Is This the Party to Whom I Am Speaking? Why Solutions-Based Marketing Requires a Conversation, Not a Formula

It’s official: my blog post “Developing a Solutions Focus to Add Customer Value” has surpassed even “Just When You Think You’re Perfect,” the post about the Pyrex® measuring cup, in reader views. Thank you for your interest!

Statistics aren’t useful unless you do something with them, so I have been considering how and why this has occurred. There could be a number of reasons, among them:

1. Some people respond better to a headline that actually tells them what they’re going to read about.

2. Some people believe that they are already perfect and don’t want to read about how it might be otherwise.

3. Readership of the blog has increased (although the Pyrex posting is older, so it has had plenty of time to gain reader views).

4. The collapsible navigation of this site is impeding people from finding the Pyrex posting with the intriguing headline, because it is from 2012 (I am working on this one).

5. Solutions are a topic that intrigues and puzzles people, and they want to know more about it.

6. Customer value is something that they are concerned about, and they want to know more about it.

I’m guessing that at least three of these are on target, but for today I’m going with (5) and (6).

In the prior post I discussed the importance of truly knowing your product or service, and identifying what outcomes it produces; what the benefits of the outcomes are; and how those outcomes mesh with customer needs. Now we’re going to back up and try to figure out how, on the fly, to figure out what the customer needs.

1. Listen for cues. It is especially important to hear the areas in which the customer is expressing the wish to do more or better. Again, these aren’t necessarily pains—but they are opportunities to help make a difference.

If this is an exploratory conversation, you now have an opening. If you are in the room to discuss a specific topic or need, and this issue falls outside of that, you have a moment in which you can differentiate your expertise, as long as you don’t get anxious (or greedy) and over-sell.

2. Remember: take nothing at face value. As we have discussed before, clients and customers sometimes present solutions rather than problems (as in, “I need a brochure/content management system/social media strategy”). Make certain that you know what problem you are mutually trying to solve. There may be an opportunity to present an alternative that changes the entire conversation.

3. Ask questions. If you sense the potential to be of service, find a way to probe on the issue without appearing to judge the customer. And why should you judge the customer? We are trying to help here, not make anyone feel bad!

4. Determine whether you have a fit. Go back to your customer value chart and explore with the customer.

Here’s a tool I created to help a client train a service/sales force in “value selling.”

I recommend that you start the LISTEN FOR section by writing down, on a separate piece of paper, the most common needs and wishes you hear either from your sales force, or when you yourself visit a customer or client (someone you already work with) to talk about your products and services. Write down everything, even things that don’t relate to existing offerings (these are new opportunities for you to consider) and especially things that relate to products and services that your competitors offer.

Now, categorize the bulleted items that you offer in the appropriate PRODUCTS/SERVICES columns. Notice what fits and what doesn’t.

Next, recall (or imagine) a real, heartfelt conversation about this. Discover what impedes progress. Talk about how the customer/client’s peers address the issue, if you know; otherwise, ask. Try to uncover any prior, unsuccessful attempts to solve the problem, if there is one. In a word: ASK. ASK. ASK. The more you ask, the more you engage—and the more likely you are to help the customer/client land on a solution. And procure it from you.

(If you’d like to talk about how this works with a specific example, please contact me and we can walk through the chart. And by the way: all of this applies to clients you already work wtih too!)

Now, translate these insights into positioning, marketing messages, and sales force behavior. It’s not easy, but it’s essential. Because these conversations are the essence of leveraging “solutions” for success.

What are Terry Francona’s Allegations Telling Us About Marketing?

This week we had a first glimpse of the content of former Red Sox manager Terry Francona’s new book, “The Red Sox Years,” co-authored with Dan Shaughnessy and reported on by … well, everyone concerned with Boston sports. Of course, there is a big headline. Tito apparently alleges in the book, and Theo Epstein is quoted on the topic as well, that Red Sox management (i.e., owners) had concerns about ratings and commissioned a $100,000 market research project to shed light on why they were declining. Their conclusion: that the Red Sox needed more star power, more glitz. So they instructed Epstein and Francona to deliver it.

There has been much subsequent grumbling about business corrupting baseball and, naturally, marketing gets attacked at its core. If you are a loyal member of Red Sox Nation and prefer the Fenway Park of 1995, it’s open season. Signing “stars” at the expense of the farm team? Preposterous. (But what about Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett?) Attention to the needs and interests of women? Bah humbug—they’re all pink hats. (Really? Even though they are joint decision-makers about how family dollars are spent?)

This stuff is not fair because the issues are so highly nuanced. It’s a great example of how the literal application of data from market research can backfire.

I do not mean that I think the conclusions of the research are incorrect. We do not know. As a few writers have noted, the Red Sox made some expensive deals that didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean that any deal would have been disastrous or will be in the future. And as for the role of women in baseball: ever hear of Jean Yawkey?

But if the research concluded that the pre-2004 (for those who are uninitiated, the year that the Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years) Red Sox were more compelling, perhaps it would have served management well to consider what made those Sox so dear to their fans. “Winning in a more exciting manner” clearly wasn’t the key; they were losers. Was it the beloved but crumbling Fenway Park, on the brink of being torn down and replaced as in other cities by a mammoth stadium in the suburbs? Maybe. But what would that have to do with NESN ratings?

There was a lot of interesting reflection in October 2004 about the identity of the Red Sox and their fans. They had been losers for so long; could they successfully redefine themselves? How? I wonder if the research addressed this.

And let’s look at 2011. The Red Sox had the best record in baseball until the end of August. That’s pretty exciting, but even the commentators on sports talk radio admitted to being bored.

There is grumbling that ownership is driven by profit. Of course they are. Sports is business. (Oh yes … and so is publishing. There’s a reason that this story is being reported. It’s to sell magazines, newspapers, and tickets. AND books) Whether or not the owners love baseball is not as important as the fact that they saved Fenway Park and that, under their leadership, the Sox won not one but two World Series. If they just liked baseball, or even didn’t like baseball but asked the right questions about what to do about declining ratings so that they could continue to make profits and re-invest in the Red Sox, none of this would matter.

What if the conclusion drawn had been that the Red Sox aren’t accessible enough? Red Sox games used to be broadcast on network TV; now you have to have a cable box or go somewhere that does. Tickets used to be affordable for a family of four; now they are not. What can be done about this? The “idiots” of 2004 were good enough players, but not all were stars. Yet they were embraced and adored by the fans. Remember “Cowboy Up!”? Or even “Shipping Up to Boston?” Have the Sox of today successfully established that kind of beachhead with fans?

More to the point: what if ownership had drawn Theo and Tito into the conversation, rather than mandating these Dilbertian ideas?

My take is that marketing did its job. Market research was definitely the way to go. How the data was interpreted and used? That’s another story.

Two Ideas for Achieving Business Growth

There’s a business axiom that repeat customers are essential to business survival, long before growth. It’s easy to understand this. Acquiring customers is very expensive. Assuming that one satisfies or, even better, delights customers (and that can be a tall order), convincing them to return, to purchase add-on services, and/or to refer other potential customers is much more cost-efficient.

But how does one go about acquiring customers in the first place? Two ideas, one based on another marketing urban legend and the second from my own experience.

1. Think about the business more expansively. Here’s the marketing legend: after several years in business, the owner of a window treatments company (e.g., shades, blinds, etc.) wanted to grow but worried that he was at a dead end. New construction in his target geography had pretty much ceased, meaning that new windows weren’t being created. He spent his advertising dollars carefully. He knew all of the local realtors and interior designers and had good relationships with them, assuring himself of a steady, if thin, number of referrals. He asked his existing customers for referrals, too, and they obliged when they could. All told, he had a good business … but he wanted a better one.

This owner looked hard at his industry—not at what it did, but at what it stood for. After a while, he was able to see window treatments through a new lens. Through this lens, he understood the obvious in a different way. His insight: the choices that customers make in treatments are cosmetic, but the treatments themselves represent privacy. We purchase them so that others can’t see into our homes.

And privacy is a cousin of security.

The business owner expanded into the security business. He sold alarm systems and window grates. Some he sold to his existing customer base, and he attracted new customers through the new services. To the new customers he eventually offered his window treatments as well.

And so his business grew.

2. Know what you do best, and do more of it. Here’s another of my favorite examples from my own work: a psychologist who wanted help in expanding his patient base in the face of a changing world of health care reimbursement. This was a savvy move and posed an interesting marketing challenge.

Of course, soliciting patients (including, at least at the time, advertising) is not considered ethical—and given the confidential nature of treatment, the number of recommendations my client could obtain from his patients was relatively small (meaning that patients were not so likely to acknowledge to others that they had received treatment).

I asked him, “What work do you enjoy the most?” and he told me that he most enjoyed working with middle-aged men; that he was most successful in treating them and felt comfortable with their issues. And so we set about thinking about how to reach more middle-aged men.

A. Middle-aged men have common medical experiences. This is the time of life at which men (and women) begin to be diagnosed with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart-related conditions. Diagnostic procedures, like colonoscopies, are also required for men in this age group.

The psychologist made a list of primary care physicians, cardiologists, endocrinologists and urologists, starting with those in his own building, and went about meeting them and talking about his approach to working with patients. He also approached health clubs and individual personal trainers.

B. Middle-aged men also have common career experiences. This is an age at which they may find themselves either out of work or questioning their career choices.

He made certain that all of the local career counselors and outplacement firms were aware of his services, and through contacts also got to meet a number of human resources professionals in local companies.

C. Relationships change, too. Middle-aged spouses may also have overwhelming health issues. And the mid-life crisis turns out to be no joke. Some marriages falter and fail, leaving the partners alone and confused.

Physicians, financial advisors and, yes, attorneys rounded out the list of potential contacts for our psychologist to meet.

And so his business grew.

Bottom line: If you are successful and happy with what you do, start there. Take what is familiar, and try to see it from a different angle. Ask: is there another way to understand this business? How can I take what I’ve already established and make it new again?