Differentiate Your Business For Doubters.

(Note: I’m not advocating Harlow’s experiments. To avoid stereotyping humans, let’s continue analogizing stressful circumstances by extrapolating Harry Harlow’s findings.)

Harlow’s babies had oxygen, milk & minimal comfort. After determining objective & subjective life necessities, research could reveal whether subjects/victims tolerate or reject perceived shortages.

Will humans’ toleration end because: 1-relief never comes; 2-remedies are overpriced, incomplete &/or cause other trouble; 3-finished remedies are short-term? How long will anybody wait without satisfaction before seeking relief or surrendering?

Babies couldn’t verbalize feelings, describe unsatisfied needs or dodge harms. It’s like humans trapped in quicksand without recognized escape methods & routes. Outsiders may misperceive & say, “Get out of the puddle!”

Frustrating attempts disrupt functional hope unless people are assured about other testing options & customizing emerging benefits. Failure is disempowering, but power is preserved by learning from evaluated results.

Request customers’ reports for follow-up consultations. Testimonials & case studies can clarify how adjustments brought higher success than comparable efforts without your guidance.

If new customers’ descriptions aren’t clear, compare similar cases. Customers might recognize observations & experiences matching theirs.

Specialist retailers help customers evaluate circumstantial factors, recognize problems & plan remedies. In effect, competitors may be outsiders unable/unwilling to recognize & verbalize problems & remedies.

Customer integration grows stronger as people’s understanding improves consultation participation & perspectives about making higher investments for high-quality.

Will frustration & perceived inconveniences degrade into infuriation & perceived dangers? People might be tempted to emotionally "diagnose" problems, instead of feeling stumped by unfamiliar symptoms. People naturally prepare for recognized problems, right? Could problems be so bad if they don’t fit people’s preparation skills & resources?

Big retail customers might buy/use wrong or inadequate products & think/imagine problems are over.

If problems worsen, people doubt possible remedies.

Differentiate Advantage Offers For Countering Specific Doubts.

Before customers integrate your store into their lives, you’ll have doubts to overcome.

Doubters are stressed & mistrust facts for various reasons. Business differentiation shouldn't appeal to generalized consumers. Easily persuaded customers can build self-confidence & functional hope with products. This momentum & social proof can coax doubters.

Differentiate offers to fill knowledge & physical gaps, so doubters can be attracted by referrals, testimonials & case studies.

Cynics may bitterly believe high-quality doesn’t exist & reject proof. Despite internal conflicting beliefs, doubters may realize or want to believe better truths probably exist externally. Provide & apply those truths to doubters’ circumstances.

Consultations help doubters determine IF better options exist/could be created. Help customers determine indicators of successful problem remedies.

Offer Example: ‘Since cheap products disappoint people & many retailers won’t guide customers, your doubts are justified. For your needed remedies, schedule (Store) consultations for diagnosing problems before trying remedies. Step-by-step customized kits incrementally advance remedies. If preliminary results don’t fit criteria, let’s adjust products &/or instructions for sustainable advantages.’

If they want functional hope, doubters accept case studies. Cases won't happen until people experiment in their circumstances.

Harlow's babies expressed stress but coping mechanisms didn't accurately address problems.

Frustration adds more pain when humans sense, but don't recognize exact problems. After misdiagnosing problems & choosing inappropriate coping mechanisms, people might still trust their diagnoses & become more skeptical of mechanisms.

Depending on perceived options, frustrations could push people to test alternatives or surrender.

Nagging, unresolved subjective necessities seem to grow. Multiple minor complaints combine into major loads.

Though you can’t change people's budgets & credit-limits, your advantage offers can reduce stress. Justify new attempts with functional hope from guidance to adapt specific goals for circumstances.

After desires are justified, budgets & options can be adjusted based on results from case studies & new customer reports.

Example: Option-1 might be immediately effective. Option-2 might be effective longer. Option-3 might be consistently effective, but short-term. Option-4 might be less technical but slowly lose effectiveness despite maintenance efforts.

Which option best fits budgets & expectations? Desirability & pricing might depend mostly on when benefits begin, peak, fade &/or end. Are remedies complete & include long-term prevention? Help customers balance needs, desires, expectations & affordability of creating new realities.

Generally, people invest to enjoy opportunities (pride, status, enrichments) after remedying/preventing stress (ill-health, property damage, social troubles).

For cognitive labor to conquer uncertainty, people must know which facts apply to causes & effects plus advance goal achievements.

Potential Uncertainty Issues: How far will people go mentally/physically to find certainty? What/how much will people do to obtain & maintain opportunities/remedies?

If people start projects, which problems interfere with creating & keeping opportunities? Are stress-levels related to remedy costs & offset by opportunity value?

If problem causes are unfamiliar, people might not know about severity of effects. Perceptions could signify minor causes, so people procrastinate. But what if untreated effects continue, fade or grow?

Is time available for thinking before interventions? If hasty plans don’t fit conditions & goals, is there time to restart?

Solve Confusion Before Problems.

Consumers value people’s knowledge & opinions. Urge niche members to seek your advice after asking how others understand opportunities & problems. Causes & effects may seem minor externally even to empathetic loved ones.

Problems are personally perceived internally & can undermine health in ways outsiders don’t understand.

Case studies & testimonials can explain how your advantage offers relieve specific troubles. Stress-relief clears minds, so customers can conquer other causes.

Some may interpret “subjective necessities” as oxymoronic. Objective necessities fulfill confirmed survival needs & fill/prevent some subjective gaps.

When people are stuck in subjective gaps, causes may be invisible, but noticeable stress effects may be misunderstood externally &/or internally. How long can anybody tolerate subjective stressors?

When total fulfillment isn't possible/available or affordable, which substitutes increase confidence & comfort enough to justify purchases plus learning methods?

Clayton Christensen advocated marketing based on people's jobs-to-be-done. Before/during/after using your offers, how much control/influence do people have over jobs-to-be-done effectiveness & efficiency?

Harlow’s newborns had “job-openings” without information to describe mothers'/“applicants” qualifications & unfulfilled duties, so indefinite/undefined problems/gaps brought definite frustrations.

When you help customers describe opportunities or gaps, jobs-to-be-done descriptions are easier.

Surrogates couldn't guide babies in maximizing benefits like mothers could. If self-determined babies controlled access to milk & "comfort" from surrogates, access didn't increase quality.

Self-determination is important for feeling comfortably secure if people know what they should control & how. But self-determination is incomplete without beneficial, reachable resources &/or ability to acquire better options. Self-advocacy requires knowledge of procedures & evaluating disruptions.

Beholding benefits seemingly indicate opportunity availability, but customers must create & preserve favorable conditions. Without that ability, stress increases if people predict they wouldn’t enjoy those “benefits” again.

If attempts fail as people test methods, desperation becomes another symptom as relief seems further out-of-reach. Without relevant experiences, babies weren’t aware surrogates couldn’t actively fulfill needs. It’s like people reaching for relief without recognition criteria or accurate knowledge for using available resources.

Without criteria to recognize maternal practices, babies wouldn’t automatically recognize authentic mothers. If newborns rejected surrogates & disregarded mothers, unfulfilled needs would cause more stress. Without “trial offers”, newborns wouldn’t recognize mothers’ physical traits as qualifications until demonstrated practices help babies confirm benefits.

Based on human criteria, laboratory conditions may've seemed better than nature, but Harlow's babies became more stressed.

Your perceptions of local conditions & potential advantages aren't enough to persuade niche members. Develop offers based on members' perceptions & understanding. Make it easier by influencing their perceptions & understanding.

Potentially True Analogy: While contractors coaxed people to build the Panama Canal, workers stopped working after satisfying their financial needs. Contractors experienced high living standards, but laborers didn't know earning more money could bring more enjoyment. Contractors distributed catalogs to show advanced products & explained how to upgrade lifestyles. Laborers were inspired & worked longer to finish the canal. This fits my functional hope concept.

Without functional hope, Harlow's babies became more uncomfortable. If they could've understood & believed experiment results were necessary for future functional hope, babies' physical pain might’ve been less distressing. But distress wouldn’t end because upgrades wouldn’t improve surrogates much.

It’d be like tolerating cheap stuff while saving money for upgrading cheap stuff. Advantages would be possible only with high-quality replacements.

If humans feel discomfort worsens & functional hope doesn't exist for recovery, mental stress combines with physical discomfort. This combined stress is hard to resist as fatigue overwhelms people.

If scientists quantified & stabilized total pain, that "progress" wouldn't directly enhance subjective coping mechanisms. Coping mechanisms might be stable or improved if you & your retail teammates offer progress & future functional hope.

Offer Example: ‘Though you’re familiar with your situation, (problem) seems strange. By the time, you learn the definite diagnosis & examine extensive damage; symptoms will worsen while you handle other priorities. You need answers & might need help forming meaningful questions to find appropriate answers. In (Store) consultations, let’s review your pictures, observations & checklists, so we’ll develop questions to bring necessary answers. When people don’t know exactly what’s wrong, any cheap products & chores seem adequate. Before you start, let’s define the impact you need & set your goal, so your product & method choices will maximize your achievements.’

Copyright 2025 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.

Your business's profit potential depends on how much value your market niche perceives in what you offer. They won't perceive any value unless they have a reason to think about it. It's why you need effective marketing.

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