an option portfolio so you can depend on what’s currently strong while replacing weaker options.

Build multiple success streams of new advantages for consumers, so your store will thrive even when some streams falter.

Instead of continually investing resources in old, worn out methods, you can consistently achieve AIDA with new, innovative methods. People notice & pay attention to new value like descriptions of advantages you add to product benefits.

People are interested in what’s advantageous in achieving goals. People desire what increases value of current & planned possessions. You’re responsible for compelling value descriptions. People are less hesitant to quickly acquire superior value when retailers help them understand how to maximize results, benefits & advantages.

You could lose more money by advertising the same offers people didn’t prioritize & buy already. If people link stale offers to your store, they might ignore future offers.

Product, service & business differentiation requires compelling value descriptions. If you don’t influence consumers’ perceptions, you’ll lose sales to competitors’ better efforts. It’s your responsibility to increase perceived value & decrease perceived risks of buying from you.

Cognitive Labor & Perceived Value

Don’t expect people instinctively to understand value or feel compelled to investigate products. People go to discounters for generic offers that don't warrant detailed descriptions. If you believe your offers are special, demonstrate that value with details.

Which offers have more perceived value? 1) Discounters’ cheap stuff; 2) Indifferent retailers’ expensive, generic offers; or 3) Empathetic retailers describing advantages for people to optimize results.

Descriptions build knowledge & show you know people’s conditions, so people feel comfortable about purchasing. Your specialized knowledge builds people’s confidence in unfamiliar products.

Despite discomfort about risks of spending money, people might feel driven by uncomfortable conditions & desire for your advantages. Describe persuasive value to decrease discomfort of spending money & perceived risks of buying.

Offer Full Advantages

If benefits increase incrementally, tracking progress is important to maximize results & check for reversals.

Examples: 1) Health products slowly decrease problems by increasing healing, but if healing slows or stops, problems could advance. 2) Plants might grow without producing food. Opportunities can be lost if remedies are done late in growing seasons. 3) If mold remediation succeeds slowly, spreading spores can cause medical problems & property damage.

People might overlook slow deterioration if effects aren’t measured because conditions might seem normal.

Customers need to know if negative causes are nuisances or problems, so resources are used well for priorities.

Ads should alert people about conditions that sustain problems. Offers should include resources for checking symptoms, remediating problems & repairing damage.

Offer more than physical results & show concern for people, not just sales. Planning consultations reduce overwhelming feelings & improve long-term quality so people are confident.

When people feel overwhelmed by priorities, acknowledging problems adds more obligations. People might feel less neglectful if they don't look for problems (error of omission) than by (committing errors) neglecting recognized problems.

Write offer stories so people recognize causes & consequences plus understand how optimal solutions reduce obligations.

Example: ‘Just as your vacation is set, you notice (problem) as you prepare to leave stress behind. Your money & time are committed, so (problem) feels worse. (Store) offers kits for quick diagnosis & solutions. You’ll reduce stress without disrupting plans & enjoy your vacation.’

Be Open Minded

You’re hypocritical if you stubbornly refuse to change approaches but expect people adopt your ideas.

I wouldn’t do you any favors if I didn’t include unpleasant truths. To serve people, you need to present reasons & explanations even if people are uncomfortable. People need to know why, what & how they should change.

Example: ‘Paint $10’ doesn’t express value of What’s In It For Me? I want sweet beverages, why would I want your paint? If I pay you $10, I’ll have fewer desired benefits. Wait! What might happen if I don’t use your paint?

It’s easy to ignore offers without reasons to pay attention. People need priorities because nobody can pay attention to everything.

People attend to things connected with survival, comfort & self-actualization goals. You’re responsible for making offers connect to people’s priorities.

To have enough mental energy for productivity, people have perceptual & mental filters. If something is perceived at any level, it’s probably 1) connected with people’s priorities; 2) unfamiliar enough for pleasant variety or 3) potentially threatening.

When people are distracted by other issues, attention is sporadic & interest in offers can increase incrementally. Offers can connect while or after issues arise. People might disregard offers that aren’t connected with expected issues.

Social tensions raise people’s defenses & distract from low priorities.

It’s important to promote offers at various times, so messages can be perceived while people aren’t defending against other issues or focusing on more pleasant things. Incremental perception & reception can be like overlapping radio stations. Stronger signals on the same frequencies can be received more clearly than weaker signals that are barely perceived.

Changing antenna or radio positions can affect signal reception. People's receptivity changes when internal & external issues affect mental positions.

When messages are received while people experience related issues, you can connect to people’s priorities. If people missed part of your message & your offer fits their priorities, humans can remember & assemble pieces.

Each message exposure helps people integrate rationales incrementally.

Example: People receive parts of an automotive offer. Even if drivers think they don’t need brake service, ads prime them to notice brake system trouble. That offer is prioritized (earns Attention & Interest) & other exposures are integrated because the benefit is Desired & prioritized for Action. Emphasize safety during inclement weather. During dry weather, offer lower expenses of maintenance compared to replacements.

Purchases might be delayed because resources (time, energy, money, etc.) aren’t available. Other priorities might be fulfilled because of importance &/or convenience (resources are available).

Even if offered benefits aren’t the highest priorities, your advantage can include conveniences. Examples: Do you offer pick & delivery, payment options, project planning, complete customized kits, & whatever else customers need to benefit fully & quickly?

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/

Replace Guess Work with Yes! It’ll Work!

Primer $10? I guess it’ll work.

Guesses fracture certainty & added aggravation shatters hope. Certainty increases confidence & decreases stress. Certainty is an advantageous offer. If people buy despite uncertainty, discount store prices seem less risky without increasing confidence.

People can choose these options: 1) superior results from optimal products, knowledge & methods; 2) try decreasing possible losses by paying discount store prices; 3) ignore problems/opportunities.

People are more stressed when low priced, low quality products increase failure & risks. Validate higher prices by describing lasting value of superior results plus the value of avoiding negatives. Explain why specific goals require superior products & planned methods you offer.

Offer Example: ‘People might think they have less to lose by buying products made of cheap materials. Losing your budget on cheap products can ruin opportunities to enjoy great results. Secure benefits you deserve. (New material) resists weather conditions better & longer than (old material). Low prices won’t save you money if results fail. In (Store), consultations focus on goals. What do you want to prevent? Which specific resources do your goals require? Because you need more than products, (Store) offers (result) with these advantages: ___. Successful goal achievement combines the right elements. Suboptimal products & methods can bring dissatisfaction. Instead of settling for less than you deserve, get full advantageous results from (Store).’

Superior Offers Are Superior Options

Initial Awareness doesn’t guarantee Attention. When people don’t know or forget about your store, it doesn’t exist in their Attention. Maintain customer integration by consistently achieving Attention, Interest, Desire & Action.

Diagnostic Awareness mentally connects causes & effects. Optimize consumers’ Attention by connecting causes to what affects people & what you offer to eliminate or reduce causes plus mitigation or repair of effects.

Example: Though you’re aware of sitting on a chair, you might not be aware how old cushions weaken & slowly contribute to spinal trouble. When you consciously think about it, you’re paying attention to it & remember your back hurts. Benefit offers connect to your Interest in & Desire for remedies plus motivate you to take Action for relief.

People are stressed when they aren’t fully aware why something doesn't seem right. (Why does my back hurt?) Without firm knowledge, people diagnose things incorrectly or disregard potentially illogical feelings.

If people use incomplete knowledge & cheap products, problems might fade anyhow. People might think that’s repeatable success plus tell friends. Example: Cheap aspirin reduces pain, but doesn’t eliminate causes.

It’s vital to offer organized resources for specific conditions. People need consultations for complete knowledge to find & fill gaps. Outline: Since (fact A) means __, (project) should produce (result). Customer noticed (indication B) which connects to (A), showing (damage) was from (cause). (Method C) creates (result) with (Product D) & fixes (damage) plus prevents (cause) recurrence.

After Creating AIDA, Sustain Awareness

Consistent offers should raise & sustain Awareness of your store’s opportunities &/or solutions. Offer opportunity plans for fulfilling Desires by achieving goals & solving problems. Help people recognize how problems interfere with goals, so solution offers relieve stress & open opportunities.

Offer specific benefit achievement & retention because Attention is finite & people Desire control over personal circumstances. People become Interested in your store when offers are the most advantageous for creating & maintaining important benefits. To build Interest & Desire, define why benefits are important for people’s current &/or future conditions. Help people set & fulfill higher priorities, so you'll inspire purchasing Action.

Effective advertising gives people superior options. Some retailers make ineffective offers, but complain about ineffective advertising media.

Bad Luck Might Be A Lack Of Control.

Customer integration helps people take control & decrease stress.

I write about projects & plans because organized product selection & methods bring better results. People might buy from discounters to get quick, generic results without processes. You can specialize in refined methods & help people recognize what’s necessary. Example: Gardens start successfully when seeds are sown according to requirements for each plant.

People think preparation wasn’t necessary if they’re lucky with unplanned schemes.

It’s easier to determine what’s wrong or missing when people know requirements & how required elements interact. Example: Luck ends if tack hammers adequately pound weak nails that don’t hold shingles during storms.

Consultations can develop adaptations for people who don’t have or can’t use tools or materials. Planning includes determining which factors produce superior results for achieving goals in specific conditions. Otherwise, it’s like trying to analyze meal failures without recipes.

Though people want turnkey benefits, somebody is responsible for planning what happens. Explain who has those responsibilities, so consumers know how much they're required to do. Does turnkey mean fully automated or minimal effort is required?

Explain why turnkey isn’t too good to be true & assure customers about how that convenience is maintained. Differentiate offers by explaining what your supply chain does for customers’ benefits. Who/what makes consumers’ efforts more productive? Offer guidance so people get better benefits from efforts.

Offers can present competitive alternatives &/or announce new opportunities. Internet access makes searches easier, but people search if they have some awareness.

Some retailers act as if people naturally know about & remember their stores. When memories fade, awareness drops. Don’t blame people for forgetting. Blame yourself if you don’t remind them.

As multiple priorities pull people’s attention, they become less aware of lower priorities. Though all priorities still exist, people must set some aside. When you understand niche members’ concerns, you can link offers with priorities & reestablish or retain awareness.

Sometimes desires don’t arise until people realize what’s possible for them.

Product & price ads communicate possible purchases without offering results except having less money. Do you think people search for product information just because you offer a price? Do you think people see familiar products & automatically consider how to use them?

If you try to get by with minimal offers, don’t complain if your business fades because of minimal sales.

Big competitors feature no-brainer offers of familiar products & prices. If you can’t afford to compete with low prices, don’t try to win that race because big competitors are optimized for it.

Analogy: You can own the right car but lose the wrong races. Optimize your business for races you can win.

Why Struggle?

Marketing success is incremental. It’s rare to achieve a slam dunk in Attention, Interest, Desire & Action. Each time you remind niche members about necessary & desirable values, you can gain a bit more attention. As people recognize value, their product attention space expands.

If your offers are compelling, potential benefits become Interesting & paying money feels more comfortable. Increase Interest with compelling descriptions of how offers improve people's lives. Help people understand value so they wish they had that result.

Desires become more than wishes when you explain how you combine resources (tools, materials, methods & knowledge) into dependable results. Purchasing Actions happen when transaction opportunities fit people’s schedules or people rearrange commitments.

Seeing somebody else’s result won’t always lead to believing, but personally succeeding by doing is confirming.

Benefits are only theoretical until people are sure they can create results because their conditions are suitable. Theories aren’t comforting.

People might accept theories based on incomplete information & think they did everything necessary for success. If any elements fail, the theory threshold is harder to overcome in the future, so people might not try again. So, it’s important to make offers to preempt competitors’ incomplete offers.

Use Consultations To Encourage People To Try Again.

What prevented or interfered with successful project steps? Is the problem related to or from products, methods or conditions? Is the problem temporary, long-term or permanent? How much problem mitigation is practical?

Is total success possible? Consider how much progress is possible for determining if projects are worthwhile? How can you optimize mitigation steps to create progress?

Without those answers or testimonials, how can consumers compare your offers with competitors’ claims?

If previous products & methods didn’t produce optimal progress, explain what’s better about your offers. Can your offers help customers salvage previous or budding results? If it’s too late to achieve that previous goal, what can be salvaged for another goal?

Would big competitors offer thoughtful value like that? Your concern adds value to your offers.

Offer elements that bring benefits closer to fruition & reduce stress.

Offers don’t have to be discounts. Descriptive product offers present results. Businesses make those results beneficial. Specific businesses make benefits advantageous for specific consumers.

Your advantage offers can bring opportunities people think they’ve missed. People might think they’ve waited too long or tried & failed to achieve goals. New product, method &/or knowledge innovations can bring better success than people could’ve gotten without you.

People might think, “Every time I tried __, it failed immediately or didn’t last.” How can you fill gaps to prevent collapses? What indicates problems are likely or already emerging? Compellingly offer prevention, mitigation or solutions.

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

Copyright 2022 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

When you compete against big businesses with big budgets you need powerful marketing strategies & tactics. You'll find them here- https://thriving-small-businesses.blogspot.com/