I’m going to make a bold statement:
Your Customers Don’t Give Two Flying Foxes About You.
(I mean, hopefully on a human level they care. ❤️)
But they really aren’t that interested in you and your biz. Or your trials and tribulations. Or what you did over the weekend or ate for breakfast on your vaca. Y’all aren’t BFFs.
They Care About Themselves.
What they’re interested in — what they’re invested and INVESTING in — is themselves.
They want solutions to their problems. Answers to their questions. To be seen and heard. Transformations, outcomes, results, improvements. Capeesh?
So, I encourage you to:
#1 Look at things from your audience’s point of view.
What aspects of your offering stick out as being important to prospects, customers, and other key stakeholders? How will it help them get desired results?
Example:
- OK: This gizmo has 10 settings that we’ve optimized to be best in class.
- Better!: With 10 settings, this gizmo gives you total control and the flexibility you need to accomplish XYZ.
#2 Stop talking about yourself/your biz so much.
Quit using so many “I”, “We”, and “Our” statements. Reframe your messages to focus on your customer/prospect/audience — use statements that begin with words like “You” and “Your”.
Example:
- Meh: We offer a full range of services.
- Better!: You’ll love our full range of services.
#3 Personalize where you can.
There are lots of ways to do this, depending on the context.
Examples:
- Using personalization tokens in email.
- Sending targeted messages to appropriate audience segments only.
- Offering variations and customizations like size, quantity, or color choices or other finishing touches.
#4 Don’t make your problems their problems.
You gotta have your act together and come through on your promises and commitments. Or own your issues and mistakes and tell the customer what you’re doing about it.
Example:
- Bad: Our lack of proper planning means you now have to pay for expedited processing of your order.
- Better: We messed up when processing your order. We’ve fixed the issue. Please accept a store credit to use on future purchases for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
#5 Don’t give nonpologies.
This is jerky. No one likes jerks. Instead, if there’s something to apologize for — give an authentic “I’m sorry.” Validate the harm you’ve caused, acknowledge what you’re apologizing for and why, and articulate how you plan to make amends/do better going forward.
Example:
- Ugh: I’m sorry you feel that way….
- Better: I’m sorry X occurred. To resolve the issue, I’m doing Y now and Z to prevent this happening again in the future.
In other words, don’t be her. 👇
You want people to want to flock your way. You want folx to start and continue convos with you time and time again.
So do things that entice them and don’t do things that repel them or piss them off. It’s pretty simple when you think of it this way!
So Ya Gotta WIIFMize!
A sales trainer at a company I once worked for said, “You need to WIIFMize everything.” (WIIFM = what’s in it for me.)
This was over 20 years ago. I wasn’t in Sales. I just casually overheard this while waiting for the elevator.
But this statement completely struck and stuck. Ya know?
WIIFMize — it’s the secret of mastering 1-5 above.
How To WIIFMize?
And to WIIFMize, you have to figure out:
- What your customer/prospect/audience wants to get out of engaging with your biz
. - How to align your offerings and fulfilment with their needs and preferences
. - Ways to convey your message and promote your offerings so that your customers/prospects/audience associate your business with attaining the outcomes they seek
If this all sounds logical to you, keep it in mind for future content, products, and services. You can also audit and upgrade existing content (e.g., webpage copy, product descriptions, sales page copy).
