Create Enough Control to Preempt Customers’ Hesitation.

We’ve covered helping customers gain/regain control with advantage offers.

Case studies demonstrate successful methods for incrementally influencing conditions & easing stress, so customers confidently, precisely focus on details.

People are distracted & lose track of details when priorities & stresses pile-up. If efforts & resources are expended on Priority-1, would people lose Priority-2 limited-time opportunities? Would Priority-3 problems become worse?

People don't like settling for less than their aspirations.

Compare case studies of people who: 1) did & didn’t invest in advantages &/or 2) succeeded because they stopped hesitating. Describe everything customers gain from advantage offers, so do-it-yourselfers don’t resist full-service offers.

Offer Example: ‘Though you're rightfully proud of your skills, are you prepared as challenges of (season) approach. As you repair __, can you fully prepare for (opportunity)? If you run out-of-time, anticipation will become stress. (Contractor) can quickly repair __ while you learn about (opportunity) options & enjoy the anticipation. (Contractor) will help you proudly fulfill priorities plus enjoy (opportunity).'

Ask about customers' impressions before & after projects. Testimonials may express, 'Though others enjoyed (advantage), I hesitated after friends failed with cheap products. (Store) consultations showed success comes from (brand) products & planned projects. I can't bring back lost opportunities. I'm glad I have (advantage) now.'

Customer integration advantage offers & in-store experiences can inspire testimonials like that.

To develop offers, answer these:

After discovering opportunities, why do people advance, hesitate, not try or quit? Without insightful knowledge, consumers might have regrets after misunderstanding circumstances & offers. Advantage offers should clarify problem remedies & opportunity maximizing.

For your niche's circumstances, what makes customers' needs/desires urgent? What about that urgency makes your offers essential? If customers don't have money & time for urgent projects, what's the next best occasion & how does it compare to the best?

Limited-time offers are arbitrary. What makes any expiration date better than another? Why did customers perceive your suggested actions as superior to competitors’ offers? What would inspire customers’ self-confidence & confidence in products?

Uncertainty seems to justify hesitation. Raise assurance enough to make hesitation unnecessary & counterproductive.

Case studies help consumers relate to customers’ stories plus understand your insightful services bring more benefits than competitors' generic results. By comparing advertising & in-store experiences, consumers will recognize product value increases because of your understanding & desire to learn.

Advantage offers convert customers’ wishful thinking into functional hope. Customer integration practices are bridges bringing customers back for more value.

Use Customer Intimacy & Product Leadership to compete with competitors specializing in Operational Excellence/Leadership.

Progress & Stagnation - Which Brings More Risks?

Whether perceptions are accurate or false, what would indicate consumers should wait for information or stop projects? What would consumers gain &/or avoid losing if they wait or stop?

Issues have multiple factors & actions might affect some factors more than others. Consider positive & negative causes & effects. What if "A" happens, but "B" doesn't happen as expected?

Offer Example: ‘Let’s be realistic. People hesitate because they don’t know how to create & preserve (advantage). They don’t want to fail or lose (advantage) after succeeding. (Store) advantage offers include high-quality products chosen for your goals & circumstances so you succeed. You'll learn preventative maintenance specifically for (advantage) & won't lose enjoyment & fulfilling memories. Instead of thinking about risks of losing (advantage), consider what you’ll lose if you never have (advantage). (Store) is dedicated to functional hope, so avoid wishful thinking & we’ll build functionality.’

“Normal” Normally Isn’t.

We're avoiding human stereotypes by anthropomorphizing bears & salmon while continually expanding Marshall Goldsmith’s analogy to avoid success delusion & spawn insights.

As predators, salmon & piranhas have different tastes & abilities. Piranhas may be satisfied if they eat enough bears. If bears stay away, what will piranhas do? Can salmon better defend against or escape from bears or piranhas?

Bears are major threats, but salmon shouldn’t rush into alternatives without considering potential problems then testing effectiveness & efficiency. Though piranhas bring advantageous relief, disadvantages negate advantages.

Since they don’t always survive bear attacks, salmon don't develop self-defense techniques. Piranhas are unfamiliar with local conditions & to salmon. Species differences bring unpredictability.

When salmon react to unexpected effects, their reactions can cause unexpected effects. Though fish seem familiar & salmons’ circumstances are familiar, it’s important to avoid force-fitting facts & biases. Salmon & piranhas might bond based on similarities, but their mission success could be jeopardized by ignored differences.

Case study similarities might be incompatible with goals. Cold, oxygenated fresh & salt water are good for salmon but not piranhas. After meeting salmon in oceans, piranhas had difficulties switching to swimming upstream in rivers.

Salmon described conditions as normal except for bears, so piranhas thought they’d easily adjust to environmental & work conditions.

Their species might not survive if salmon stop spawning because of bear attacks. Salmon leaders could promise followers safety with a slogan: 'Piranhas will swim with us!' Followers might misunderstand & ask, 'Will bears eat piranhas not us?'

Effective offers require clearly understood advantages.

Be Careful What You Wish For!

Outsiders’ observations & experiences affect perceived logic of people's plans. Others might not notice causes or recognize slowly emerging internal & external effects. Learn about niche members, so you can blend objectivity with their subjective perceptions.

Help customers interpret observations & experiences with insightful knowledge. People might assume correlation is causation or concurrent effects have the same cause.

Many bears switched to other “normal” conditions by moving upstream to shallower water to avoid drowning. Some piranhas claimed success when few bears attacked. Salmon retorted, “Bears weren’t expected to attack YOU!”

It’s vital to define success metrics, expectations & impressions (“normal”).

Fish assumed they’re safe until they couldn’t swim & flee in shallow water. Bears learned to decrease their disadvantages & increase salmons’ & piranhas’ disadvantages. Swimming difficulties impeded almost 100% of their plan.

Commit to Goals, not Methods.

Salmon seem committed to spawning without considering alternative times & locations could better fit their requirements.

Help customers recover from mistakes & avoid risks. Encourage openness to input. Determine project irreversibility points when customers can consider stopping to resell kits.

Sales may be final, but resale & rentals open options when conditions make plans unsustainable. Resale values are lower than retail prices, but when customers invest in top-quality products, some value is retained. Discontinue if rental/resale promotions become unprofitable.

Offer Example: 'Plans go astray when people misinterpret information & observations. Customers take responsibility for consequences & consult with (Store) to reinterpret & replan. Don’t reject negative reality. Report triumphs & tribulations, so we can change methods & resource combinations to decrease negatives & increase positives. Ask for information packets from (Store). If you're serious about creating benefits, let's plan positive steps. (Store) has rental tools & used materials for beginners.'

If customers inquire without buying, offer consulting: 'If you're inquiring because of curiosity, I'll supply information packets. When you’re ready to create (benefits), let me know you're ready to plan.'

People should prepare for more, similar & less stressful conditions to ensure they maintain control. Progress isn't permanent without consistent or adjusted efforts.

Which resources should be reserved for future prevention or repairs? How much control do customers need for being & feeling safe? How much control & risk can they afford? How much & what kinds of controls are practical, attainable & sustainable? How much & what kinds of risks are possible, practical &/or tolerable?

Products May Be Low-Priced or Seem Impressive, But Prices or Impressiveness Don't Solve Problems.

Bears decreased attacks when piranhas were present, so hungry piranhas blamed & attacked salmon. The next attempt was piranhas wearing salmon costumes to fool bears. What could go wrong?

That's a discounter question. Instead of real remedies, discounters try imitations.

Piranhas couldn't fight in costumes & were vulnerable because of trouble removing costumes during attacks. Hungry bears eat whichever fish are vulnerable. Hungry, costumed piranhas fooled & bit salmon. Some salmon tried piranha costumes but were attacked by salmon gangs. Bears swarmed in while fish were fighting.

Remote-controlled piranha drones didn't work for thumb-less salmon.

Discounters advertised preprogrammed Piranha Drone-Amatics. Those drones had impressive names & scary appearances, but bears weren't impressed or scared.

Real problems are like that. No matter how cheap discount products are, problems aren't impressed. Problems grow despite or because of cheap products. Low-prices bring instant gratification, so explain why advantage offers establish long-term gratification of functional hope.

Product prices & appearances don't increase functionality. Functional hope brings personal benefits when functionality increases opportunities &/or decreases troubles.

Cheap prices let people keep money, but are they comfortable with incomplete remedies? How much & what kinds of functionality bring hope? It's important to know what went wrong & could fail without full remedies.

When they haven't fully defined problems, consumers don't fully understand necessary functionality. Differentiate your store by explaining how to create functionality in specific circumstances to increase customers’ understanding & functional hope.

As a specialist retailer, increase customers’ satisfaction by helping with cognitive labor.

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