Value streams flow from suppliers through your store to consumers if you offer what people value as conditions change.
Value streams are shaped by needs & desires. Influence your streams by customizing superior benefits for individual needs & desires.
Retailers can fail if they promote products instead of featuring ways to overcome obstacles.
Retain customers by helping them navigate life & prepare for changes.
Determine how to fulfill top priorities by asking about customers' needs, desires & experiences. Use their answers to form questions when you ask: 1- suppliers about products; 2- officials about government plans &/or 3- knowledgeable people about natural causes & effects.
When you know what to expect & how products work, you can develop kits based on customers' desires & needs.
Assure people they can produce benefits with the right products, methods & advice.
A basic template is: This kit has plans plus products with instructions to produce (benefits) with these methods: ___. Instructions show techniques for using products. Plans combine techniques into methods.
Reducing Disappointments
People might adjust unfulfilled expectations & still be frustrated. You can decrease disappointments by matching expectations with products & helping people customize results.
People might be frustrated when products are discontinued. Distinguish your business by offering locally significant benefits instead of specific products.
Explain how you reduce disappointments with warranties, product quality & information. It makes your store a dependable resource for people dealing with stress. You can be a trusted consultant for preventing or mitigating negative causes or effects.
You can guide people to create benefits by increasing their understanding of current & potential conditions.
Note: If people are sensitive about benefits, you can focus on desired results. Be careful about offering to reduce negative emotions. Example: People might be proud when they lose weight. If you offer ways to increase pride, don't imply reasons for shame.
To avoid disappointments, people should avoid stores that don't offer total solutions.
Though paying low prices can be satisfying, satisfaction ends when people don't get positive results. Emphasize how you satisfy needs & desires with your knowledge of products & local conditions.
Customize ways to improve results as lives change.
Combine Products & Knowledge to Produce More Value
Don't assume people know how to solve problems or benefit from opportunities.
Since opportunities don't guarantee advantages, people need resources including knowledge. Since products don't solve problems without effort, help people choose & correctly use products.
Without information, products are like puzzle pieces without a picture. Plans should include descriptions of problems & solutions to help people identify which: 1- products fit their conditions & 2- results match their expectations.
Product kits & plans are good for differentiating your store. Kits can produce better results than individual products from discount stores.
When you print general instructions frequently, your invested time & money is spread over similar transactions. You can offer detailed plans at cost or a small markup.
Promote project kits including products, checklists, instructions & plans to help customers implement full solutions.
To find money streams, look for things people prioritize. What do they want to change or maintain?
Influence people's priorities by explaining why solutions & benefits are important. Explain how kits make solutions & benefits possible. Information helps people prioritize. Priorities motivate people.
Build Trust with Better Offers
Build trust with questions you ask & answers you give. Gain knowledge to anticipate consumers' issues. Learn about emerging needs & desires. Details can help you reduce people's stress with full solutions.
Offers should indicate you study about making customers' lives easier. Your concern inspires people's trust.
Streamline transactions with product kits. Kits are convenient because people can: 1- avoid mistakes in choosing materials & tools; & 2- solve problems sooner.
A basic template is: This problem has these symptoms: ___. Its causes & effects are __. Prevent its causes by __. Fix its effects with this kit & these techniques: ___.
Gain Trust By Limiting People's Losses
People are usually more concerned about losing things than gaining.
What are customers concerned about losing? Gain trust with offers customers need for limiting losses.
Compare suppliers' product offers with what customers need to prevent or replace losses.
Value streams can form where consumers' needs intersect with your talents & knowledge plus suppliers' offers. You can develop marketing tactics & strategies to position your business in those streams.
Full Solutions or Discounted Products
You need to balance whether you create unique offers or copy competitors.
When competing with big retailers, your store might be like a boat compared to ships. Consumers' demands can be streams too small for ships.
Precise products & advice for consumers' conditions are better than discounted products without information.
Track customers' product, service & knowledge needs to increase your expertise & respond better than competitors. If consumers have tried various options, compare results & expectations to determine better alternatives.
Since success can depend on specializing, consider your capacity for deep & wide product selections.
Local conditions determine which product models might be necessary. You can use your expertise to assemble precise solutions.
Compare conditions with your inventory & ability to support customers. If products are complicated, will you restrict your inventory based on your ability to advise customers about using products?
How well can you judge product quality? How well can you determine if product quality matches people's conditions?
Retailers can fail with cheap products & insufficient knowledge of products & conditions.
It's vital to offer & describe specific benefits so people can recognize options they need for their life stages.
Some suppliers sell to discount chains & upscale stores. If you offer the same brand products as competitors, you're fishing from the same stream & should differentiate with value beyond products.
You should emphasize how your inventory standards & knowledge affect people's results.
You also need to balance inventory with people's priorities. You'll be stuck with products if you don't motivate people to upgrade their conditions.
Referrals & testimonials can motivate people to invest in improvements & buy from you. By successfully supporting customers with products & advice, you can generate referrals & testimonials to motivate people.
Add Value With Advice
Help people determine how to influence or control their conditions.
People, who are in the same location & similar conditions, can have needs of different severities because they have different resources. How can they upgrade their resources to fit their needs? Is the problem treatable or should people retreat?
You should know when to advise people to try other options. Example: "I don't know if that would work as you want. Let's consider other options."
When people know you care about them, they're more apt to trust your advice. Service quality affects customers' feelings. People notice when retailers think of customers as money sources.
Consult with customers to find solutions based on product specifications & current or potential problem severity. Example: When problems start, people might need to do maintenance or make adjustments. If problems are severe, people might replace parts or make big changes.
Customers don't have to be experts, when you offer full solutions. When they have that much confidence, why would they choose other stores?
Is It Time To Change?
Product streams can end, start or change when people's priorities, needs & desires change. You can switch streams by changing your kits.
Monitor customers' conditions, so you'll know what's getting harder & you can adjust your kits & advice.
Do people need different products, methods or both? Ask about their needs & results to determine whether to change your inventory or knowledge base.
Be more concerned about how products fit people's conditions & your ability to sell solutions instead of whether other retailers reject products. Retailers have various business model criteria & reasons to drop products.
Here are some criteria to consider:
If you need to change suppliers, consider these criteria: Do suppliers push products or help you serve consumers? Do suppliers provide product information you need?
Some niche criteria should be whether people recognize a product's value & consistently pay profitable prices.
You can adjust your inventory & advice as you monitor how well products fulfill customers' needs. Use customers' feedback to track value. If value declines: 1- conditions are changing; 2- you offer the wrong products or 3- it’s the wrong niche.
Your business model criteria should be focused on helping people fulfill specific purposes. You'll increase awareness of your store's value as you promote products & services for specific purposes.
I wrote about purpose brands in this post - "Fulfill Customers' Needs With A Purpose Brand". Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor explained purpose brands in The Innovator's Solution. You can check a search engine for a summary.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2019 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/
Showing posts with label Michael E. Raynor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael E. Raynor. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2019
Friday, February 22, 2019
Nonconsumers = NO sales
Copyright 2010 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
Dennis, It seems you’re focusing on retailers more than small businesses in general.
I’ve read & listened to what Clayton M. Christensen wrote. I don’t know how it applies to retailing – especially a small store. Maybe I’m a no consumer of his wisdom.
He wrote about appealing to nonconsumption & applies it to product makers & service providers. I sell products made by others. By the time, products get to me, they’re done & I need to sell them as-is.
There are many nonconsumers & they won’t buy what they don’t want or need. I can’t afford to start an advertising campaign for each product & try to convince nonconsumers they should consume.
Some suppliers have co-op advertising programs, but most aren’t worthwhile - especially to somebody who has such a low budget.
Predictability Comes From Good Theory are you kidding me? Do you really understand this stuff?
How can a sole proprietor have time & mental energy to figure which theories apply? Who among us can summon up time & energy to figure out how to form a theory?
How can anybody who works & especially runs a business learn and remember the terms, what they mean & how to sue them?
artificial motivation nonmarket forces asymmetric skills
Give me a break. He’s definitely a professor, but I’m not a student who has time to study for tests. I live the test every day! I’m not a theory-building scholar.
I know I’m making grammar & spelling mistakes, but I’m sure you can figure out what I mean.
Seeing What's Next? When I see what’s next, I see bankruptcy.
Subject: Retailing & Nonconsumption
In reply to: "Nonconsumers = NO sales"
Yes, I understand about 50% of what Christensen, et al wrote. I haven't gotten into using it to develop products either. I focus on understanding what retailers can do & how to help retailers choose what they should stock based what manufacturers offer & what consumers want & need.
Your message has a few issues in it. I'll cover the main issue.
For other readers, this thread of posts pertains to these books about innovation & predicting what will be successful:
The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen
The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor
Seeing What's Next: Using Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change by Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, and Scott D. Anthony
Theory (formal study of a subject like Game theory & Political theory) doesn't have to be complex. Some Game theory scholars use long mathematical formulas to find answers. Not me, I avoid that depth.
Since many words have multiple definitions, I want to start with a definition; it's from The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/theory
Theory A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
In the thesaurus section, I found - hypothesis, philosophy, system of ideas, plan, system, science, scheme, proposal, principles, ideology, thesis
An example- He produced a theory about historical change.
Proposal - something proposed (such as a plan or assumption)
Hypothesis - a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations
Hopefully this analogy will help. Many people learn how to fight & supposedly become experts. They may be an expert in a specific martial art & do well against others who fight the same way. They may lose badly when fighting those who use different techniques.
Self defense theory helps us understand & anticipate (predict) what an enemy can & cannot do in a particular situation. When an enemy attacks me, each movement changes what that enemy can do to me. Eventually, the possibilities are so narrow, I know (subconsciously) what the technique is & I can counter it.
An obvious & instructive example is somebody who is spinning & raising a leg isn't trying a left jab. This is a hypothesis.
Using self defense theory, I don't need to learn every martial art to fight effectively.
In business, there are limits to what can be done profitably. The theory (principles) Christensen & the others wrote about is similar to what I wrote about self defense theory.
Hypothesis example - A business with a small sales floor & small parking lot won't start selling cars in the usual way. It could start an alternative way that could disrupt current dealers. If those dealers dismiss the possibility of a threat, they may have trouble later.
In sales terminology, there are prospects & suspects. Suspects probably won't buy a particular product (lack of money, no desire or need). Suspects probably won't hire a particular product to do a job they need done. Their needs may be different than what prospects need to get a job done. Prospects, who have enough money & motivation to buy it, are more apt to become customers. What Clayton Christensen calls nonconsumers are those I call prospects because they may buy a product.
There are a lot of terms in his books that most people don't usually use. To understand & communicate the concepts, we need to call them something.
Do you need to memorize the terminology? Based on my understanding of your situation, I answer No.
I hope I answered your main issue. If I should make it more clear, please let me know. Also, please let me know if you want help with the other issues you wrote about.
Copyright 2010 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
Dennis, It seems you’re focusing on retailers more than small businesses in general.
I’ve read & listened to what Clayton M. Christensen wrote. I don’t know how it applies to retailing – especially a small store. Maybe I’m a no consumer of his wisdom.
He wrote about appealing to nonconsumption & applies it to product makers & service providers. I sell products made by others. By the time, products get to me, they’re done & I need to sell them as-is.
There are many nonconsumers & they won’t buy what they don’t want or need. I can’t afford to start an advertising campaign for each product & try to convince nonconsumers they should consume.
Some suppliers have co-op advertising programs, but most aren’t worthwhile - especially to somebody who has such a low budget.
Predictability Comes From Good Theory are you kidding me? Do you really understand this stuff?
How can a sole proprietor have time & mental energy to figure which theories apply? Who among us can summon up time & energy to figure out how to form a theory?
How can anybody who works & especially runs a business learn and remember the terms, what they mean & how to sue them?
artificial motivation nonmarket forces asymmetric skills
Give me a break. He’s definitely a professor, but I’m not a student who has time to study for tests. I live the test every day! I’m not a theory-building scholar.
I know I’m making grammar & spelling mistakes, but I’m sure you can figure out what I mean.
Seeing What's Next? When I see what’s next, I see bankruptcy.
Subject: Retailing & Nonconsumption
In reply to: "Nonconsumers = NO sales"
Yes, I understand about 50% of what Christensen, et al wrote. I haven't gotten into using it to develop products either. I focus on understanding what retailers can do & how to help retailers choose what they should stock based what manufacturers offer & what consumers want & need.
Your message has a few issues in it. I'll cover the main issue.
For other readers, this thread of posts pertains to these books about innovation & predicting what will be successful:
The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen
The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor
Seeing What's Next: Using Theories of Innovation to Predict Industry Change by Clayton M. Christensen, Erik A. Roth, and Scott D. Anthony
Theory (formal study of a subject like Game theory & Political theory) doesn't have to be complex. Some Game theory scholars use long mathematical formulas to find answers. Not me, I avoid that depth.
Since many words have multiple definitions, I want to start with a definition; it's from The Free Dictionary http://www.thefreedictionary.com/theory
Theory A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
In the thesaurus section, I found - hypothesis, philosophy, system of ideas, plan, system, science, scheme, proposal, principles, ideology, thesis
An example- He produced a theory about historical change.
Proposal - something proposed (such as a plan or assumption)
Hypothesis - a proposal intended to explain certain facts or observations
Hopefully this analogy will help. Many people learn how to fight & supposedly become experts. They may be an expert in a specific martial art & do well against others who fight the same way. They may lose badly when fighting those who use different techniques.
Self defense theory helps us understand & anticipate (predict) what an enemy can & cannot do in a particular situation. When an enemy attacks me, each movement changes what that enemy can do to me. Eventually, the possibilities are so narrow, I know (subconsciously) what the technique is & I can counter it.
An obvious & instructive example is somebody who is spinning & raising a leg isn't trying a left jab. This is a hypothesis.
Using self defense theory, I don't need to learn every martial art to fight effectively.
In business, there are limits to what can be done profitably. The theory (principles) Christensen & the others wrote about is similar to what I wrote about self defense theory.
Hypothesis example - A business with a small sales floor & small parking lot won't start selling cars in the usual way. It could start an alternative way that could disrupt current dealers. If those dealers dismiss the possibility of a threat, they may have trouble later.
In sales terminology, there are prospects & suspects. Suspects probably won't buy a particular product (lack of money, no desire or need). Suspects probably won't hire a particular product to do a job they need done. Their needs may be different than what prospects need to get a job done. Prospects, who have enough money & motivation to buy it, are more apt to become customers. What Clayton Christensen calls nonconsumers are those I call prospects because they may buy a product.
There are a lot of terms in his books that most people don't usually use. To understand & communicate the concepts, we need to call them something.
Do you need to memorize the terminology? Based on my understanding of your situation, I answer No.
I hope I answered your main issue. If I should make it more clear, please let me know. Also, please let me know if you want help with the other issues you wrote about.
Copyright 2010 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
where will the profits be?
Copyright 2011 Dennis S. Vogel All rights reserved.
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I desperately need to do what you and Clayton M. Christensen advise - get to where profits will be.
I have a clothing store and I don't know how I could apply this concept to retailing in small stores.
Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 1
In reply to: "where will the profits be?"
Desperately needing a better situation & knowing you need to change can work in your favor. Some people need to be pushed out of their comfort zones, so they'll search for a better situation they've never been in before.
Some people in their comfort zones want/expect different results, yet they don't do anything different enough to get a satisfactory difference.
Let's start with this hypothetical premise - You have limited money to buy inventory. You have a small sales floor & little display space. You can't afford to pay for more storage space, so you can't afford to make big purchases to get volume discounts. For financial efficiency, you can buy products from only 1 of 2 suppliers because your store can't accommodate a big variety of product lines.
Some suppliers require minimum quantity orders or they charge more for shipping smaller quantities.
Based on styles, prices & shipping schedules, you narrow your list of potential suppliers to 2. After you check each of them, you discover fabrics used by one of them seem unusual.
Add Your Trade Skill & Consumer Input
Based on what you know & what you learn from research, suppliers & customers, discover what consumers will be dissatisfied with in the near future.
What will be less than they expect? - OR -
Which product features may be more than they want/expect?
Unwanted features will probably just add more expense &/or complexity without significantly increasing benefits some users get.
Here are a few common issues in product design & manufacturing, I've applied them to clothing -
Superior quality & durability of materials & stitching can be good in theory. What happens after clothing is stained, somewhat worn out &/or out of style? Where will that unwanted clothing go?
Durable materials may last for a long time in landfills.
That clothing could be donated or handed down to somebody else. Eventually, clothing will be disposed of & probably end up in landfills/dumps. Piles of that material that didn't get worn down may occupy a lot of space. When clothing isn't used, it probably won't be degraded much with wear & tear (friction).
Let's figure a fabric won't break down unless friction reduces it down to lint. Another issue is ability to recycle the fabric when the clothes are discarded so the materials aren't wasted & land isn't overfilled.
A lack of landfill acreage is getting worse.
Cheap materials may be trashed even sooner & occupy landfill space. (Example - what big box stores offer. Always Low Quality. Always.)
I don't know how relevant my example is/will be to consumers who might buy from you. It depends who they are, what their priorities are & what they can afford.
Manufacturing products often causes pollution (It's a reason manufacturers & big box stores have things produced in 3rd world countries that are more lax with environmental laws. Lower labor cost is only one issue.).
Does the mining or harvesting of raw materials (for products you stock) endanger people or animals? Note: People tend to like cotton. Planting & harvesting, then hauling cotton to a factory requires using fuel (usually gasoline or diesel). Fuel combustion produces exhaust (pollution).
Recycling products requires some source of energy to reshape the materials. That source of energy is apt to have a carbon footprint (total set of greenhouse gas emissions).
Some byproducts are probably produced when things are recycled. Where are the byproducts put? Are byproducts used to make other things?
After I give this issue more thought, I can help you more.
So, you can start with Part 1 & check back for part 2.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2011 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: where will the profits be?
I think I have most of what I need. I feel like I'm drowning in some resources, but I'm parched regarding others.
If I knew how to apply this skate to where profits will be idea, I'd know what to keep or liquidate and what else to obtain. I can't afford to load up on irrelevant (to where future profits will be) resources.
I think I know enough about retailing & marketing to succeed, except how and wbere to apply.
Thank you for your help.
Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 2 - Side Effects & "Adverse Reactions"
Thank you for responding to my other message. Without knowing more about what the products are, I can't know where the profits will be, except in a very general way.
What do you want help with - current inventory or future products? Who is in the market niche? What do they have now? What (which benefits) do they want/expect? What are the alternatives (substitutes) they can choose?
At times, I may go off on tangents (or it seems I do). I feel it's important to consider a variety of factors, do some testing & continue what's optimal.
I'm continuing on with my reply to your 1st message in this thread -
> I desperately need to do ...
How critical is your situation?
2 definitions of desperate from TheFreeDictionary are (I added the glass analogy) -
Nearly hopeless; critical (Glass Not Empty & Not Full)
Having lost all hope; despairing. (Glass Empty)
Here's another related analogy -
Just Get More Water (or Something) While You Can
A glass isn't half empty or half full, it's just holding less than its capacity, which indicates something is missing. Knowing what to replace it with - & how to do it - is important. In a desperate situation, it's important to determine what will help most & hurt least.
I'm glad you realize this - "I'd know what to keep or liquidate and what else to obtain."
If your store has thrived while holding less than its capacity, maybe you have more glass than you need. Pouring more into it could make it harder go where profits.
If you're feeling ill & your symptoms are orthostatic hypotension, lethargy, nausea, paresthesia, tachycardia & hypoalbuminemia, you're probably dehydrated. If one symptom is delirium, it may seem like a doctor is speaking a foreign language or maybe the doctor is delirious.
(Side Note - Some people may be impressed by jargon, others may be offended. Other than the medical terms above, I've explained things in basic ways so I hope every reader can understand. I hope my message doesn't seem condescending.)
Some symptoms, diagnoses & cures are quite obvious to those who know how to recognize them. When diseases have similar symptoms, accurate diagnoses are harder. Treatments vary depending on patients & severity of symptoms. Overcoming the symptoms may feel comforting, but it probably won't cure the problem.
The wrong treatment may reduce symptoms, but hurt a patient more than the disease. I don't want to give you a marketing "pill" without sufficient details. I'm warning you (all readers) of possible side effects & adverse reactions.
Knowing retail & marketing is great, but testing methods, products & services is still necessary because situations change quickly, even if we don't notice. I hope you do conservative tests so you don't use too many resources on something that's not optimal.
In my medical analogy, whatever you may or may not understand, you should understand the importance of drinking enough water & getting everything else you need. (Water for your store would be anything it needs on a daily basis.)
If the diagnosis is moderate dehydration, would you want a doctor to wonder if you're half full or half empty? I'd think you'd want a doctor to give you an IV (insert an intravenous catheter/line) solution containing what you need most (not just water), after that s/he can determine if you're sufficiently hydrated. A little IV solution to start probably won't harm you & it could help.
This corresponds to conservative testing.
Medical doctors are taught "1st do no harm". Yet, too much delay can be harmful. Without more details, it's hard for me to help you apply the skating concept directly to your store.
One of the 1st things nurses & paramedics do is start an IV. There are various reasons like the ability to administer medications & as a patient becomes more dehydrated, veins constrict & inserting a needle becomes harder.
If you don't get what you need soon, it may be harder to give you what you need later.
Without a description of your situation, I don't know what the symptoms are. I hope what I'll write in Part 3 will give you what you need until you fill in some blanks. Like our need for water, I could advise drinking more water, after all, the excess will just (maybe) be excreted. Yet, too much water can cause problems too.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2011 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 3 Get The (Hockey) PUCK Out Of There
I've added extra insights to what Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, Matthew Verlinden, et al have written, so some of this may seem unfamiliar.
I've developed a hypothetical situation (below) to explain a very general way to apply the "skating to where the puck is" advice.
Windermere Associates discovered a basic buying criteria hierarchy - functionality, reliability, convenience & price. Depending which products people consider buying, they may have other important criteria. A buying hierarchy could include safety, comfort, style, fit, environmentally friendly, then price.
When this buying criteria hierarchy - functionality, reliability, convenience & price - is used (consciously or subconsciously), a product has been commoditized by the time the majority of buyers has set price as the top priority/main criterion.
Innovation can put a product (that was a commodity) above price in a buying hierarchy by producing what a market niche deems to be special.
Whatever a market niche values (especially what they choose as a top priority) becomes the basis of competition. It's possible to persuade people to change their buying criteria & shift the basis of competition to hopefully delay commoditization. (It's another subject we can write about if there's enough interest.)
Any business/person, trying to promote anything based on any other values or priorities, is either a pioneer or fool.
Pioneers innovate or work with innovators to create, further develop & market what people don't want YET. They risk being too early. Example - When primitive people effectively used fire & wheels, they made significant progress. Then making progress meant inventing something very basic (by modern standards) or innovating to improve an invention.
Fire (combustion) & wheels (tires) are necessary to operate cars. Even the most advanced cave dwellers weren't ready for cars. They hadn't even driven wagons yet. So, Henry Ford would've been bankrupt if he were alive 100,000 years ago & tried to make cars.
Is this just a ridiculous idea of mine? No, so don't call it horse hockey. It's a bizarre example to help you realize & remember how Wayne Gretzky's wisdom applies to business.
Eventually, people used rolling logs, but when wheels were invented rolling logs were no longer good enough for many tasks.
Wheels were improved through experience & innovation. Making wooden wheels durable was where the rubber met the road. Making wheels tough enough for gravel paved the way for more travel.
After tires were developed, wooden wheels seemed a little flat. Wheels weren't good enough for rapid, long distance travel.
A Hypothetical Scenario -
Eventually, processes for using recycled materials to make fabrics may be more efficient & profitable. More demand for recyclable materials should reduce accumulations of waste products like plastic bottles.
As it becomes more profitable, more suppliers will offer more of these products. Then at some point, products in this category will be commoditized. After that, prices are apt to come down because of economies of scale & competitive pressures.
That kind of fabric could be a viable alternative as long as those recycling & manufacturing processes aren't significantly more expensive than producing what's currently available.
If it requires less mining & drilling (ecological threats) &/or fewer byproducts (less pollution & landfill use), people may prefer it if it's at least as comfortable & durable as what's available now.
It's best if the product's materials don't harm people, animals or the environment (Unlike products made in Communist China & sold in big box stores - Save Money. Live Better as long as you don't use big box store products made with cadmium, lead or other toxins.).
In part 1, I figured 'Based on styles, prices & shipping schedules, you narrowed your list of potential suppliers to 2.'
Now let's figure 1 of those manufacturers gets good, though preliminary, results by making fabrics from recycled trash. Consumers may be enthusiastic about this fabric & clothes made of it because the fabrics are perceived as better than others. To them, standard fabrics seem to be less than good enough.
The other hypothetical manufacturer isn't innovative at all. What it produces used to seem good enough, but more people prefer environmentally friendly products.
Now it's time for you to buy some clothing inventory. Let's figure you can afford to buy from either supplier, but not both.
Your past profits may have come from sales of standard products. Now standard products are less popular, so to sell those you have to markdown the prices.
(Hypothetically) Environmentally friendly products are more popular (fashionable) & many consumers are buying more of these. These consumers are also willing & able to pay full retail prices for these products.
In this hypothetical scenario, if you buy those environmentally friendly products & market them well, then you're on your way to where the profits are or will be.
As long as ecology is a high priority for your market niche, they may keep expecting ecological products to improve. Until most clothes are ecologically sound, people will want what they perceive to be the best. When all/most products in a category are perceived to be equal in an attribute (like ecology), consumers will put a higher priority on another attribute. They'll still expect a certain level of environmental responsibility when they evaluate products.
As long as they're satisfied with the product attributes they expect, they'll pick products according to their next priority.
Warning 1
There will always be some who disprove of innovations. Example - Athletic Clothing Made from Recycled Plastic Bottles (technorati.com).
Warning 2
Very few things work optimally at the beginning. There are many variables in experimenting (research & development) & production. Some variables are beneficial & others aren't. When good variables are improved & bad variables are excluded, products improve.
Too often, critics seem to demand immediate perfection. Some criticism is good, but many critics put down any inventors & innovators, plus their products.
Note - Criticizing potentially unsafe products is justified, even if the prices are always low.
If everybody refused to buy safe, but imperfect products, manufacturers couldn't afford to keep innovating & improving products. To succeed, manufacturers need to find somebody who wants imperfect products.
Imperfect products can still have benefits for somebody. If the benefits (in quality or quantity) outweigh a lack of those benefits, & potential product users can afford to buy those benefits, there's a market niche.
Example- Clothing prices would probably spike if 1) drought or pestilence wiped out an annual cotton crop; & 2) makers of commonly used fabrics were already using their full production capacities.
In a situation like that, if clothing made of recycled products were inexpensive; some people would either buy those kinds of clothes or not buy any new clothes (they'd be stuck with old clothes).
Critics enjoy finding what's wrong because then they feel superior. But what have those negative critics ever contributed to the world?
As plastic gets used for fabrics more often, it'll probably become better ecologically, financially & physically.
You should monitor trends carefully, so you'll know where to go get profits. When you find them, you need to take the right actions.
If Wayne Gretzky went to get a puck but did nothing with it, he wouldn't have been a star. Something people seem to forget or disregard this fact - After Wayne Gretzky got a puck; he got the PUCK out of there.
Before you go to where your puck will be, you should have a plan so you'll know what to do with the puck.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2011 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
This blog post was transferred from another service.
I desperately need to do what you and Clayton M. Christensen advise - get to where profits will be.
I have a clothing store and I don't know how I could apply this concept to retailing in small stores.
Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 1
In reply to: "where will the profits be?"
Desperately needing a better situation & knowing you need to change can work in your favor. Some people need to be pushed out of their comfort zones, so they'll search for a better situation they've never been in before.
Some people in their comfort zones want/expect different results, yet they don't do anything different enough to get a satisfactory difference.
Let's start with this hypothetical premise - You have limited money to buy inventory. You have a small sales floor & little display space. You can't afford to pay for more storage space, so you can't afford to make big purchases to get volume discounts. For financial efficiency, you can buy products from only 1 of 2 suppliers because your store can't accommodate a big variety of product lines.
Some suppliers require minimum quantity orders or they charge more for shipping smaller quantities.
Based on styles, prices & shipping schedules, you narrow your list of potential suppliers to 2. After you check each of them, you discover fabrics used by one of them seem unusual.
Add Your Trade Skill & Consumer Input
Based on what you know & what you learn from research, suppliers & customers, discover what consumers will be dissatisfied with in the near future.
What will be less than they expect? - OR -
Which product features may be more than they want/expect?
Unwanted features will probably just add more expense &/or complexity without significantly increasing benefits some users get.
Here are a few common issues in product design & manufacturing, I've applied them to clothing -
Superior quality & durability of materials & stitching can be good in theory. What happens after clothing is stained, somewhat worn out &/or out of style? Where will that unwanted clothing go?
Durable materials may last for a long time in landfills.
That clothing could be donated or handed down to somebody else. Eventually, clothing will be disposed of & probably end up in landfills/dumps. Piles of that material that didn't get worn down may occupy a lot of space. When clothing isn't used, it probably won't be degraded much with wear & tear (friction).
Let's figure a fabric won't break down unless friction reduces it down to lint. Another issue is ability to recycle the fabric when the clothes are discarded so the materials aren't wasted & land isn't overfilled.
A lack of landfill acreage is getting worse.
Cheap materials may be trashed even sooner & occupy landfill space. (Example - what big box stores offer. Always Low Quality. Always.)
I don't know how relevant my example is/will be to consumers who might buy from you. It depends who they are, what their priorities are & what they can afford.
Manufacturing products often causes pollution (It's a reason manufacturers & big box stores have things produced in 3rd world countries that are more lax with environmental laws. Lower labor cost is only one issue.).
Does the mining or harvesting of raw materials (for products you stock) endanger people or animals? Note: People tend to like cotton. Planting & harvesting, then hauling cotton to a factory requires using fuel (usually gasoline or diesel). Fuel combustion produces exhaust (pollution).
Recycling products requires some source of energy to reshape the materials. That source of energy is apt to have a carbon footprint (total set of greenhouse gas emissions).
Some byproducts are probably produced when things are recycled. Where are the byproducts put? Are byproducts used to make other things?
After I give this issue more thought, I can help you more.
So, you can start with Part 1 & check back for part 2.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2011 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: where will the profits be?
I think I have most of what I need. I feel like I'm drowning in some resources, but I'm parched regarding others.
If I knew how to apply this skate to where profits will be idea, I'd know what to keep or liquidate and what else to obtain. I can't afford to load up on irrelevant (to where future profits will be) resources.
I think I know enough about retailing & marketing to succeed, except how and wbere to apply.
Thank you for your help.
Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 2 - Side Effects & "Adverse Reactions"
Thank you for responding to my other message. Without knowing more about what the products are, I can't know where the profits will be, except in a very general way.
What do you want help with - current inventory or future products? Who is in the market niche? What do they have now? What (which benefits) do they want/expect? What are the alternatives (substitutes) they can choose?
At times, I may go off on tangents (or it seems I do). I feel it's important to consider a variety of factors, do some testing & continue what's optimal.
I'm continuing on with my reply to your 1st message in this thread -
> I desperately need to do ...
How critical is your situation?
2 definitions of desperate from TheFreeDictionary are (I added the glass analogy) -
Nearly hopeless; critical (Glass Not Empty & Not Full)
Having lost all hope; despairing. (Glass Empty)
Here's another related analogy -
Just Get More Water (or Something) While You Can
A glass isn't half empty or half full, it's just holding less than its capacity, which indicates something is missing. Knowing what to replace it with - & how to do it - is important. In a desperate situation, it's important to determine what will help most & hurt least.
I'm glad you realize this - "I'd know what to keep or liquidate and what else to obtain."
If your store has thrived while holding less than its capacity, maybe you have more glass than you need. Pouring more into it could make it harder go where profits.
If you're feeling ill & your symptoms are orthostatic hypotension, lethargy, nausea, paresthesia, tachycardia & hypoalbuminemia, you're probably dehydrated. If one symptom is delirium, it may seem like a doctor is speaking a foreign language or maybe the doctor is delirious.
(Side Note - Some people may be impressed by jargon, others may be offended. Other than the medical terms above, I've explained things in basic ways so I hope every reader can understand. I hope my message doesn't seem condescending.)
Some symptoms, diagnoses & cures are quite obvious to those who know how to recognize them. When diseases have similar symptoms, accurate diagnoses are harder. Treatments vary depending on patients & severity of symptoms. Overcoming the symptoms may feel comforting, but it probably won't cure the problem.
The wrong treatment may reduce symptoms, but hurt a patient more than the disease. I don't want to give you a marketing "pill" without sufficient details. I'm warning you (all readers) of possible side effects & adverse reactions.
Knowing retail & marketing is great, but testing methods, products & services is still necessary because situations change quickly, even if we don't notice. I hope you do conservative tests so you don't use too many resources on something that's not optimal.
In my medical analogy, whatever you may or may not understand, you should understand the importance of drinking enough water & getting everything else you need. (Water for your store would be anything it needs on a daily basis.)
If the diagnosis is moderate dehydration, would you want a doctor to wonder if you're half full or half empty? I'd think you'd want a doctor to give you an IV (insert an intravenous catheter/line) solution containing what you need most (not just water), after that s/he can determine if you're sufficiently hydrated. A little IV solution to start probably won't harm you & it could help.
This corresponds to conservative testing.
Medical doctors are taught "1st do no harm". Yet, too much delay can be harmful. Without more details, it's hard for me to help you apply the skating concept directly to your store.
One of the 1st things nurses & paramedics do is start an IV. There are various reasons like the ability to administer medications & as a patient becomes more dehydrated, veins constrict & inserting a needle becomes harder.
If you don't get what you need soon, it may be harder to give you what you need later.
Without a description of your situation, I don't know what the symptoms are. I hope what I'll write in Part 3 will give you what you need until you fill in some blanks. Like our need for water, I could advise drinking more water, after all, the excess will just (maybe) be excreted. Yet, too much water can cause problems too.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2011 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 3 Get The (Hockey) PUCK Out Of There
I've added extra insights to what Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor, Matthew Verlinden, et al have written, so some of this may seem unfamiliar.
I've developed a hypothetical situation (below) to explain a very general way to apply the "skating to where the puck is" advice.
Windermere Associates discovered a basic buying criteria hierarchy - functionality, reliability, convenience & price. Depending which products people consider buying, they may have other important criteria. A buying hierarchy could include safety, comfort, style, fit, environmentally friendly, then price.
When this buying criteria hierarchy - functionality, reliability, convenience & price - is used (consciously or subconsciously), a product has been commoditized by the time the majority of buyers has set price as the top priority/main criterion.
Innovation can put a product (that was a commodity) above price in a buying hierarchy by producing what a market niche deems to be special.
Whatever a market niche values (especially what they choose as a top priority) becomes the basis of competition. It's possible to persuade people to change their buying criteria & shift the basis of competition to hopefully delay commoditization. (It's another subject we can write about if there's enough interest.)
Any business/person, trying to promote anything based on any other values or priorities, is either a pioneer or fool.
Pioneers innovate or work with innovators to create, further develop & market what people don't want YET. They risk being too early. Example - When primitive people effectively used fire & wheels, they made significant progress. Then making progress meant inventing something very basic (by modern standards) or innovating to improve an invention.
Fire (combustion) & wheels (tires) are necessary to operate cars. Even the most advanced cave dwellers weren't ready for cars. They hadn't even driven wagons yet. So, Henry Ford would've been bankrupt if he were alive 100,000 years ago & tried to make cars.
Is this just a ridiculous idea of mine? No, so don't call it horse hockey. It's a bizarre example to help you realize & remember how Wayne Gretzky's wisdom applies to business.
Eventually, people used rolling logs, but when wheels were invented rolling logs were no longer good enough for many tasks.
Wheels were improved through experience & innovation. Making wooden wheels durable was where the rubber met the road. Making wheels tough enough for gravel paved the way for more travel.
After tires were developed, wooden wheels seemed a little flat. Wheels weren't good enough for rapid, long distance travel.
A Hypothetical Scenario -
Eventually, processes for using recycled materials to make fabrics may be more efficient & profitable. More demand for recyclable materials should reduce accumulations of waste products like plastic bottles.
As it becomes more profitable, more suppliers will offer more of these products. Then at some point, products in this category will be commoditized. After that, prices are apt to come down because of economies of scale & competitive pressures.
That kind of fabric could be a viable alternative as long as those recycling & manufacturing processes aren't significantly more expensive than producing what's currently available.
If it requires less mining & drilling (ecological threats) &/or fewer byproducts (less pollution & landfill use), people may prefer it if it's at least as comfortable & durable as what's available now.
It's best if the product's materials don't harm people, animals or the environment (Unlike products made in Communist China & sold in big box stores - Save Money. Live Better as long as you don't use big box store products made with cadmium, lead or other toxins.).
In part 1, I figured 'Based on styles, prices & shipping schedules, you narrowed your list of potential suppliers to 2.'
Now let's figure 1 of those manufacturers gets good, though preliminary, results by making fabrics from recycled trash. Consumers may be enthusiastic about this fabric & clothes made of it because the fabrics are perceived as better than others. To them, standard fabrics seem to be less than good enough.
The other hypothetical manufacturer isn't innovative at all. What it produces used to seem good enough, but more people prefer environmentally friendly products.
Now it's time for you to buy some clothing inventory. Let's figure you can afford to buy from either supplier, but not both.
Your past profits may have come from sales of standard products. Now standard products are less popular, so to sell those you have to markdown the prices.
(Hypothetically) Environmentally friendly products are more popular (fashionable) & many consumers are buying more of these. These consumers are also willing & able to pay full retail prices for these products.
In this hypothetical scenario, if you buy those environmentally friendly products & market them well, then you're on your way to where the profits are or will be.
As long as ecology is a high priority for your market niche, they may keep expecting ecological products to improve. Until most clothes are ecologically sound, people will want what they perceive to be the best. When all/most products in a category are perceived to be equal in an attribute (like ecology), consumers will put a higher priority on another attribute. They'll still expect a certain level of environmental responsibility when they evaluate products.
As long as they're satisfied with the product attributes they expect, they'll pick products according to their next priority.
Warning 1
There will always be some who disprove of innovations. Example - Athletic Clothing Made from Recycled Plastic Bottles (technorati.com).
Warning 2
Very few things work optimally at the beginning. There are many variables in experimenting (research & development) & production. Some variables are beneficial & others aren't. When good variables are improved & bad variables are excluded, products improve.
Too often, critics seem to demand immediate perfection. Some criticism is good, but many critics put down any inventors & innovators, plus their products.
Note - Criticizing potentially unsafe products is justified, even if the prices are always low.
If everybody refused to buy safe, but imperfect products, manufacturers couldn't afford to keep innovating & improving products. To succeed, manufacturers need to find somebody who wants imperfect products.
Imperfect products can still have benefits for somebody. If the benefits (in quality or quantity) outweigh a lack of those benefits, & potential product users can afford to buy those benefits, there's a market niche.
Example- Clothing prices would probably spike if 1) drought or pestilence wiped out an annual cotton crop; & 2) makers of commonly used fabrics were already using their full production capacities.
In a situation like that, if clothing made of recycled products were inexpensive; some people would either buy those kinds of clothes or not buy any new clothes (they'd be stuck with old clothes).
Critics enjoy finding what's wrong because then they feel superior. But what have those negative critics ever contributed to the world?
As plastic gets used for fabrics more often, it'll probably become better ecologically, financially & physically.
You should monitor trends carefully, so you'll know where to go get profits. When you find them, you need to take the right actions.
If Wayne Gretzky went to get a puck but did nothing with it, he wouldn't have been a star. Something people seem to forget or disregard this fact - After Wayne Gretzky got a puck; he got the PUCK out of there.
Before you go to where your puck will be, you should have a plan so you'll know what to do with the puck.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2011 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Fulfill Customers' Needs With A Purpose Brand
The basic concept for this article is purpose brands.
You can check a search engine for a summary of THE INNOVATOR’S SOLUTION By Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor. The Innovator’s Solution has an explanation of a purpose brand.
People, products, services & businesses can have purpose brands.
When you establish a purpose brand, you can establish yourself as a specialist, who supports people in fulfilling goals.
Offer Ways To Control Conditions
Some products help people regain control after an accurate diagnosis. The level of control can depend on the quality of products & diagnostic knowledge.
Cheap products might bring a low level of control & value. Discounters have persuaded consumers to think cheap products are valuable.
Get people focused on product value by explaining what value is. Generally, product value is producing & maintaining consistent positive results.
Positive results can include controlling conditions. It's hard to consistently control conditions with low quality products.
Since customers can't control all factors, they need superior products & plans to control what they can.
Effective plans include instructions for getting full product benefits in specific conditions. It's why customers need your knowledge.
Your guidance adds more value by helping people understand & control their conditions.
Help people identify negative changes & choose products to maintain or regain control quickly enough to reduce damage. Coach people on maintaining control, which depends on mitigating or preventing problems.
Ask about people's conditions & their definition of control. Would they be satisfied with reducing problems or do they expect to eliminate problems?
What do people want to keep, eliminate or add? What do they need to maintain?
What kind of improvements do people want? What interferes with desired results?
Based on their answers & available resources, what can you recommend for better results?
Ask questions to help people describe problems.
Examples: Does it look/feel like __? Has it been like __? Is it better/worse when __?
When you & customers share an understanding, you can set goals, then choose products.
If people don't understand product benefits, they might hesitate especially if they were frustrated by a cheap quality version. They might not know about attractive new options.
As a specialist, get people past hesitation by explaining products, so people get full benefits.
Persuading People To Buy
Compare life with & without potential benefits. Show what's possible to help people decide why they should buy. Show how easily problems can be reduced or eliminated.
Ask questions to clarify customers' thoughts. What are they confident about? What are their doubts? What have they tried already?
People might not be confident enough to start projects if they have nebulous goals. Defining problems & solutions can reduce stress & build confidence.
People will be more confident when they're sure about what they need & how to get it.
People are frustrated when they don't know what to do or expect. You can show people what to do & expect by diagnosing problems & developing plans.
People, who can't afford big projects, might benefit from progressive incremental improvements. What's the minimum increment they need to prevent losses?
Help people plan for the incremental improvements they need most & can afford.
You can develop full or incremental procedures by combining products with instructions to solve or prevent problems.
Reduce problems with maintenance instructions.
Basic procedures are based on controlling effects of local conditions & refined from successful results. Specific procedures are based on customers' conditions & expectations.
Developing Purpose Brands
Your store's purpose is filling gaps & eliminating obstacles. People's purposes are goals. What are people trying to achieve?
Analogy: If a customer needs resources to reach a destination, what's missing? What can you add? What are the obstacles? What can you remove?
Your store's purpose brand can fit combined purpose brands of products you offer.
Example: If some products enable independent living, those products could fit a general purpose of helping people live comfortably.
A home comfort purpose is wide enough for different weekly promotions. Promotions could focus on issue categories involved in improving or maintaining comfort.
Home comfort includes indoor & outdoor conditions.
Indoor home comfort includes health, weatherproofing, furniture, storage, security, lighting, plumbing, privacy, entertainment & repairs.
Health includes in-home mobility, cleaning, exercise, heating, humidity & pest control.
In-home mobility is a concern for people using walkers, canes & wheel chairs, plus traditional bathtubs & stairs aren't safe.
Promotions Should Focus On A Purpose
Since your store's purpose is part of its brand & market position, state the purposes of your business & promotions in each ad.
Example: 'Shop at (store) to make your home safe & comfortable.' Promotion Purpose: 'Improve your health & be comfortable by reducing dirt, germs & allergens.'
Explain how products fulfill the promotion's purpose. Example: '(Product) traps allergens during routine dusting. Just seal used dusters & allergens in a trash bag.'
If your store helps people get full value from possessions, promotions would focus on making possessions fulfill their purposes.
Example: Cars should provide more than transportation. Safety & comfort also are important.
You can be an interpreter & problem solver. What do warning lights indicate? Some lights connect to multiple parts.
Help people clear up doubt & reduce stress by replacing basic parts & topping off fluids.
You can refer customers to technicians for technical problems.
You can offer: 'We'll help you find reasons if you get less than you expect from (product). We'll help you with precautions & recommend repairs.'
Offer Example: 'We'll help to get your money's worth from your __. We'll restore its full function with adjustments or repairs, so you'll __ again.'
If your store helps people do tasks, you can offer: 'Get better results in less time when you __. Don't put off (task) because old ways didn't work well or took too long. With new technology, there are new ways.'
Offer Example: 'Will (task) bring the right results? Explain what's wrong, so we can recommend the right tools, materials & actions.'
Purpose Brands Can Strengthen Businesses
Competitors could upstage hardware stores with more attractive hardware offers.
Purpose brands focus on benefits, not product or retail categories.
Home comfort purpose brands offer more than regular hardware stores by combining products for maximum benefits.
Example: If you serve people, who have limited mobility, study their needs for special shoes, clothing, furniture, exercise equipment, etc.
Your purpose can be helping people prepare for & adapt to changing conditions.
Study & fulfill local needs by adjusting product & service combinations based on the effects of changing conditions.
Discuss with customers what's practical & affordable for their current needs, then recommend products.
You can develop plans to solve customers' needs in stages.
Create options based on current needs & recommend future purchases to increase benefits of what customers bought before.
Example: Help improve customers' homes for current & future needs. Though customers might need walkers soon, they need new linoleum now. When customers need walkers later, their floors will be safe. Next, they might need a walk-in bathtub.
You can supply updated solutions as needs change. If customers want solutions now for predicted needs, explain advantages of step-by-step adjustments as needs become definite.
If needs are predictable & if customers will need upgraded products, schedule improvements just before their needs arise.
Instead of going for quick sales, show your integrity by helping customers compare the urgency of needs & potential benefits of future upgrades. Help customers avoid spending money now because better technology might be available when their needs arise.
How Is Your Purpose Brand Superior?
Explain how you use knowledge of your local area & products to help people: 1- avoid or solve problems; & 2- create or extend benefits.
If competitors only offer products, you should offer more value with solutions. Solutions are specific ways to use products to end or mitigate problems.
Explain why diagnosing problems produces better value than guessing. If people think problems are minor, they might buy cheap products.
Help people recognize trouble, so they don't misdiagnose problems as minor. Pictures & videos can show how problems become worse.
Invite people to discuss problems. These discussions are for your education & credibility, so you can find causes then eliminate & prevent problems.
Help customers diagnose problems, so they buy the right products based on a purpose without expecting too much or little. If customers expect too much or little, they might choose the wrong product or misuse the right product.
Purpose Brands Are Specific About Benefits
Purpose brands can establish high quality market positions, competitors might fail to match.
Example: Cars are made for various conditions, but you can specialize in maintaining cars for local conditions. Winter weather is hard on cars & roads.
As pavement buckles, drivers need mechanics to check for wear & tear, cracks, rust & loose connections. Maintenance services should be promoted as thorough & specific for driving conditions, locations, seasons, etc.
Some maintenance is only oil changes & greasing. Define your maintenance offer & why it's important.
Specify features & benefits of your offers. Example: 'Maintaining reliability often requires minor repairs to prevent major problems. We check for safety problems & nuisances, so your vehicle will be dependable. We'll discuss what you need to keep your vehicle going.'
This is more reassuring than "routine maintenance". Reassurance is a major benefit.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2019 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/
http://www.voy.com/31049/
You can check a search engine for a summary of THE INNOVATOR’S SOLUTION By Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor. The Innovator’s Solution has an explanation of a purpose brand.
People, products, services & businesses can have purpose brands.
When you establish a purpose brand, you can establish yourself as a specialist, who supports people in fulfilling goals.
Offer Ways To Control Conditions
Some products help people regain control after an accurate diagnosis. The level of control can depend on the quality of products & diagnostic knowledge.
Cheap products might bring a low level of control & value. Discounters have persuaded consumers to think cheap products are valuable.
Get people focused on product value by explaining what value is. Generally, product value is producing & maintaining consistent positive results.
Positive results can include controlling conditions. It's hard to consistently control conditions with low quality products.
Since customers can't control all factors, they need superior products & plans to control what they can.
Effective plans include instructions for getting full product benefits in specific conditions. It's why customers need your knowledge.
Your guidance adds more value by helping people understand & control their conditions.
Help people identify negative changes & choose products to maintain or regain control quickly enough to reduce damage. Coach people on maintaining control, which depends on mitigating or preventing problems.
Ask about people's conditions & their definition of control. Would they be satisfied with reducing problems or do they expect to eliminate problems?
What do people want to keep, eliminate or add? What do they need to maintain?
What kind of improvements do people want? What interferes with desired results?
Based on their answers & available resources, what can you recommend for better results?
Ask questions to help people describe problems.
Examples: Does it look/feel like __? Has it been like __? Is it better/worse when __?
When you & customers share an understanding, you can set goals, then choose products.
If people don't understand product benefits, they might hesitate especially if they were frustrated by a cheap quality version. They might not know about attractive new options.
As a specialist, get people past hesitation by explaining products, so people get full benefits.
Persuading People To Buy
Compare life with & without potential benefits. Show what's possible to help people decide why they should buy. Show how easily problems can be reduced or eliminated.
Ask questions to clarify customers' thoughts. What are they confident about? What are their doubts? What have they tried already?
People might not be confident enough to start projects if they have nebulous goals. Defining problems & solutions can reduce stress & build confidence.
People will be more confident when they're sure about what they need & how to get it.
People are frustrated when they don't know what to do or expect. You can show people what to do & expect by diagnosing problems & developing plans.
People, who can't afford big projects, might benefit from progressive incremental improvements. What's the minimum increment they need to prevent losses?
Help people plan for the incremental improvements they need most & can afford.
You can develop full or incremental procedures by combining products with instructions to solve or prevent problems.
Reduce problems with maintenance instructions.
Basic procedures are based on controlling effects of local conditions & refined from successful results. Specific procedures are based on customers' conditions & expectations.
Developing Purpose Brands
Your store's purpose is filling gaps & eliminating obstacles. People's purposes are goals. What are people trying to achieve?
Analogy: If a customer needs resources to reach a destination, what's missing? What can you add? What are the obstacles? What can you remove?
Your store's purpose brand can fit combined purpose brands of products you offer.
Example: If some products enable independent living, those products could fit a general purpose of helping people live comfortably.
A home comfort purpose is wide enough for different weekly promotions. Promotions could focus on issue categories involved in improving or maintaining comfort.
Home comfort includes indoor & outdoor conditions.
Indoor home comfort includes health, weatherproofing, furniture, storage, security, lighting, plumbing, privacy, entertainment & repairs.
Health includes in-home mobility, cleaning, exercise, heating, humidity & pest control.
In-home mobility is a concern for people using walkers, canes & wheel chairs, plus traditional bathtubs & stairs aren't safe.
Promotions Should Focus On A Purpose
Since your store's purpose is part of its brand & market position, state the purposes of your business & promotions in each ad.
Example: 'Shop at (store) to make your home safe & comfortable.' Promotion Purpose: 'Improve your health & be comfortable by reducing dirt, germs & allergens.'
Explain how products fulfill the promotion's purpose. Example: '(Product) traps allergens during routine dusting. Just seal used dusters & allergens in a trash bag.'
If your store helps people get full value from possessions, promotions would focus on making possessions fulfill their purposes.
Example: Cars should provide more than transportation. Safety & comfort also are important.
You can be an interpreter & problem solver. What do warning lights indicate? Some lights connect to multiple parts.
Help people clear up doubt & reduce stress by replacing basic parts & topping off fluids.
You can refer customers to technicians for technical problems.
You can offer: 'We'll help you find reasons if you get less than you expect from (product). We'll help you with precautions & recommend repairs.'
Offer Example: 'We'll help to get your money's worth from your __. We'll restore its full function with adjustments or repairs, so you'll __ again.'
If your store helps people do tasks, you can offer: 'Get better results in less time when you __. Don't put off (task) because old ways didn't work well or took too long. With new technology, there are new ways.'
Offer Example: 'Will (task) bring the right results? Explain what's wrong, so we can recommend the right tools, materials & actions.'
Purpose Brands Can Strengthen Businesses
Competitors could upstage hardware stores with more attractive hardware offers.
Purpose brands focus on benefits, not product or retail categories.
Home comfort purpose brands offer more than regular hardware stores by combining products for maximum benefits.
Example: If you serve people, who have limited mobility, study their needs for special shoes, clothing, furniture, exercise equipment, etc.
Your purpose can be helping people prepare for & adapt to changing conditions.
Study & fulfill local needs by adjusting product & service combinations based on the effects of changing conditions.
Discuss with customers what's practical & affordable for their current needs, then recommend products.
You can develop plans to solve customers' needs in stages.
Create options based on current needs & recommend future purchases to increase benefits of what customers bought before.
Example: Help improve customers' homes for current & future needs. Though customers might need walkers soon, they need new linoleum now. When customers need walkers later, their floors will be safe. Next, they might need a walk-in bathtub.
You can supply updated solutions as needs change. If customers want solutions now for predicted needs, explain advantages of step-by-step adjustments as needs become definite.
If needs are predictable & if customers will need upgraded products, schedule improvements just before their needs arise.
Instead of going for quick sales, show your integrity by helping customers compare the urgency of needs & potential benefits of future upgrades. Help customers avoid spending money now because better technology might be available when their needs arise.
How Is Your Purpose Brand Superior?
Explain how you use knowledge of your local area & products to help people: 1- avoid or solve problems; & 2- create or extend benefits.
If competitors only offer products, you should offer more value with solutions. Solutions are specific ways to use products to end or mitigate problems.
Explain why diagnosing problems produces better value than guessing. If people think problems are minor, they might buy cheap products.
Help people recognize trouble, so they don't misdiagnose problems as minor. Pictures & videos can show how problems become worse.
Invite people to discuss problems. These discussions are for your education & credibility, so you can find causes then eliminate & prevent problems.
Help customers diagnose problems, so they buy the right products based on a purpose without expecting too much or little. If customers expect too much or little, they might choose the wrong product or misuse the right product.
Purpose Brands Are Specific About Benefits
Purpose brands can establish high quality market positions, competitors might fail to match.
Example: Cars are made for various conditions, but you can specialize in maintaining cars for local conditions. Winter weather is hard on cars & roads.
As pavement buckles, drivers need mechanics to check for wear & tear, cracks, rust & loose connections. Maintenance services should be promoted as thorough & specific for driving conditions, locations, seasons, etc.
Some maintenance is only oil changes & greasing. Define your maintenance offer & why it's important.
Specify features & benefits of your offers. Example: 'Maintaining reliability often requires minor repairs to prevent major problems. We check for safety problems & nuisances, so your vehicle will be dependable. We'll discuss what you need to keep your vehicle going.'
This is more reassuring than "routine maintenance". Reassurance is a major benefit.
Thank you for using my blog. Please let me know if I should clarify anything.
Copyright 2019 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-
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