Happy Days Are Predictable with Retailer & Customer Cooperation.

Zig Ziglar used stories to help sales trainees remember lessons.

Consumers can feel like they're battling problems, so let's continue my interpretation of the sitcom Happy Days as an analogy/story.

Thugs didn't victimize anyone when Fonzie intervened. Since Fonzie wasn't always available, Richie wanted to proactively rely on self-service/self-defense.

Skills aren’t immediate, so success is iterative. Novices might doubt themselves &/or techniques. People maximize self-defense by integrating it into their lives. Instructors invest time to guide improved implementation plus adjusting to attackers.

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy above /\ /\ /\ /\

Retailers can intervene directly or help customers find criteria for determining which skills fit products, goals & conditions.

Customer Integration maximizes offers by integrating advantages instead of making separate results. Retailers can guide customers with checklists for monitoring changes plus determining which tutorials fit goals & conditions.

\/ \/ \/ \/ Analogy below \/ \/ \/ \/

Victimization increased Richie's total teenage stress, so he was impatient with self-defense lessons because thugs still victimized novices. His stress affected other life aspects including relationships.

Fonzie encouraged Richie to act tough, but with Richie’s Howdy Doody face, he could only be so tough. Bluntness can be justified when balanced with gentleness based on relationship types & personal acquaintance.

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy /\ /\ /\ /\

As customers redirect attention into establishing product familiarity & learning skills, positive life factors might decline & negative factors could worsen. Customers might be unprepared for stress. Distracted people need cues, so urge customers to cover other bases.

Though your specialty is limited to opportunity & problem categories, consider how problems influence & are influenced by customers' total reality. Problem-induced stress drains energy people need for existing & new trouble. Problem reprioritization divides people's attention. Concentration is split when people fret & reconsider product & technique choices to avoid regrets.

Consult about customers' goals of overcoming current & potential stresses plus determine which problems might grow while people implement one solution. People feel smaller as problems seem to grow.

\/ \/ \/ \/ Analogy \/ \/ \/ \/

Thugs didn't back down because Richie didn't seem skilled enough to be tough. They loomed larger because Richie didn't have quick fixes. When Richie complained, Fonzie remembered a missing detail: Besides Richie's appearance, he didn't hit anybody & establish a tough reputation.

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy /\ /\ /\ /\

Like people thinking big thugs are unbeatable, customers' internal reputations don't compare well to perceived problems.

Quick fix expectations are comforting until reality invades. Novices don't know which details are missing, so offer detailed guidance for maximized results. Descriptive case studies guide & reassure people. Instructive criteria guide people & assure they're accurately choosing & applying techniques.

\/ \/ \/ \/ Analogy \/ \/ \/ \/

Richie used imperfect skills to grab a thug's arm for a flip. Richie yanked the thug's jacket off & improvised by convincing the coward that crumpled jacket could've been him. The cowardly thug didn't want to mess with anyone that crazy.

Thugs generally don't bother anyone who predictably fights or could be unpredictably violent.

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy /\ /\ /\ /\

Without insightful knowledge, people don't know what to expect & might procrastinate to avoid trouble from mistakes. Despite authoritative guidance, people might mess up then improvise. Whether mistakes are by commission or omission, urge consumers to recover as much as practical & decrease negatives.

Cause & effect insights reveal vulnerabilities & emerging symptoms. Stressed novices don't know how to evaluate unfamiliar problems, products & techniques, so explain why offers are crazy enough to work.

\/ \/ \/ \/ Analogy \/ \/ \/ \/

Richie was the original main character. People might've identified with Richie's struggles & his adjacency to Fonzie, who made it safer for Richie to be himself. Fonzie was flawed but heroic & became popularly aspirational. If people feel admirable reputations are out-of-reach, adjacency might seem realistic.

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy /\ /\ /\ /\

Like Fonzie became the main character, your specialist reputation & empathy encourage customers to be adjacent by mainstreaming you & your advantage offers.

Though supportiveness isn't directly profitable, your dedication attracts customers better than widely-available products. Customers might confidently misapply products & techniques to battle misperceived circumstances. Supply clear criteria & resource reinforcements.

\/ \/ \/ \/ Analogy \/ \/ \/ \/

Richie regained confidence partly because his new action-based reputation was enough for one problem remedy.

Richie could've had different results from confronting thugs who'd judge him based on misperceptions.

Besides Fonzie's reputation, how would thugs react if Fonzie had a Howdy Doody face &/or was small in stature? Fonzie appeared bigger than Henry Winkler.

If Richie figured his limited crazy reputation would discourage other thugs, he'd learn reality depends on who & what are involved.

Richie struggled for independence while depending on Fonzie, like teenagers wanting adult-level self-sufficiency. They might know the definition without knowing what self-sufficiency means in their lives.

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy /\ /\ /\ /\

Guide customers' preferred interdependence levels. Customer integration advantage offers help customers internalize meanings of experiences & resources. Circumstantial self-sufficiency isn't total self-sufficiency.

If people's impatience drives unskilled actions, familiar discount one-stop shopping might seem sufficient. Explain advantages of your better options because patience aids in breeding & nurturing ideas & methods instead of acting on problem appearance. Advise customers against rushing like salmon spawning without planning to nurture offspring.

\/ \/ \/ \/ Analogy \/ \/ \/ \/

Since June 2022, we've avoided human stereotypes by anthropomorphizing bears & salmon while extending Marshall Goldsmith’s analogy to avoid success delusion & spawn insights. We're blending analogies.

Teenagers rush in like salmon eagerly charge upstream without evaluating bears as threats. Without enough rest & food, salmon narrowly evade multiple bears. Preparation for one isn't readiness for all. Escape from one isn't victory over all.

Are They Furry, Ugly & Stink? They're Bears!

Bears are similar threats whether they stand on stones or wait in water. Bears attack differently by learning & adapting.

Fish are limited to swimming movements including leaping & wiggling. If fish used different criteria to identify threats, they'd still rely on sliminess & wiggling to escape from sharp teeth & bear breath. Despite losing scales, salmon rinse off bear saliva while swimming. If they'd learn from encounters, would they realize injuries interfere with future efforts?

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy /\ /\ /\ /\

People have limited perceptions & seemingly unlimited biases. Since they trust familiar products & techniques, people interpret circumstances based on preferences more than evidence.

If results don't fulfill expectations, help people evaluate circumstances, products & techniques. Are products less effective because problems changed? How has damage limited original product benefits?

Offer Example: 'People mostly want quick remedies. (Store) advantage offers include preparations for what's changed & changing. You'll gain advantages from (Store) monitoring emerging problems & comparing with product specifications, so you can prepare techniques. Let's adjust product choices & methods as you report causes & effects step-by-step. Let's start evaluating how conditions affect your goals, so you won't start too late & be overwhelmed.'

Because perspectives are limited, people don't recognize circumstantial changes & don't adjust opportunity & remedy pursuits. Whether problems are personal, social or physical, effective planning requires acknowledging troubles & limitations.

After misidentifying changes, people don't know what to do, so certainty & confidence shatter quickly. People learn too late if they overestimate their abilities &/or product quality. Add local knowledge to case studies & tutorials to help customers acquire practical skills for using optimal products.

Do your suppliers offer better/longer warranties than competitors? As you offer high-quality products for specific conditions, confront competitors & skeptical consumers with questions. Ask consumers to define values by evaluating their needs & desires. Do competitors offer price inducements as value substitutes?

Products are made for limited applications, but techniques can increase versatility. Provide guidance so people don't try force-fitting products into goals.

Use Advantage Offers to Influence Perceptions & Expectations.

On surfaces, ugly problems can seem small while spreading below. Because of unfamiliarity &/or wishful thinking, people misjudge severity. What evidence is available to show you aren't exaggerating problem severity?

Cheap products & unplanned efforts seem sufficient when people perceive problems as minor or opportunities as easy. New problems & opportunities don't have "reputations".

Offer guidance for product choices so customers don't attribute dissatisfaction to product quality. Satisfaction can be low when nascent product quality varies & is imperfect for consumers' needs.

Do you offer early/rough or later/optimized product iterations?

Consumers' opinions could be based on early iterations or possibly later improvements. After discounters push for cheap prices on established products, manufacturers risk reputations by reducing quality.

\/ \/ \/ \/ Analogy \/ \/ \/ \/

Richie was frustrated when Fonzie acted wiser or tougher than he was. Until exposed to liver, Fonzie aspired to be like Superman, but liver isn't Kryptonite. Despite that flaw, Richie didn't reject Fonzie & his guidance.

/\ /\ /\ /\ Analogy /\ /\ /\ /\

You & your guidance don't have to be perfect. Your insightful knowledge & empathy should inspire customers to proceed cautiously while you discuss results & next steps.

From a distance, people don't discern whether results are from nascent products (pre-liver Fonzie) or improved versions. Until techniques are used with products against fully-emerged problems, remedies are theoretical. Current versions could achieve results that seem Fonzie-tough until conditions change to liver.

Successful case study goals & results might not apply to somebody else’s conditions. Guidance should be updated according to step-by-step results & adjusted expectations.

Some retailers overload customers with products. You should differentiate by recommending products & techniques for initial steps. You can propose products & next steps for planning, but sell based on confirmed needs.

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

Copyright 2023 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/

Happy Days Are HERE. Why Are You THERE?

Since normal negatives inevitably increase, people reduce stress of external struggles by surrendering. Internal struggles grow into resentment ("Why me?") & don't accept surrender.

Mixed emotions arise when people surrender to avoid feeling like failures, but feel frustrated without opportunities & remedies. Help customers identify & workaround limitations & obstacles.

Normality is flexible, but people need planned adjustments instead of improvisation. People need realistic options, but nobody perceives full reality of opportunities & problems.

In our world of distractions & conflicting opinions, if people could receive all sensory input, perceptions would challenge beliefs. Mental traffic would be disrupted as impressions are stopped at subconscious borders.

People might think control is beyond their reach & doubt reality if you offer full benefits. Representative case studies show consumers how people like them succeeded.

Explain people's step-by-step successes, so customers confidently recognize steps they can do. Beginning steps can match personal experiences & observations, when customers internally confirm what they did or discern. When they personally confirm your advantage offers & accept your help with other steps, integration merges into partnership.

Control is on customers' horizons when they combine your offers with their efforts. Since goal achievements are beyond horizons, provide navigation & logistics so customers confidently set courses. When storms (problems) emerge, customers can adjust directions & timing to preserve progress.

People seek any ports in storms to preserve resources, but prefer returning to homeports despite sacrificing progress. Is it better to experience unfamiliar ports or divert to explore other latitudes? Until storms pass, help people explore opportunities for achieving consistent progress.

Where There's a Will, There's a Way!

Case studies are Attention, Interest, Desire, decision & Action patterns of buying & using resources.

You can motivate people to test alternative approaches & connections. While people survive with "A", they yearn for "C" but it isn't durable enough to last. They need to maintain "A" as a foundation & build "B" to connect "C" then preserve “ABC”.

People should accept responsibility for decisions & actions, but people are perplexed by results of complicated issues. Wishful thinking imitates functional hope, so people need local examples of possibilities & warnings of potential impossibilities.

Offer Example: '(Store) is expanding the local insightful knowledge-base. The Internet has many product ratings & tutorials, but people need step-by-step options to customize opportunities & problem remedies. As neighbors report experiences before, during & after using products, our team efforts will customize strategies & techniques. Help will flow from members reporting results online or in-person, so others can adapt those results then give reports. Let's create cooperative progress by learning from & with each other.'

Product innovations, experiences, experiments & observations can expand options when people create & use insightful knowledge.

Happiness Doesn't Come From Perfection, It's Created Despite Imperfections.

This analogy is my interpretation: The sitcom Happy Days was based in evolving 1950-1960s culture. Richie Cunningham was the original main character. Watchers preferred Fonzie who adapted to fan preferences & became The Fonz.

Watchers might've identified with Richie struggling through adolescence as Fonzie transitioned from a thug to a fallible protector. Thugs backed off when The Fonz arrived.

He & Richie mentored each other. As Richie introduced Fonzie to stable family life; he helped Richie resist destabilizing thugs. Stability allows some vulnerabilities as people relax. Fonzie developed a mellow home life. Richie didn't find total safety but had more security.

Richie & Fonzie admired each other, but didn't want to trade places. They learned from each other & blended positives to reduce negatives.

When people feel continually threatened, it's tempting to figure they survive by avoiding other people's vulnerabilities. Comparisons feel comforting: I have XYZ & they have ABC, they aren't any better than me! Others have less.

Possessions inspire pride. Achievements build delightful morale with/without comparisons.

Fonzie didn't accept unfamiliar insights until he noticed though Richie's & others' lives weren't ideal, they had things Fonzie wanted. Unfamiliar insights might be reasons friends obtain & retain some secure comfort.

Without observing people's experiences, children's daily life stresses seem normal & inescapable.

Adults perceive "unreachable" alternatives as existing for others. Though people are more privileged than others, exclusive privileges often become democratized as retailers persuade people to learn about & adopt technologies. As mass production decreases prices, people can adapt goals by purchasing or renting more products & learning other skills.

As technologies expand, you can guide people in learning techniques to adapt product upgrades to their conditions.

People might feel accepting advice indicates they're inadequate &/or surrendering control. Before planning projects, people should define their spheres of control.

Will people oppose, accept or influence changes? Are people open to suggestions or insist their ideas are the only viable, valuable options? If negative case studies indicate people's ideas aren't feasible, will people reject those cases? If people's options don't achieve their goals, who/what is blamed?

Case Studies Are Instructive But Not Definitive.

Biases are like rocky gravel making roads possible but rough. Removal techniques vary in effectiveness & value depending on whether biases are anchored in people's identities or popular heroes’ reputations.

Induce people to reconsider biases with compelling, advantageous case studies. Description: ' (Person) created (advantage) by combining (benefits A,B,C) to boost (results), (Store) offers you local, personalized insights.'

If customers are stubborn, ask, 'If friends were making costly mistakes, would your concern prompt you to let friends cause self-inflicted problems or would you offer wisdom? That's good, would let me be your friend as we explore options?'

Integrating Requires Understanding.

Customer integration helps you use your understanding of customers to help them integrate advantage offers to maximize personalized values.

Insights make products more advantageous plus increase appreciation for products & customized advantages. Case studies demonstrate people connecting products & actions: ‘People used (product) to create (benefit) in (location) & combined it with (result), so they enjoy (advantage). Local people adapt it by __.’

Since June 2022, we've avoided human stereotypes by anthropomorphizing bears & salmon while extending Marshall Goldsmith’s analogy to understand success delusion & spawn insights.

Advise consumers against rushing ahead like spawning salmon assuming what's natural is successful.

Salmon don't know what goal fulfillments cost. Without planning to survive & spawn again like other fish, do salmon evaluate success on hatchling numbers or offspring surviving to spawn?

Method "A" could be returning to natal rivers. "B" could be completing the journey. "C" could be males winning/avoiding fights, then releasing milt where ("D") females securely embed eggs. Apparently, salmon barely eat & rest during ABCD. Each method could be fulfilled if salmon could avoid predation while eating & resting ("E") in unfamiliar conditions. It'd be AE+BE+CE+DE & bring success unless salmon aren't genetically encoded for it, which they can't change.

As you settle issues, another arises. Instead of endlessly searching for issues, structure & optimize frameworks to advance & preserve progress plus workaround unchangeable problems.

Evaluate structural advantages & disadvantages, then confine goals to what's achievable with available resources.

(Between here & the subhead below, this framework & questions might be overwhelming until you replace ABCD with products & methods plus apply questions to customers' projects. While reading it, consider how consumers endure unfamiliar problems & offers without information to fill gaps.)

Develop offer frameworks based on niche members' descriptions & goals: Before product quality declined &/or conditions changed, "ABC" combinations brought ideal benefits. AB/AC/BC was adequate. Progress requires higher technology & skills because elemental absences bring inadequacy: ABC-A=BC or ABC-B=AC. Is it because A or B are inadequate for securing benefits? Though C adds value to A or B, ABC is more durable, so advantages are complete longer into the future despite (problems).

If niche members had ABC before losing any elements, what caused the losses & what are the effects? Can those causes be decreased or eliminated? Can those effects be remedied? Can element replacements restore or recreate benefits? Which repairs would make those replacements practical?

What are the effects if some niche members never had ABC? What prevented those elements? How would people need to change circumstances to add any elements & preserve positive effects?

Are specialists required to do methods for using your products or could most consumers learn those methods? How long is the skill learning process? Are tutorials enough or should people have in-depth lessons about repairing & preserving specific conditions? If people can't afford fully skilled service, are they apt to: 1) Attempt actions with or without learning skills; 2) Hire somebody for partial work; 3) Skip actions?

Motivate Customers with Functional Hope.

We interpret conditional factors differently. Are those factors well-known? Do people have enough functional hope to motivate them to restore or recreate benefits?

What can you offer for people to evaluate practicality of their decisions & actions? Guide customers in comparing input from others including case studies.

People should know important facts including consequences of results from their decisions. It’s important to monitor conditions & niche members' preferences & adjust offers to help customers adjust what they influence & adapt to what they can't influence.

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

Copyright 2023 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/

If Consumers Don’t Like There or That, “Been There, Done That” Advertising Is Wasteful.

Consumers are there doing that already. Does your advertising promise advancement? How does your advantage offer make THAT a better option for specific people while journeying to & being THERE?

Offer Example: 'Whether life is one journey or a series, you deserve the best options for benefiting from your journey & destination. Discount customers accept less value while preparing to achieve goals, so efforts are harder & achievements are less satisfying. Journey successes required high-quality in each product & technique. At (Store), let's define your success criteria so your plan integrates knowledge, skills & products. Before you buy resources, compare offers & participate in a (Store) consultation about your needs & desires.'

Retailers stagnate as competitors' fresh superior offers attract consumers. If you expect consumers to believe you offer progress, don’t imply “Been there, done that” with your advertising.

I’m risking rejection by writing how local retailers limit progress by resisting risks. Can retailers achieve long-term success by repeating or copying declining practices? Can retailers advance if their "authoritative" information sources are biased against exploration?

People refuse trying "new" things by rejecting anything not "proven" to "work". For them, new=unfamiliar; proven=beneficial/profitable; work=dependable.

Without specific goals, retailers don't notice declining dependability soon enough for remedies.

Because people's priorities change, advertising tests & adjustments optimize profitability. Retailers fail professionally by failing to change congruously with consumers.

Testing is necessary since consumers like or ignore ad versions.

Why do retailers complain about consumers rejecting or ignoring new, unproven offers? Retailers & consumers reject what's unfamiliar. Stubborn retailers won't guide customers in effectively using unfamiliar products.

Which of these is more logical: 1) Explain how to use products to create benefits &/or reverse declining results; OR 2) Expect uninformed consumers seek products & determine uses?

If you don't inform consumers about your offers, who will?

Instead of labeling consumers as fickle or worse, retailers should test offers consumers can evaluate for relevance.

Relevant offers fit perceived opportunities or problems. Offers are irrelevant if consumers don’t know how products/services fulfill opportunities &/or remedy problems.

Knowledge incentivizes consumers to buy empowerment offers to create positive changes.

Advertising should induce AIDA: 1) Awareness of opportunities/problems & products/services; 2) Attention to consequences; 3) Interest by explaining consequence remediation; 4) Desire by explaining how consumers can use offers to bring positive changes; 5) Action by explaining reasons for starting promptly.

Advertising can fail without each factor.

How Do Your Offers Answer People's Question: "What's In It For Me?"

Are retailers offering value for consumers' lives or expecting charity sales to sustain business? As lives change, testing should include conversations to compare consumers' expectations with products & methods.

Expanding advertising reach & frequency might increase expenses without effectiveness.

Develop relevant offers instead of expanding what doesn’t work.

Analogy: Effectiveness & efficiency decline when workers keep sharing stale air. Stale offers are ignored.

Principle: Insanity is expecting better results from repeated actions. Consumers realize the same outdated products & techniques won't bring superior benefits, so they ignore stale advertising techniques.

Why should consumers pay attention to irrelevant ads? Relevant retailing differentiates competitors & positions stores in consumers' lives where problems exist & opportunities can be maximized? Powerful positioning isn't passive. Maximum success comes from actively benefiting customers.

Reject Stagnancy, Offer Innovations

Is store location really the most important factor? Retail failures claim competitors put them out-of-business. Can local consumers evaluate offers & choose retailers or do competitors people? Do discounters prevent local retailers' innovations? Read retailing news about big retailers advancing by maximizing successful tests & adjusting after some experiments fall short.

Since people ignore or reject unfamiliar innovations, meaningfully explain how advanced products & techniques bring & maintain progress. People want to understand how to avoid losses while focusing on gaining advantages.

Current & future successful innovators are often ridiculed until ridiculers embrace innovations or become less boisterous. Successes fade without maintenance & failures aren’t final for those who rise again.

Be More Like Birds Than Cats

Analogy: Cats, squirrels & birds eat at ground level without risking falls.

To escape cats, sometimes squirrels & birds go up trees before descending after cats climb trees. If cats won’t jump down or reverse climb, they’re stranded. Would-be prey can see what's ahead at ground-level & might survive by outrunning cats.

Potential prey doesn't see possible dangers in tree canopies but often survives by doing what cats can’t/won’t. Are known, ground-level risks worse than unknown risks up trees? Instead of betting their lives on one technique, animals can test by ascending incrementally to observe cats & look higher into canopies. Next moves are based on updated indications.

Business & wildlife survival isn't accidental. Techniques are learned plus innovated as necessary.

Big competitors don’t suck in every dollar. Discerning consumers want value & accept guidance in assessing how products solve problems & support opportunities. Successful competitors test to improve ads & methods.

Though experimenting includes tripping & falling, different approaches are necessary because consumers’ preferences & needs change.

Analogy: Toddlers trip & rise multiple times before eventually cruising between furniture to rest, regain balance & plan next steps before walking. When competitors walk along with consumers & respond to trips & falls, are you there too?

Whether consumers step hesitantly or boldly, are you or competitors there like encouraging parents?

Who’s More Hesitant: You, Competitors or Consumers?

If you refuse to provide information, don’t criticize consumers for hesitating without guidance. Without information about conditions, products & techniques, how can consumers know if your offers are relevant?

Offer Example: 'You might feel more comfortable with products & techniques others use. But their conditions, resources & goals are different. (Store) offers insightful knowledge with products to help you choose products & adapt techniques for your abilities. As you use incremental processes, you'll have guidance & evaluation criteria for determining next steps & starting on-time. Let's review your goals, resources & conditions to make your plans effective & efficient. (Store) doesn't claim perfection but provides realistic step-by-step success.'

Since June 2022, we've avoided human stereotypes by anthropomorphizing bears & salmon while extending Marshall Goldsmith’s analogy to avoid success delusion & spawn insights.

No Plan Survives First Contact

Habits are NOT sufficient plans. In oceans, salmon are predators & prey. They’ve avoided predation & missed prey because faster swimmers escape in deep water. Salmon return to rivers without considering the shallower water flowing among obstacles. To fish, rivers are water, how bad could they be? Predators watch for salmon leaping over obstacles or getting stuck.

Situational familiarity doesn't create detailed awareness. Knowledgeable observers might ignore or forget familiar things while searching for opportunities & threats.

Single-minded watchers look mainly for expected things & might disregard the rest. With limited time & energy for seeking, they overlook distractions (potential threats) as if nothing else matters.

Option Awareness Aids Flexibility.

Flexible procedures are valuable. Flexibility from options won’t matter if people aren't aware & prepared with plans plus alternatives.

Whether moves are defensive or offensive, plans or planners won't survive unchanged. Planners can use options to adjust plans if planners observe what fails plus are aware of & accept options while available. Imagine salmon thrashing bears’ mouths & asking, “What are my options?”

How will you sell products after warning consumers about threats? Offer functional hope with the maximum possible functionality.

Salmon proceed as if they have direct connections to spawning areas. They return to natal rivers. Even if external conditions are like those the salmon fry left, these adults are different. Predators notice bigger fish needing bigger spaces to swim through.

Customer integration creates or recreates connections by offering advantages of customizable resources & techniques.

Adjustments are important while options are available & can be optimized. However & whenever plans are made, option optimization is challenging like building & repairing jets in-flight. Start with structural integrity then observe progress & changes.

Find & optimize options while you can or you won't have viable choices. People are more apt to fail by refusing to test small & incremental options. Don’t bet all on any options including current methods.

Risk-averse people act as if they're apt to step-off cliffs. When people start early, small tests reveal beneficial steps so people probably won't need to risk hazards. Risk-averse people might avoid setbacks, but risk eventual total failure without progressing.

Since distant risks & problems aren't direct experiences & don't feel connected to "real" life, people focus on current pain. People confirm quick relief, even if it's retail therapy. Remote relief doesn't feel powerful enough to offset painful payments.

Without quick relief, functional hope lacks impact. Current & past comparisons can show functionality. Example: Because Option-X was used to create Result-Y, Benefit-Z was improved & preserved.

Communicate how investments contributed to benefits & how problems would remain or worsen without beneficial investments. Example: Instead of focusing on current feelings, focus on how you'll feel without relief plus progress. If you bought cheap discounters' stuff to fix XX, are you in the same, better or worse circumstances now?

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

Copyright 2023 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/

Functional Hope Can Maximize Meaningful Benefits & Inspire Customers

People's sensory reception & perceptions of the same stimuli are different. Since mental states vary, your ads might be missed, processed or partially received.

Since people process meaningful messages, let's evaluate meaningfulness: Do your offers connect people's current or recent experiences to their goals? Do you help people settle issues that aren't fully resolved or could recur?

Describe relief of health &/or property problems because people: 1) don't want to believe troubles still exist or could recur & might reject warnings; 2) might ignore vague symptoms because old information & cheap products fail to bring relief.

Ad repetition reinforces offers while experiences confirm needs still exist.

Example: To overcome success delusion, advertisers can describe indicators of pest incursions. People figure traps solved pest problems because indicators diminished. Wishful thinking blocks contrary thoughts, so homeowners don't consider how pests enter. Homeowners should compare pests' sizes & abilities with house construction to find potential entries. Material inspections & knowledge reveal necessary replacements & patches.

Stress crowds-out positivity. Functional hope renews freedom from people's actions to escape stressors.

Functional hope opens mental space to plan for uncomfortable possibilities because functionality inspires hope of overcoming new & recurring problems.

Watch For Reasons Consumers Should Watch You.

By monitoring local people's triumphs & struggles, you can find & connect resources for converting struggles into triumphs then extending or renewing triumphs.

Whether it's typical pessimism or pride, people misinterpret options because failures make success seem impossible or reserved for privileged people. To describe formulas or projects, use product specifications, testimonials & case studies to explain how & why success becomes probable in local conditions.

Offer to explore why product versions & attempted methods were insufficient. Persistence brings progress as people learn improved techniques for using high-quality products, possibly by adapting observed successes.

With teamwork, you with your customer group can invest money, insightful knowledge, effort & persistence into personal & group advantages. As customers report problems & progress, all can learn to build results into benefits then combine those into advantages.

Without confidence to explore & expand knowledge, people might suffer problems even with optimal products. Case studies can supplement skill-building tutorials, so people learn what's practical plus how to implement suggestions.

Since low expectations can seem logical, customers might stop short of personal & product potentials. Because of risks, hesitation feels safe. During implementation, seemingly safe practices can fall short of long-term safety & practicality.

Since June 2022 without human stereotypes, we're anthropomorphizing bears & salmon plus extending Marshall Goldsmith's analogy to avoid success delusion.

Analogy: When conditions support predators, fish need more than swimming techniques. People rely on experience in new conditions. People, who feel "made for this", take to problems like fish to water. Fish & bears are "made for this". Bears grab ignorant fish.

Advise investing for current circumstances because previous successful efforts might be outdated. Practical examples imply insightful knowledge even if you don't recommend specific techniques to avoid liability.

Interrupt Bad Things. Expand Good Things.

Negatives seem bigger & positives seem smaller than reality.

Reinforce attention-to-detail with updated information because it's important for choosing offers & completing projects. People are distracted by perceptions, expectations, predictions or conclusions of failure & success.

Because of experiences & observations, people might expect contextual threats & miss benefits. After experiencing &/or observing problems & solutions, people are distracted also by concerns of future problems. Immediate problems can distract people from warnings or evidence of impending serious problems. Other times, public scandals & distant disasters hold attention, so people are less apt to notice advertising.

Let's expand on Al Ries & Jack Trout books. In "Positioning", they wrote about "The Assault on the Mind" & minds have positions for information bits.

Unfamiliar threats seemingly suck mental energy away from information processing & upstage typical personal & public priorities.

"The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing" details importance of categories. Customers' problem categorizations & prioritizations influence purchases.

Despite daily sensory deluges, if you pound messages into brains, Top-of-Mind-Awareness can associate your products/services with opportunities & problems. Does Top-of-Mind-Awareness compare advantages & help people choose optimally? Instead, offer advantageous reasons so people position you in their minds. Induce people to keep you in a prioritized category position as their specific advantage source.

Mental Traffic

Analogy: It's a minor inconvenience for me to let you go ahead in traffic. I could miss appointments by letting everybody go ahead. When people consciously let sensory traffic in, they could miss better value.

While dealing with mental & physical traffic, people need to get 'THERE'. Offer advantages for getting 'THERE', so people let you in ahead of others.

Imagine if all mental "vehicles" were trucks signaling value with product signs & drivers determine which trucks to let through. Sign messages plus truck sizes would hint about value people would expect. Do consumers have enough space to let your truck/messages enter? Your job includes explaining value to justify their costs of yielding to you.

Optimal interactions (including persuasion) happen in environments of norms. Laws & social norms influence behavior. Learn what society seems to enforce plus what niche members do for personal satisfaction & social allegiance.

Make advantage offers according to social rules-of-the-road as you drive value into personal spaces.

Attention, Interest, & Desire either diverge or merge like highway lanes as people become aware of optional Actions. Either way, success depends on being prioritized above others since your lane could be closed or rerouted as mental (memories & reminders) &/or physical (ability) access changes.

As excessive options merge into commoditization, differentiation is more important to separate offers while people can buy plus use products.

Induce Consumers To Let Your Offers Into Their Life Traffic.

Retailers are surprised when consumers aren't impressed enough by offers to fulfill AIDA. If people aren't aware of problems or opportunities, why pay Attention to Product-X $89?

Even if people are aware of problem severity or opportunity benefits, Product-X $89 doesn't explain how to improve anything or describe relief.

If people are aware of problems & opportunities, awareness might attract Attention, Interest & Desire. Inquiries & purchasing Actions come after information integrates Attention to, Interest in & Desire for problem solutions & opportunity fulfillment with Attention to, Interest in & Desire for product/service benefits.

Develop advantage offers to create awareness of problems, solutions, opportunities & fulfillment. Build AIDA to induce purchases.

What do you need to understand about people's life traffic? Humans have stimuli coming at them from almost all directions. It's almost like people need air traffic controllers to bring order.

Explain why people should let your offers in. If people have any available capacity to let your messages in, what makes your offers worthy of invitations?

High-traffic cities have carpool/bus lanes. Develop offers into valuable content "buses", so consumers prioritize them with dedicated lanes.

When your advantage offers integrate into people's needs & desires, promoted ideas can be like co-workers on employer-chartered buses arriving to create specific value. They're expected & allowed entry. When they're cleared by security, they're granted access after earning trust.

Offer coordinated products & methods to be like trusted co-workers on buses. Make them worthy of trust & invitation, by learning niche members' needs, desires & standards.

People might trust you with money via purchases after they trust you with time to offer value. When you provide advantages, you give reasons for putting other things (including overwhelming feelings & exhaustion) aside because people are eager for value.

We won't know all circumstantial factors affecting whether people expend mental energy & time on advertising.

People seem to have limits for some factors & combinations. Some limits might depend on brain regions. Very verbal people might have high maximums when conversing at work & home. Others seem to run out of words & need to zone out.

Visual people might have available mental energy & want more input but have tired eyes. Exhausted people can get second winds when interesting activities are available. Second winds are more than breath & require mental motivation.

Priorities Establish Right-Of-Way

Though subconscious minds involuntarily receive sensory impressions, advertisers are more successful when they gain access according to conscious priorities. Sensory traffic favorably passes based on personal right-of-way rules.

Loud, flashy interruptive advertising is like bigger vehicle drivers implying threat of force & size to push other drivers to yield.

Big (long) ads get through based on value, not gimmicks. Which facts & insights are worth immediate attention or research? Make your offers more valuable & worthy of attention than other things vying for niche members' attention.

Sensory impressions & priorities collide with others when right-of-way rules are disregarded. Establish value to avoid collisions.

Reticular activating systems are like mental receptionists responding based on ability to pay attention plus importance to people's lives.

Whether ads are logically or emotionally evaluated, reception depends on previous & current experiences. Do your best to make customer experiences fulfilling, so customers will figure you offer value for current &/or future opportunities.

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

Copyright 2023 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 Customer Service Requires Your Attention, Interest, Desire & Action.

Jay Abraham said people are interested in those who are interested in them. To be an interesting conversationalist, express concern about people before sales attempts. Consultations show concern & willingness to learn.

Stephen Covey advised seeking to understand before expecting others to understand. When you understand niche members, you can offer easy-to-understand advantages.

For value-building, advantage offers start with attentive interest to understand niche concerns. Maximize value by contextually fitting proposals to customers' lives & helping them understand causes & effects.

Basic Example: ‘Because you're concerned about (issue), (Store) combines (benefits) into customized advantages to solve, then prevent (problem). (Issue) is complex, so somebody else’s approaches might bring only limited success. To achieve full success, it’s time for (Store) consultations because (issue) is emerging. Let's prevent its full negative effects.’

Explain causal factors plus sufficient prevention or counteraction.

Example: Since people don't spend time in crawl-spaces below houses, negatives aren't noticed. There's just enough air movement for mold spores & humidity to enter & increase. Mold fouls air in occupied rooms by expanding upward & outward. After mold & damage remediation, ventilate crawl-spaces with filtered, dehumidified air. Regularly use problem checklists so you’ll remember prevention practices.

Your interest & understanding inspire consumers' interest in your offers by indicating potential advantages consumers won't find in discount stores.

Systematize insightful facts to increase value of customers’ assets. Synchronize insight inventory with product inventory based on people’s personal, social & seasonal transitions. Which product & insightful information combinations preserve stability during transitions?

Show interest in people’s concerns by explaining how to customize product benefits into advantages in current & desired life contexts.

Reach People Through Their Interests.

Your & customers' success depends on their: 1) receptivity to offers via specific media; & 2) available time, energy & money to buy. Multiple exposures are necessary, so distracted minds compare offers when related needs bubble to the top. As people consciously focus on activities & compartmentalize unrelated desires, subconscious minds scan for necessities, prioritized opportunities & threats.

Example: Mealtimes liberate hunger which settles for any necessary relief. Appetites crave flavor above necessities. Food advertising can register in subconscious minds, where appetites prioritize desires. Food descriptions & fragrances can stir memories plus arouse familiar cravings or curiosity.

Analogy: Food fragrances initially indicate appealing ingredients. Appealing indicators inspire minds to combine memories with updated awareness, attention & interest then determine which food seems desirable enough to warrant acquisition action.

Even without interpreting specific ingredient fragrances, people anticipate flavors especially when pleasant memories are triggered. Anticipation & appetite push from interest to desire satisfaction at least equivalent of what satisfied previous standards. How will you set niche members' standards to fit your advantage offers?

Fragrances seem to communicate chemically & descriptions trigger neuro-chemical memories. Appetites are harder to suppress when people anticipate satisfied desires.

You can inspire anticipation when you know how flavors (benefits) satisfy niche members’ appetites (triggered desires). Appetites combine interest with attention & push for fulfillment. People desire excitement (flavors) & have appetites for specific adventures (recipes).

Personal Example: My parents had me eat cooked cabbage; YUCK! They knew cole-slaw included raw cabbage, YUM! They could’ve satisfied my appetite with raw cabbage. Until I was older, I didn’t connect cole-slaw appetite with cabbage which was differentiated from cooked cabbage. Cooked cabbage consumption feels like losses. Cole-slaw consumption feels like winning though raw cabbage isn’t exactly a trophy.

Cole-slaw memories don't block cooked cabbage memories, but cole-slaw anticipation means I'm aware other cabbage combinations could be worth pursuing (action).

When you're interested in people, you can learn which memories to stir into renewed desires. When you know what's familiar & which impressions are inaccurate, you can differentiate your offers.

If you offer kohlrabies to people who dislike turnips, you'd need to differentiate based on appearance & flavor. If you promote the cabbage flavor, you can advise people to eat cooked or raw kohlrabies based on cabbage preferences.

Differentiate Based On People's Lives.

Do people perceive your offers as equivalent or superior advantages? Differentiate customers' advantages from other people's experiences with analogies, observations &/or familiar anecdotes.

Offer Example: ‘If you enjoy free-flight, ski-jumps could be like low-risk sky-dives & gliding. (Store) offers safer simulated experiences with wind-machines, hang-gliders & bungee cords.’

As memories fade, feelings become distant. Descriptions connect experiences & subconscious minds can maintain connections if conscious minds are pulled back to the present.

People are too distracted to reach for meaning over mental distances every time ads come long. Do that work for them, instead of letting their awareness & attention slip away. To inspire interest, help people connect what's familiar with your offers.

Be interested enough to differentiate among niches & their preferences for shaping plus combining conditions, products, skills & techniques. Each winter, Wisconsinites either leave; want to leave, but can't; enjoying staying; or are ambivalent.

Find ad recipients & use their degrees of desire for deciding ad timing plus products, services & information combinations. Wisconsinites, who leave in October, might want snow removal offers earlier than Wisconsinites exhausted by blizzards.

When you know what sustains satisfaction, help customers define & achieve full victory.

Your interest in people communicates your desire to recognize their specialness. Though it’s professional interest, you’ll imply personal concern about contributing to people’s well-being.

Empathy can be like pouring water to prime old long-handled pumps. Before self-priming pumps, jugs held water for pouring into pumps before lifting & pushing levers.

Like buying from discounters, people might apply excessive effort & time to eventually pump water without priming.

Discounters prime consumers with low-prices & wide selection. Water symbolizes value. You probably can’t afford low-prices, but you can afford valuable empathy. When you prime with empathy, you show consumers can safely reciprocate their interest with yours.

Awareness, Attention, Interest, Desire AND Action?!? Are You Serious?

Because of excessive distractions & contrasting priorities, people's awareness & attention are thinly spread among urgencies, emergencies & thousands of advertisers. Who has time & energy for interest, desire & action?

If retailers' offers only show interest in money (Product-X $43), consumers rightly wonder, "What's In It For Me?"

When retailers explain benefits, consumers have reasons to PAY (invest time & energy) attention. Retailers should explain how benefits correspond to consumers' needs & desires plus offer coaching about converting benefits into condition-specific advantages.

Basic Offer: 'You can satisfy your (need/desire) by using (product benefits) to create (advantage). (Store) has (products) plus guidance for you to maximize (product features) to improve __ & reduce __.'

People are concerned about privacy & seeming ignorant, despite knowing questions & answers are necessary.

By demonstrating basic understanding you indicate when consumers share specific information, team efforts will create value to fulfill life improvement criteria.

Build functional hope to increase people's trust for sharing deeper information to enhance functionality. Customers feel less risk when they realize how much they gain from sharing personal details.

Though total interpersonal understanding is unlikely, empathy includes learning & accepting people's reality. Empathy helps retailers reach people & explore their troubles.

Even when your & customers' knowledge is limited, you can use combined knowledge to help customers understand gaps between present & potential circumstances. In consultations, you can propose diagnoses, provide guidance & offer deeper advice, written suggestions &/or recommend tutorials.

Customers' Destinations & Goals Are ‘THERE’.

How long do customers plan to stay 'THERE'? Do they have optimal resource quantities for getting 'THERE' & staying long enough for full achievements?

Since June 2022 without human stereotypes, we've anthropomorphized bears & salmon plus extended Marshall Goldsmith’s analogy about avoiding success delusion. It's gone swimmingly!

Whether it's genetic or lack of planning, salmon deplete resources by swimming upstream while eating little or nothing. Some males fight & females dig nests. Whether they successfully spawn, they die. Salmon should eat well in oceans because by focusing on prey in rivers, they might become prey.

They don't review expectations & plan: Step-1: Though ocean currents are different from rivers, train by swimming into currents. Step-2: Salmon are relatively safer swimming in oceans among familiar food & predator species. Study future conditions & plan contingencies. Step-3: Swimming upstream in fresh water rivers. Adapt techniques for shallow navigation & self-protection from unfamiliar predators.

Consultation Example: '(Effort) helps you reach __. (Product) supports your efforts, so you can __. When you achieve (benefit), options will open so you can choose (range of advantages). Kit-A results will help us test for the best approaches because (problem) is the preliminary diagnosis. Kit-A should start creating (benefit) from (preliminary result) with (products), so as you close that gap you'll notice one of these indications: 1) progress; 2) interrupted decline; or 3) possibly continued decline. Progress will indicate it's time to implement the full project with Kit-B. Interrupted declines would show you should continue with Kit-A before finishing with Kit-B. If declines would continue, the problem diagnosis could be __, so Kit-C would be effective. Please take pictures & notice (sensory indicators) so we can review your findings.'

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

Copyright 2023 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 Returns On Investments & Returns Of Investments

Even without stating “Success Delusion”, you can advertise advantage offers compared with usual conditions plus typical cheap product results.

Goal achievements can seem successful, but will results last long enough for Returns On Investments &/or Returns Of Investments (meaning people regained/saved money, energy &/or time later)?

During planning, expected ROIs might seem bigger than anticipated finished project costs. In hindsight, when people subtract inputs from benefits, results could be negative because of short-term inadequacy plus lack of durability.

Planning should calculate personal costs & rewards plus include product & technique feasibility. Functional hope includes making rewards outweigh mental & physical resource costs.

Since people experience costs before benefits, help customers maintain hope with effective, efficient results so perceived input & output values don't wither.

Example: People invest effortful days into preparations for two-hour parties because delight matters. How much guest & host mental, physical &/or social stimuli make preparations seem worthy of input values?

Without guidance, people might underestimate required exertion & resources for preparation & fulfillment. Progress stops if preparations deplete people's time, energy & money. How can you guide customers to personal fulfillment so they relieve financial & health concerns without trying to push beyond fatigue?

Even if people know benefits are valuable, resource replenishment is necessary for full advantages.

Excessive heat & exhaustion can quickly overcome people's willingness to create advantages. Even when people create expected benefits, fatigue triggers negativity & skews perceptions.

During hot summers, customers might do outdoor projects after work shifts. People need recovery from jobs to work on personal projects.

You could work with nutrition businesses, so customers have full personal functionality while creating other functional advantages. If customers can’t adequately focus & perform tasks, would your offers be fully advantageous? Guidance can reduce stressful confusion & maximize productivity, so efforts aren't wasted.

Offers Can Be Framed From Multiple Perspectives.

Obstacles & miscalculations reduce morale so projects seem wasted & you could lose potential referrals. Make your store an optimal value source so people make referrals to express concern for each other & share optimism.

If people think limitations & problems outweigh perceived options, retailers should describe advantage offers to restore optimism.

Consult with other specialist retailers to develop opportunities to promote. Insightful facts & products should bridge gaps between customers & their aspirations. Find authorities & manufacturers who develop tools, materials & best practices.

Optimally healthy, clear-minded nutrition store customers can optimistically evaluate your advantage offers.

When you guide healthy people's insightful cognitive labor, success is easier. If nutrition retailers offer recovery to your customers, focused cognitive labor can optimize physical effort to 1) effectively avoid mistakes so restarts aren’t necessary & 2) efficiently avoid waste. Increase your total advantage offers with benefit combinations like these.

Whether people consume juices for refreshment &/or nutrition, they could have “better” options. Nutritionists advise avoiding sugary juices because temporary sugar-rushes bring crashes.

When people are exhausted, sugar-rushes can feel like successes before crashes. Vegetable/fruit smoothies have carbohydrates, sugar, protein, fiber plus vitamins & minerals.

Smoothies might taste like failures but aid functionality & suppress hunger distractions. Though sugar-rushes can aid immediate productivity, the success delusion could be nascent breakthroughs interrupted by crashes.

Benefit creation & maintenance require creating & maintaining foundational positive conditions. Foundational positives creation & maintenance require cognitive labor to develop reasonable positive maintenance & improvements plus prevent or restrain negatives.

Example: If people are concerned mostly about rotting wood, they might think success is: 1) removing rotten wood plus preventing future rotting & mold; 2) no remediation but preventing more rotting & mold; or 3) replacing rotten wood without changing causes. Wood replacement expenses & hassles could bring benefits without reducing suffering from mold-induced medical problems.

Though interpretations are subjective, comparisons would be like balancing scales indicating whether positives equal or outweigh negatives.

Some criticize marketers for pushing higher standards on people who have good enough results. Morale can decline when people compare their existence to others’ lives. I don’t advocate urging people to compete socially in matching or exceeding anybody’s achievements. That competition can bring success delusion from temporary personal satisfaction & social status akin to inflating balloons that eventually pop or shrivel.

If people’s satisfaction comes from somebody’s losses, victory can feel like freedom. Losses can feel like jails without access to keys as people struggle for future wins.

When people feel trapped, how do they define freedom? How would people create & retain that freedom? When people pleasantly anticipate renewing personal magic, daily drudgery doesn’t feel like a prison.

How will you describe offers so niche members recognize how that freedom (continues to) fit their lives?

Physical survival can be assured despite people's daily slogs. People can feel mentally like salmon struggling upstream, escaping predators & fulfilling responsibilities but life fulfillment slips away further.

Salmon start journeys with all requirements to arrive, but not to survive or return.

If people perceive preliminary success, they might assume their preparation & resources are sufficient. Projects might fail if people inaccurately assume they've prepared. Remediation fails without preparation for maintenance beyond choosing repair products & learning skills. What are typical shortcomings & biases you can help people overcome?

Differentiation or Commoditization

Retailers assume they're successful because they sell things instead of attracting more customers by offering experiences.

Analogy: Spectators watch bears catch fish. Imagine entrepreneurs feeling successful if tourists watch bears & spend money in towns. Businesses should add value to humans' experiences plus preserve conditions for bears & fish, so tourists might return for nature, comfort & entertaining variety. Other rivers attract bears & fish, so watching them can be a commodity experience.

Commodity products are purchased based on low prices. Commodity purchases have little/no differences in opportunity costs.

If people buy identical commodities from discounters, there are differences in sales floor sizes, checkout lines, driving & parking lot walking. Other than time & energy expenditures, transactions & experiences are about equal.

If you use commodity advertising (Product-XYZ $35) like discounters (Product-XZ $25), consumers think $10 is the only difference because offers aren't differentiated. You'd offer value instead of commodities if you'd explain how XYZ provides better relief or prevention than XZ because you guide customers to maximize XYZ according to their goals.

If products & service-levels are commoditized, would people return t small stores despite higher prices & lower perceived selection?

Retailers Push “Loyalty” Programs. Opportunities Pull Consumers.

Offer valuable opportunities so consumers return to reinvest. “Loyalty” fulfillment costs somebody money &/or effort. Consumers invest money for purchases plus point redemption efforts to increase value.

Through relationships, opportunity offers can keep you in business. “Loyalty” implies relationships but based on what? Relationships can be based on mutual concern about each other's wellbeing. People don't have loyal relationships if they only trade money for products without interactively helping achieve goals.

Sincere loyalty shows concern, so questions & answers are expected & comforting. When you know customers' goals require AB more than BC, you can talk personally about why AB is worth $X plus learning skills.

If you talk impersonally, you might deal with stereotypes & make imprecise recommendations plus provide less value.

When niche members recognize you as a specialist, your sensitive offers are perceived as personal, not stereotype-based.

Though advertising is an impersonal sales method, you can promote your specifically distinctive retailing style. When you treat people as exceptional, they can believe you offer exceptional value. Set people's goal achievement standards high & make it hard for competitors to compare.

Since I'm not in your specialty, I'm demonstrating things with sensitive analogies.

Since June 2022 without human stereotypes, we've extended Marshall Goldsmith’s bear salmon analogy about avoiding success delusion. Please bear with me!

Bear Analogy/Offer Example: 'As a bear, you notice natural changes. Though you coped with previous experiences, you need to refocus & reprioritize to successfully adapt. Though bugs(?), honey & fruit taste good & are relatively easily obtained, servings are inadequate compared to your hunger & nutritional needs. Now in autumn, you're hungrier than usual so you need adequate high-quality, long-term protein. You must retain enough necessary nutrients for when your usual food isn't available. Though you're energized & motivated now, remember last year you felt very sleepy. If you wait until you're sleepy & food is hard to find, you'll be very weak if you survive until spring. Before our local river freezes, it'll have high-quality, high-protein salmon rich in Omega-3 fatty acids you'll need to thrive through winter. Let's schedule a plan consultation now, so you'll be ready.'

This shows an advertiser understands consumers' needs, plus helps consumers understand why they need specific products.

Consultations would create understanding for guiding customers based on what they’re willing to adjust or replace.

Without consultations, retailers wouldn’t know which customers are flexible enough for guided testing of unfamiliar products & methods. People might interpret “unfamiliar” as ‘new possibility’ or ‘unsafe’ & replacing familiar things could feel like potential losses. “Adjustments” could be construed positively as ‘augmenting’ or negatively as ‘destabilizing’ familiar things.

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

Copyright 2023 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/

People Yearn. Are You Fulfilling Their Desires Better Than Competitors?

When people confront simultaneous issues, cognitive labor becomes mental juggling & hoping to escape. Clarify customers' thinking.

Customer integration helps people settle important issues & tame others, so people progress from expecting relief to experiencing peace. Differentiate your store with advantage offers of ability instead of only coping.

Discounters' offers might bring hope. You should increase functional hope so customers confidently create plus maintain advantages.

Until automobiles provided transportation plus protection from weather & dust, people tolerated saddled horses, buggies, wagons & stagecoaches. Some discomfort & inconveniences were accepted as normal plus results were good enough.

Offers aren't compelling unless they significantly decrease some discomfort & inconveniences &/or provide enough comfort & conveniences to offset negatives.

Before ignition systems & starters, drivers used cranks to start engines despite hassles & injuries. Early cars were hazardous & many people rejected undependable, newfangled horse-less carriages priced for a few hundred dollars.

People thought mostly of negatives until manufacturers offered more advantages compared to disadvantages of horses. As sales increased, product quality improved, so advantages increased & disadvantages decreased.

Now vehicle owners disregard horses as primary transportation & compare automobile models. People keep vehicles until disadvantages outweigh advantages plus replacements restore lost advantages &/or bring new advantages.

Proposed design changes didn't make sense to early manufacturers &/or consumers until somebody developed ideas into insightful information. Features weren't desirable to consumers who didn't perceive enough benefits to offset hassles of changing habits.

Nonmonetary switching costs include transitions between alternative products & suppliers. Assure customers as they master new processes, switching advantages outweigh switching costs. New products & methods aren't perfect but older, less beneficial products & previous methods/habits are less attractive.

Reduce switching costs with insightful information to increase benefits & decrease frustrations.

Value explanations should focus on people's feelings.

Example: ‘Though (product) seems strange, as you master these new methods, you'll create better benefits. Different things are necessary to establish best practices & gain superior benefits. When you learn (methods), you'll have the (product) advantages to create (benefits) faster & easier. The short-term uncertainty will be like learning other skills you use to achieve long-term progress.’

Many ideas seem strange until somebody explains value & people accept wisdom of value, which establishes social proof & brings wider product adoption. Wise value sets patterns like: ‘People in Wisconsin use (products) with (methods) to create (benefits). Since cities have different conditions & requirements, (Store) is dedicated to helping individuals achieve fully advantageous goals.’

People often want to get-ahead but don't automatically link products & techniques with progress. Help people redefine progress in contexts of their lives & goals.

‘Product-X $36’ doesn't influence how people compare their conditions to product benefits. Challenge common perceptions while confirming individual's perceptions of product benefits plus how you add customized value.

Offer Example: ‘If you think (product) isn't worth $23 at discount stores, you're right! Product reviews & friends' complaints justify your disinterest in products made for cheap price points instead of optimized experiences. When discounters dictate prices, manufacturers use thinner materials & cheaper labor without environmental concerns. At (Store), (brand) is worth $53 because high-quality (feature) is designed for (benefit) plus with (Store) consultation, you'll gain (advantage) customized for your goal.'

Do Offers Exist If People Aren't Aware?

Consumers seem to consciously/subconsciously assume problems indicate solutions don't exist because "If somebody invented anything better, I'd know because people would be using it." Until people receive compelling offers, problems are tolerated or situations are avoided.

To reduce stress plus save time, 1) people might ignore seemingly minor problems instead of investigate solutions; or 2) rush through discount store purchases without optimally planning projects.

People, who settle for inadequacy, respond to discount store ads & expect low prices. If you can't accommodate low prices, why advertise like discounters? If you offer better value, use compelling advertising to explain that quality.

Help people create functional hope by preparing for problems.

As you learn about people & products, which scenarios could fit people’s needs & desires?

Examples: Would protective problem mitigation be practical, if customers can’t afford time, energy &/or money for full projects? Can some products & techniques prevent more damage by stopping or avoiding threats until customers can do full projects? Investigate if customers do WX to delay YZ, could they mitigate (threat), avoid (damage) & fix (problem) later?

Since June 2022 without human stereotypes, we've extended Marshall Goldsmith’s bear salmon analogy about avoiding success delusion.

Analogy: Salmon seem pressured to spawn when bears are pressured to pig-out for hibernation preparation. Otherwise, bears might be satiated with one fish if hunger & opportunity coincide. Hibernation preparation requires active searching instead of waiting for opportunities.

Bears often forage for whatever's available (honey, bugs & fruit) like discount store customers foraging for cheap stuff. Bears go for high-quality food from rivers to prepare for winter. Bears sense changes & prioritize other value accordingly.

Humans should be guided to notice changes & how to recognize value plus prioritize offers.

Whether goals are survival or thriving, determine which products & techniques achieve customers' goals. Explain how offers match consumers' needs & desires plus enhance current abilities & resources. What increases necessary abilities & resources so they're optimally available on-time?

Salmon & bears want to survive to fulfill goals & approach rivers differently with different abilities. We don't know exact reasons for some of their choices, but we see results.

Compare case study results to help customers refine perceptions plus cause & effect theories into reasons. When reasons are determined, causes & effects can be located, so 'HERE' & 'THERE' options can be evaluated based on moving toward or away from causes & effects.

Mentally & physically, customers are 'HERE'. Help them define why 'HERE' isn't fulfilling plus define why 'THERE' options can be better.

Salmon go ‘THERE’ where rocks might be constant obstacles, logs can be more numerous after floods & bears are more ravenous before winter.

If salmon could work together & reschedule spawning, they might avoid some obstacles & threats. Some obstacles could aid or hinder bears & salmon if they'd determine how to increase/adapt the aid & decrease hindrances.

Without examining conditions & resources, people easily assume similar adequacy of products in the same category. People also assume information & methods apply to cheap products. Your specialty should include tracking conditions & products plus finding & offering insightful information applied to specific products.

Salmon react impulsively & can't prepare for unknown or forgotten problems or even typical land-based predators & obstacles. Fish don't have updated criteria for evaluating threats or best practices for overcoming obstacles without increasing risks.

Whether actions fulfill necessities or felt-needs, it's easier to plan familiar steps than predict potential problems or combinations. If salmon will be vulnerable swimming in shallow water &/or leaping over obstacles, should preparation for predatory birds or bears be prioritized?

Insightful information aids predictions, preparation & prioritization, so advantage offers are possible.

Are Predictions Based on Knowledge, Outdated Memories or Superstition?

After people have "Been There, Done That", they might misinterpret what happened &/or misremember their actions.

Ask customers for case studies revealing what barely worked or could've failed without adjustments for changed conditions.

Example: 'It seemed like the same problem as before. If I hadn't notice (symptoms), I would've tried fixing the wrong problem. I had a consultation at (Store) & we diagnosed the current problem. I have the (Store) advantage because we planned the project & I bought (products). Each step is right, so I'm confident about long-term success. I’m not relying on luck, I’m producing predictable advantages.'

Consumers' predictions might not fit your offers. Example: If novice gardeners expect a drought & can't afford irrigation equipment, they'd reject watermelon seedlings.

Customers' testimonials or authoritative endorsements could be more persuasive by including relevant tips for: 1) preventing &/or solving problems; 2) creating & maintaining advantages.

Consumers might have one chance for effective purchases to prevent problems. Offers should incorporate assurances like endorsements & testimonials including before-&-after stories to explain why your advantage offers are the most effective, efficient products & actions.

You could include reports of those who wish they would've prevented problems. Did bad luck come from bad products, information &/or techniques?

Explain how the good in your offer reduces current bad luck effects & prevents bad luck causes.

If long-term benefits come from good luck, compare those with effectiveness & efficiency of using updated equipment.

Negative changes can cause gradual failure & in effect, corrode lucky results. "Good luck" can be created & maintained with optimal methods to use optimal products.

Lucky people like believing "success" comes from their efforts instead of despite using outdated products. You're more apt to convince them with direct offers plus by building momentum through cumulative customer successes.

If you focus on lucky people &/or those depending on luck, you need better offer descriptions or adjust niches instead of giving up.

Don't let bad luck ruin your confidence. Create good luck with customer integration.

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

Copyright 2023 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/

Are People in Better Positions With You or Competitors?

Positioning is a major marketing practice & should include how consumers perceive consequences of their mental & physical positions. Customer integration helps people use current & new resources for progress from current to desired positions.

Retailers should offer advantages including psychological incentives to emphasize total product value to fulfill goals & retain gains.

When retailers dread monetary & inventory risks of full shelves, advertising ‘Product-X $30’ seems reasonable. But ‘Product-X’ doesn't promise beneficial opportunity fulfillments or problem-relief. Paying $30 means consumers have less money & possibly feel stuck with fewer resources.

Rough days feel worse when consumers have less money. Effective marketing explains how advantage offers justify prices by improving conditions or maintaining improvements. You can justify profitable prices by offering preparedness so people are assured they can cope when days become rougher.

Offer consultations to increase the probability of successful improvements, so you can afford refund/product exchange guarantees. Assure people your offers are superior to: 1) holding money as inflation erodes value; & 2) hoping cheap products will optimize results.

Offer Example: ‘You can spend your $30 any day for potential benefits. In (Store), you can invest your $30 today for definite (result) advantages. Get full-quality (products) & guidance from (Store) instead of hassling through driving to big store parking lots, searching stores without help & waiting in checkout lines. (Store) refunds money or replaces defective products. Since you deserve superior (solutions/opportunities), (Store) advantage offers include stress-relief of guidance to create high-quality product benefits. Before you buy, consider what kind of value would ensure you're investing in long-lasting advantages? Would you get that value & assurance from discounters? There are no guarantees about good or bad days. As times passes, inflation increases prices as wages buy less value & (problem) expands. For peace-of-mind, you need assurance of solving (problems) now, so you can focus on other issues.’

Unending Moderate Stress is a Major Problem.

Even if you don't offer total relief, offer essential physical & mental rest so people enjoy activating other brain & body cells than those engaged in tiresome tasks. Morale is boosted by anticipating enjoyment especially by increasing delightful variety. While enduring rough days, which memories or planned experiences can inspire intermittent mental relief/recovery?

People can use pictures, souvenirs &/or sounds to retrieve feelings. What would restore previous comfort, self-confidence &/or encouragement? Offer resources to establish mental & physical sanctuaries so people can cope longer with stress because they know durable recovery resources are reachable.

What would help customers achieve long-term foundational abilities despite changing conditions? Optimize flexibility & strength of foundational abilities, so customers create, maintain & defend advantages without undue concern about losses.

Which advantages create well-being & increase psychological satisfaction as people advance in the Hierarchy of Needs. Lives are destabilized when people lose needed basics. If something blocks or reverses self-actualization, self-confidence & peace-of-mind may seem threatened.

Cheap products form insecure self-actualization foundations.

Even if discounters promise advantages, how confident are customers in integrating & retaining advantages? Assure customers you offer attainable & maintainable advantages. Advantages are hard to fully enjoy when people are stressed about losing them.

Distracted people want enjoyable days without studying & interpreting overwhelming details. Since you specialize, it's easy to think everybody shares your priorities, curiosity & knowledge. Despite 8 business hours per day, you might be ready for more details, but consumers' attention is split among different level urgencies. As urgencies seem to become emergencies, stress pushes people to act quickly or surrender.

On good days, people might procrastinate to avoid stress & expand pleasure. On bad days, people might procrastinate to escape current problems & avoid other stresses.

Stress motivates people, as brains scramble to search memories for examples & facts which can clarify or clutter interpretations of current troubles. As mental clutter increases, people feel more vulnerable to trouble plus manipulative sellers.

Customer integration retailers can decrease vulnerabilities & increase trust, so customers are less concerned about manipulation. People don't want to admit vulnerabilities to potential manipulators, especially as vulnerabilities increase. Trust brings comfort & openness to ideas.

Long-term Progress

Despite not controlling what consumers understand or want to receive, we can influence their choices with customer integration. By integrating your store into consumers’ lives, you build trust by showing how you increase value by learning how to fulfill customers' desires & needs.

Some retailers don't ask service-oriented questions. Big retail customers are motivated to buy low-priced, cheap-quality products, but you should know advantages niche members want. So, differentiate your offers by emphasizing progress from effective, efficient products & techniques.

Consumers might wonder why customer integration retailers ask questions before recommending optimal products & methods.

Analogy: If you aren't a pharmacist, you might not know about off-label uses. Physicians might prescribe medications for conditions manufacturers hadn't considered. This can apply to how people use other products. Maybe products can be used with other methods in other conditions for other results, especially when people don't read instructions or use strange tutorials.

Your understanding of products & people's conditions is important but secondary. For successful offers, the primary importance is how people's desires & needs affect perceptions of conditions & understanding of products.

Start with what consumers (think they) know because if you don't work with what's in people's minds, you'll have trouble influencing plus connecting with beliefs.

Positioning involves where & how problems, opportunities, competitors & you are prioritized in people's minds. As problems & opportunities emerge, people's journeys could route toward or away from solution & optimization resources. By positioning your store in people's minds, you can influence their journeys.

If you & consumers don't know each other, you need to get in front of them as a guide. Are consumers observing/experiencing problems & correctly/incorrectly journeying toward prevention/solutions? Are consumers observing/experiencing gaps & correctly/incorrectly journeying toward opportunities?

As you consult with customers, you can refine your positioning in their lives plus your position in specific journeys.

Start with paradigms. The concierge paradigm can be based on people wanting to be treated like VIPs. You can go further by helping people fulfill very important person roles by being most valuable players for loved ones &/or organizations.

Analogy: For people’s journeys, do you sell equivalents of generic maps to theater parking lots? Would you specifically map customers’ routes based on personal needs, vehicles, traffic patterns & weather to parking lots & walks to theater doors? Would you be like an usher to choose seats according to physical needs or combine those like a concierge plus provide beverages & snacks?

Position your store in customers’ processes to establish & maintain advantages that wouldn’t exist or be complete without your resources. People might have 'set it & forget it' mindsets leading to frustration because high-quality products can last while conditions change.

Conditions can change & show how results hadn’t been fully prepared for multiple problems, though preparation might’ve been complete for current conditions.

Results may be as complete as possible from big retailers’ resources. High-quality products can make results more beneficial.

Your added value can establish advantages which include guiding customers’ journeys to avoid/reduce problems which makes advantages more powerful & retains power plus makes it useful as conditions evolve.

In WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON’T GET YOU THERE, Marshall Goldsmith & Mark Reiter wrote about success being a journey. They 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."

Some of Goldsmith's statements are: "Successful people believe they are doing what they choose to do, because they choose to do it." "Successful people have a unique distaste for feeling controlled or manipulated." "Their personal commitment encourages people to 'stay the course' and to not give up when the going gets tough. Of course, this same steadfastness can work against successful people when they should change course."

Anthropomorphized salmon might deny instinct drives them to spawn where they hatched. Small fry survived swimming downriver, but successful & failed salmon don't return to oceans to warn potential spawners before they fully commit. They might believe their "choices" & abilities are optimal, but accept advice about avoiding predators.

Position your store in people's minds & lives where commitments are made & journeys begin.

Advise customers about techniques for using products for reducing or avoiding obstacles & risks.

As much as practical, make successful projects more attractive than perceived bargains of discount products.

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

Copyright 2023 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/

Create New Familiarity with Effective, Efficient Offers

Though customer integration won't bring instant riches, it connects consumers' lives to retailers by building incremental success & reciprocal benefits. It optimizes customers' conditions with customized advantages beyond generic 'What's In It For Me?' offers of trading products & money.

After observing local successful advertising, check marketers’ social-media & mass-media outreach for examples of integration with people’s lives.

Even if you refuse integration, make advantage offers like urgent care prescriptions including: 1) indications: understanding what to solve &/or prevent; 2) contraindications: determining what not to use or stop doing; 3) prognosis: expectations to determine if treatments are effective & complete.

Insightful knowledge makes offers advantageous, so customers confidently, comfortably do necessary things to optimize long-term advantages.

Comfort Is Added Value

Naturally comfortable emotions can seem logical because they feel compatible. What makes your offers fit so naturally in customers' lives, anything less wouldn’t make sense? How can you make results completely advantageous? Advantage offers bring as much satisfying accomplishment as customers can afford.

Favorite authors/performers understand fans & magnetically attract people who feel naturally comfortable connections. Even if their criteria are nonverbal, fans' devotion feels so deeply vital, they defend its relevance.

Customer integration offers connect to & protect what people want to preserve, add value to or create.

When people experience benefits through viewing, hearing &/or reading creators’ samples, nascent connections start bridging gaps. People want to complete & maintain those connections to avoid losing those gains. When you integrate your store into people's lives, there's value people don't want to lose.

Offer Knowledge to Create New Familiarity

Unfamiliarity seems uncomfortably threatening enough to disintegrate people's achievements. People cling to comfortable, familiar things, so explain how offers connect effectively, efficiently with people's lives.

Ill-advised familiar things can feel "objectively" &/or subjectively compelling because people equate familiarity with safe expectations.

People might prefer familiar stressors over uncertainties. Progress could bring relief but entails confronting unknowns.

Mixed (Yes? Maybe?) emotions disrupt people's commitments to benefit creation & maintenance. Consider how uncertainties affect approach/avoid (accept/reject) dynamics of interpersonal rapport & reputations.

Build your reputation & rapport (reasons to purchase) by decreasing uncertainties. People avoid stress of potentially foolish mistakes by rejecting uncertain challenges that threaten internal peace (self-rapport).

Case study testimonials & descriptive risk-reversal (refund/exchange) offers can inspire comfort by settling uncertainties. I don’t mean ‘Product $32 with 30-day return policy’. Product returns are energy/time-consuming hassles.

Advantage offer descriptions help people with cognitive labor by clarifying purchase decisions. Explain how advantageous products achieve goals, so product returns are only necessary for defects.

Offer Example: ‘Before storms hit, (advantage) seems optional. Prevention preserves your (benefit) so you don’t need to deal with problems or hassle with insurance adjusters. (Store) inspires comfort & confidence with these product & service criteria: __. What are your criteria for (result)? Whether you've set (advantage) goals or want guidance, (Store) has information & advice about goal-setting & achievement plus optimal product choices. Discounters profit by taking money from people who tolerate low-quality standards. Do discounters conform to your criteria? (Store) offers necessities for (advantage) goals. Defective products can be returned for refunds or exchanges. Now it’s up to you to accept this offer, so you can confidently experience (advantage). Will you choose a product supplier & service collaborator like (Store)?’

Cognitive labor can become cognitive friction for consumers having insufficient information & insights to optimize labor. Suboptimal methods, tools & materials lead to excessive effort wearing people down like friction.

People think decisions are wrong if energy, time &/or products are wasted. Criteria can predetermine potential waste plus preserve resources.

It’s easy to think good decisions bring good processes & results. "Good" is a contextual judgment, so help people recognize contextual criteria.

People might give up or deviate from plans if unrealistic project criteria indicate failure.

Since people tend to rationalize emotional purchases, explain logical justifications for desires & prices. Add logic for comparing competitive offers plus avoiding buyers' remorse.

Customer integration includes the logic of 'Let's be sure we create & maintain the right advantages' so customers are assured they won't regret purchases.

Potential regrets can establish tipping points away from your offers. Don't expect people to make tipping points favor you; you're responsible for establishing emotional & logical tipping points. Explain pleasures plus pain reductions, so people will know what they'll lose if they don't buy from you.

Successfully Prepare For Safety & Danger

If prevention/solution attempts &/or opportunity fulfillments are misperceived as successful, failures might not be perceived until second chances aren’t practical.

If second chances are possible after preventions & solutions fail, people might await literal or perceptual storms passing &/or product availability. “Storms” could be whatever diminishes results, wastes investments &/or obstructs recovery.

As people succeed, confidence preserves personal reserves. Failures undermine reserves, so people lose confidence & are unmotivated to risk anything.

Would better products & methods produce resilient enough advantages to encourage people to try again? What would be people's resilience criteria? Which case study testimonials would demonstrate resilience?

You can create case study projects for publicity & easy confirmation. Which businesses & consumers would work with you to produce resilient advantages? Steps could be recorded & you could offer insightful knowledge for adapting steps for people’s needs & abilities. Include what-ifs, so people recognize actions to do or avoid & to assure progress.

If second attempts can be productive, people might not know whether to: 1) choose products according to current skills or available tutorials; or 2) check product availability to determine which skills to learn.

Guide purchases & learning simultaneously based on needs & goals, so customers avoid delays by preparing themselves & conditions while opportunities can be optimized.

People might prepare without defining full preparation. It isn’t pessimistic to consider what-ifs. Even if customers buy all supplies & plan optimal steps, what-ifs indicate when to ask for guidance about potential interruptions.

Won't Get You There

Since June 2022 without human stereotypes, we've extended Marshall Goldsmith’s bear salmon analogy about avoiding success delusion.

When starting journeys, salmon might be optimal but only spawn once possibly because of genetics or self-sacrifice in suboptimal conditions. They seem to sense success in finding natal rivers & dash upstream without eating. They’re equipped for spawning but barely equipped for threats or obstacles.

Anthropomorphized salmon might think they’re safer in shallow rivers between rocks where sharks & lamprey eels can’t attack from below.

Salmon are optimized for swimming & males might fight others in water. Bears & birds grab fish from above. Salmon can’t escape those attacks by diving into river silt or turning in tight spaces.

Though seized fish seem to fight, they’re trying to swim away which doesn’t work in air. Fish might successfully escape or fight bigger water-dwelling predators & expect similar future success.

While swimming in rivers, salmon are in predators' familiar territory. Predators have evolved into riverbed territory, but salmon hatch, leave & return to spawn then die.

Evolution is nature’s way of experimenting, optimizing & keeping what works. Learning about options improves survival but as conditions change, salmon don’t stay to explain life lessons to hatchlings.

As discounters come & go, show how you & customers can adapt & thrive together.

Jim Collins Offers Good Insights.

His Hedgehog Concept is inspired by hedgehogs' effective self-protection against foxes. However, SUVs could hit rolled-up hedgehogs while foxes watch for threats & flee. While crossing highways, hedgehogs should be aware of other threats even during fox attacks.

One method can fail against other threats if rolled-up hedgehogs become caked with mud & blinded while successfully resisting foxes. Testing & practice are vital to develop methods for changing opportunities & threats.

Imperfect performances seem wasteful but appropriate unsuccessful attempts are better than perfect methods mismatched for conditions. Example: Bears catch salmon swimming over rocks.

Could outdated, rolled-up retailers convince consumers there's nothing to fear in pursuing opportunities? Rolled-up retailers survive against big competitors until consumers want different offers.

Hedgehogs might roll-up differently in wet weather or for nonlethal nuisances. It could be wise for hedgehogs to keep an eye open, listen & be sensitive to ground vibrations to monitor if foxes attack, leave or crowd around.

Would walking away & monitoring for threats & opportunities be better than trying to run? Which weather conditions are threats or increase vulnerability to other threats? Which weather conditions reduce predators’ abilities?

There are issues to consider in adapting Hedgehog Concept 3 circles based on conditions to achieve goals & prevent problems.

What indicates conditions can’t be sufficiently suppressed or assets can’t be adequately adapted? How easily could vulnerabilities be decreased? Which criteria would reveal if efforts should be expended or suspended as vulnerabilities increase or fade? What would indicate too much &/or outdated reliance on established abilities? What indicates other options are necessary?

Retailers might inadvertently discover their Hedgehog Concept 3 circles are effective. Without knowing reasons, it's hard to know how to increase effectiveness & efficiency. Insightful evaluation is better than luck. Resilience requires adapting resources & testing methods while conditions change.

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

Copyright 2023 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/

Client Relationships Are Destinations In The Customer Integration Journey.

Customer integration shows your commitment to be a personal resource & move beyond share-of-wallet tactics to strategic client relationships. It means helping clients choose & implement personal optimizations to establish your loyalty to them. Until then, don’t expect customer loyalty.

Customer integration offers are: ‘Here’s what you need to __.’ Client relationship offers are: ‘This is how we’ll __ together.’

Blog readers vary in knowledge, so we're reinforcing customer integration while setting our vision to explore horizons. You should set customers’ visions to find new advantages.

To some extent, you can optimize current methods but when you’re close to peak performance, further advancement is limited.

As you optimize a marketing offer & method, you’ll need other offers & methods to appeal to other consumers. You’re more apt to increase profits with sales to customers who respond to additional offers & methods. Until you explore beyond your current reach, you won’t know how much more success is available or how to achieve it.

Since I’m proposing what’s unfamiliar to you, you think about risk because you haven’t implemented customer integration. Consider consumers’ risk perceptions. If you refuse to integrate your store into their lives to make offers less risky & more fulfilling for them, how can you expect them to initiate integration?

If you refuse to reach out further to consumers, don’t expect them to reach further to you. Customer integration shows you’re reaching out to help them instead of grabbing their wallets.

After you implement & optimize customer integration, you’ll transition beyond reaching out. You’ll stand out where customers want to be & they’ll join you. When you’re standing with customers, you can form client relationships.

Since June 2022, we've used Marshall Goldsmith’s bear salmon analogy to avoid success delusion. Goldsmith uses personal coaching to explore successful causes & effects.

Quotes From WHAT GOT YOU HERE WON'T GET YOU THERE:

“Successful people have a unique distaste for feeling controlled or manipulated. Even when I’ve gotten the greatest advance build-up as someone who can help people change for the better - in other words, I’m effective at helping - I still meet resistance. I have now made peace with the fact that I cannot make people change. I can only help them get better at what they choose to change.”

“People will do something - including changing their behavior - only if it can be demonstrated that doing so is in their own best interests as defined by their own values.”

Which Advantages Do People Value?

Let’s explore how client relationships build advantages on the customer integration foundation. Both models increase retailers' understanding of consumers' current 'HERE’ plus help customers realize why 'THERE’ is a more advantageous destination.

Retailers can be like students' guidance counselors by building insights to create & reach destinations. Help clients learn how to maintain progress while expanding horizons.

Consumers want benefits others enjoy but impractically deplete resources trying to get ‘there’. Help customers understand when somebody else’s ‘there’ isn’t suitable. Advantage offers include reviewing goals & conditions to develop a personal advantageous ‘THERE’ so costs are justified with increased positives &/or decreased negatives.

It includes describing how clients should fully own/maintain advantages of being 'THERE'.

'Client' implies relationship since clients have relationships preferably with fiduciary-like providers who serve based first on creating client advantages.

By relating to advantages, people form 'relationships' when things are gained, so losses are felt physically & emotionally.

Though healthy interpersonal relationships include sacrifices, advantages can equal or exceed sacrifice costs. Insightful information gives people perspectives for perceiving & comparing advantages & costs.

Insightful AIDA offers bring Awareness/Attention leading to Interest, building to Desire & inspiring purchase Actions. Client relationships justify purchases with guidance for productive actions.

Short-term Goals Long-term Costs

Salmon sacrifice themselves to spawn 'THERE' because they relate to actions & locations but not to results of hatchlings surviving & swimming to oceans/lakes. Adult salmons' struggles seem to indicate dedication to offspring but suffering is detrimental.

By equalizing sacrifices & self-preservation, adults could survive to warn offspring about those dammed rivers & bears. Warnings & workarounds strengthen individuals plus their relationships. Client relationships form bonds of interdependent help because each contribution makes advantages for all involved.

Discounters relate to profitable sales, so there's little dedication to customers because service is considered a cost. Discounters may claim to serve customers, but how do they define “service”? Investors grab profits instead of reinvesting in product & service quality.

Customer integration service includes matching products & actions with goals.

Example: Toddlers’ parents build adaptable recreation rooms to last long enough for teenagers to enjoy. Buildings should be top quality. Furniture & equipment should be safe even if units wear out in a few years because children will want age-appropriate units. Teenagers will probably reject formerly-favorite kiddy-size furniture & toys. Temporary decorations would fit teenagers’ evolving ‘relationship’ with their long-lasting 'clubhouse'.

Are customers’ desires for change & consistency realistic based on evolving product technology & probable developments? If customers’ desire & priority fulfillments require cooperation, which explanations could create understanding with those who can add resources & share benefits? How can you help customers persuade others to cooperate?

Relationships are based on similar priorities even if members don't prioritize equally.

Example: Greenhouse operators' dedication to beautifying cities might be a #2 priority, but citizen volunteers might prioritize public flowers at #8. Retailers could sell plants & materials at cost for civic projects & hope people pay full price for home projects. If volunteers are too tired to maintain civic & home projects, declining quality could discourage participation. Volunteers could share dedication to goal achievement but not commitment to maintenance.

Client relationships should include knowledge for realistic prioritization according to requirements & resources. Do your best to help clients preserve advantages as worthwhile investments.

If priorities & desires change, what do those changes indicate about goal achievements that established value? Do life changes or personal resource shortages force clients to abandon achievements? Do clients want to reduce activities but preserve property & equipment value? What do clients need for transitioning to other advantages? If people can't store & maintain equipment, do you offer maintenance, storage or rentals?

It's easy to start enthusiastically when people realize what their commitments can bring, but would requirements be too burdensome?

Consultation Example: 'You can start with in-stock products. Step #3 requires ordering (products). Rainy weather might strike anytime after (products) arrive. You'd have to dedicate time &energy to rush through remaining steps. I'll place the order if you're sure you can make it work.'

Consultations show your attention-to-detail.

Retailers' inattention or attention-to-detail indicates to consumers whether relationships or transactions are worthwhile.

Relationships Should Be More Valuable Than Transactions for Retailers & Clients.

I agree with Jay Abraham about serving clients instead of attracting tactical, transactional customers, especially if transactions are reactive instead of preventative & progressive. Relationships involve interactions, not just transactions.

Ideally, prevention & progress are planned. If you want clients more than customers, justify your role in clients' planning.

Jay used The Greek Parthenon analogy for supporting businesses with multiple pillars/methods. Customer integration builds powerful pillars.

Pillar & relationship combinations require architecture/planning to build & position pillars advantageously.

We can add "Positioning" by Al Ries & Jack Trout because you should position your business in people's minds & solidly position it in people's lives. If your advantageous business is removed, people's lives won't be complete & could be unsteady.

People happily think problems are over even if relief is temporary. It's important to differentiate preliminary & long-term results so customers don't stop too soon. Which analogies & comparisons demonstrate importance of next level results?

Offer Example: 'After last month's storm, (Store) has filled orders for (benefits). Since major damage & risks are reduced, it's time to finish with customized repairs. Stopping now would be like relying on temporary spare tires for your car. You need full-size replacements. At (Store), let's personalize product & method choices for your current & emerging needs so you'll avoid stresses of searching for & comparing important information plus deciding on options under pressure of approaching problems.'

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

Copyright 2023 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/