Interests or Compulsions?
A few months after Sue and I got married in the summer of 2005, we were visited by Sue’s cousin Lynn, Lynn’s husband Brian, and their two little boys, Brian Jr, and Colin, ages 4 and 2.
Brian Jr. seemed fascinated by the books and nick nacks on the shelves in out living room and I, hearing he was interested in fossils and dinosaurs, told him about a limestone fossil sitting on the living room window sill.
At least, I attempted to tell him.
To me, it blows my mind that the mollusk shells trapped in this particular piece of limestone are the best part of 250 million years old. I think it’s interesting.
But therein lies the problem and it’s this: what interests you, as the seller (of whatever it is you’re pitching—an idea, an explanation, or some new product) isn’t important.
What IS important is what’s important to the customer, who, in this case, was 4-year old.
Now, the age of your customer’s not the point and I, ever the logical one, wasn’t used to trying to communicate with a 4-year old and from what followed, I learned a valuable lesson.
Because as I tried to explain the age of this fossil ” … and this fossil is 250 million years old!”, little Brian had his eye on something that, to him, was far more important.
As I did my little fossil sales pitch he politely but firmly interrupted me by saying “But look! There’s candy!” Little Brian had noticed a dish of candy on the coffee table and fossils be damned, his attention was now elsewhere!
At the time this was funny.
And even now, it makes me smile.
But deeper down, there’s an important marketing lesson for all of us and it’s this: when you are marketing ANYTHING, regardless of what it is and who you’re marketing it to, before you get too deeply enmeshed in your message, think about what it is that’s going to appeal most to your audience.
Don’t market to YOUR interests, market to the COMPULSIONS of your client or customer. Dishes of candy draw 4 year olds like candles draw moths. So the biggest challenge you’ve got on your hands is to figure out what’s going to appeal most to the person or audience you’re dealing with right now?
The mistake I made was in thinking that my interests would be of interest to my audience: little Brian Jr. I was wrong.
And because I was wrong, I learned a valuable lesson. In the weeks ahead, ask yourself of the audience you’re talking to, what dish of candy are they going to be interested in when you’re trying to explain your 250 million year old fossil? I think the answer might surprise you.
