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/