Photo Credits: aplumb

Businesses often overlook simple ways to build competitive advantage, little things that are easy to implement and don’t cost much that are nevertheless very important to the end user.

One example is snacks on planes. The cost of a small snack is probably not more than $5 per passenger, yet airline bosses have decided that they are “not in the food business”.

This, however, gives customers ammunition to badmouth the airline. I’m sure you’ve heard at least once somebody complaining about how airline X didn’t even give them a bag of peanuts during their 3 hour flight.

Wouldn’t it be better to have happy customers bragging about how airline X gave them two bags of peanuts and didn’t even charge them for a glass of wine? How much is that goodwill worth? Can’t the airline pay for it by just spending a little less on advertising?

And what about auto makers who spend hundreds of millions of dollars designing a new state of the art engine, but decide not to spend $2 in a better piece of plastic so that the driver can comfortably rest his cup of coffee?

Or, what about doctors who risk getting sued, not due to malpractice and negligence, but because they didn’t treat their patients right? Sometimes spending five minutes treating somebody with respect can create more goodwill than a million dollar education…

People tend to focus on (and talk about) the things they understand.

Most people don’t care about the principle of Bernoulli that explains why an airplane flies, but they know that when they get hungry on a plane they want food. They may not understand how a continuous variable transmission works, but they can “get” cup holders. They may not have a clue of how brain surgery works, but they sure can tell when a doctor cares.

What are those little things that you can do in your business to make the customer experience better?

Photo Credits: willpalmer

While both sides of the aisle keep coming up with their own reasons why the $700 billion financial industry rescue package failed, there is one angle that nobody’s talking about: that one of the reasons the proposal failed is because of poor salesmanship.

First, the package proponents didn’t pay a lot of attention to the name of their “product”. When the press started calling it “bailout”, they didn’t think it was important. The word “bailout”, however, has many negative connotations: it can be equated with expense, giveaway, enabling bad behavior, etc.

If they had framed their product as a “buying opportunity” instead of a “bailout”, they would have made it easier for congressmen to sell the package to their constituency. Names are important. That is why the auto industry didn’t call SUVs station wagons, why Apple calls their earplugs pods, or why Kentucky Fried Chicken prefers to be called KFC.

The second problem was the pitch. Imagine if they would have explained the package like this: “The government will take advantage of buying grossly undervalued securities for pennies on the dollar, hold them for a while, and then sell them at a profit, which it will then give back to the American people. In the meantime, banks will have money to lend, the stock market will hold up, and you’ll have a bigger chance to keep your job”.

Instead, what we got was pretty much this: give us $700 billion of your hard earned money right now so we can help the big, rich banks or else the sky is going to fall on you.

Bad Product Name + Bad Pitch = Bad Results

Another piece of bad salesmanship was the lousy choice of spokesperson: President Bush, with his 69% disapproval rating, hit the airwaves pushing for the package. Is he the best person to try to sell this proposal to the American people right now? Would you be glad to order an expensive dinner from the same waiter who has been messing up your orders lately? Doubtful. You may want a different waiter this time. President Bush should have stayed on the sidelines, since his direct involvement probably made matters worse.

And what about Nancy Pelosi? After a strenuous week of tough negotiations, she finally had a deal, but she couldn’t resist bashing the Republicans one more time, right before the vote. Imagine that after a long and extenuating negotiation, a salesman hands you a contract for you to sign. Then, just when you’ve taken out your pen, he says: “Wait a second Mr. Customer, before you sign, I just want to remind you how stupid you are for having bought the competition’s brand in the past.” Great salesmanship indeed…

Ahhh, our wonderful politicians… They sure know how to smile for the picture, but they need to learn a thing or two about marketing.

Features and benefits don’t sell. The way those features and benefits are communicated does (ever wondered why top sales copy writers make so much money?). An effective marketing message helps customers create a vivid mental picture of the way the product will make them feel. Good marketing appeals to emotions, not just logic.

Photo Credits: anirudhkoul . People lining up to buy the new iPhone.

Last week I was on an international flight and, prior to arrival, the flight attendant announced that she would be going around the plane collecting passengers’ pocket change on behalf of Unicef.

I remembered that I had a few coins in my backpack, but I was tired after more than eight hours on the plane, and in no mood for standing up and fiddling with the overhead compartment to get the coins.

Then, the flight attendant made a second announcement, this time mentioning this: a donation of just one quarter (US$ 0.25) would be enough to vaccinate a small child for one whole year.

What a difference that made! Immediately, I unbuckled my seat belt, opened the overhead compartment, got all the coins I had in my backpack and gave them to the flight attendant. When I came back to my seat, I felt like a million dollars thinking how that insignificant investment in effort, time and money would make such a difference in one child’s life.

While the benefits of making the donation were outlined in both announcements, the second one did it in such a way that made it a no-brainer.

By expressing the cost (a few cents) and the benefits (saving a child’s life) in such a clear and compelling way, passengers were able to create a mental picture of the child being vaccinated and saved from illness, which in turn made them feel great about themselves.

Next time you communicate your features and benefits ask yourself this question: will your customers perceive that your value proposition is an offer they can’t refuse? If so, you’re on the right track.