Aspirins and Headaches – What are you really selling?
A good friend of mine, who I met through my involvement with the National Speakers Association, is a wonderful “southern gentleman” called Bob Johnson. Bob runs the impressive sounding Johnson Corporation, and has made some serious money training salespeople around Australia and the world.
When he arrived in Sydney with his brother many years ago, they didn’t know anyone in the city or where to start growing their business. That first night, they had dinner at the top of Centerpoint Tower. During dinner, high up above the booming confident young city, the revolving restaurant gave them their first prospect list. Bob jotted down, on a drink coaster no doubt, the names of all the companies up in neon at the tops of the tallest city buildings. Then they had their prospect list and a plan. Then it was easy.
This is the sort of straightforward thinking and talking Bob does.
Bob talks a lot and when Bob talks, I listen.
One of his favourite sayings is…
“You don’t sell aspirin, Timothy, you sell the headache going away”.
Your challenge this week is to have a look through your publicity material.
Are you telling people how clever you are, the magnificent things you do in your show, the fantastic places where you have worked in the past, the incredible illusions you perform, the number of balls you can juggle?
Or do you make their “headache” go away.
Benefits versus Features.
The person who reads your brochure or looks at your Website….
What is their headache? What is their need?
How far does your material go towards convincing them you are the cure?
Each of us, working in different markets, face people with different “headaches”. Discovering and understanding what these needs are, is a vital part of all our marketing and positioning!
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