How Your Company Story Can Help Sell
Posted by aonenetworks On June 9, 2014Sometimes, less is more. Sometimes, it is the simplest strategies that work best. In the ongoing quest to find new, better, faster, and more efficient ways of reaching out to, and connecting with, our customers, maybe we sometimes over-engineer solutions, when what we really need to do is to pull back just a bit. Instead of inventing ever more elaborate methods of attracting customers, what if we bucked the trend and simply went back to basics?
The Value Proposition
It starts with a simple story. This is who we are. This is what we do, and what we sell. We’re really, really good at it. Yes, you can go with our competitors, X, Y, or Z. They’ve got good products too. Nothing wrong with them per se, but if you opt to go that route, here is what you’ll be missing out on.
Then, you proceed to tell them your story. All the things that you simply do better than your competitors. Of course, in the telling of the tale, the primary prerequisite is that it be truthful and honest and real. Having laid out your narrative for your customers, it wouldn’t serve your purposes if you were dishonest, because customers can spot dishonesty from a mile away, and the moment they catch the first whiff of it, they’re gone, taking their business with them.
You founded your company with a vision in mind. With a reason. It was a good reason, and a good vision. Your business plan was solid enough to get you financed, and your vision was clear enough to attract good people to your side to help you make your vision real. Tell that story and highlight how it sets you apart from your competition.
That doesn’t work in every case, and part of being honest is coming to terms with, and being brave enough to talk openly about things your competitors might do better than you. There’s no shame in admitting that someone else does something better than you do. It’s all about the totality of the experience, how the the end to end user evaluates your service or product. . The good thing about that is that you don’t have to excel at everything, so long as you provide the best overall user experience.
It Takes Bravery
Traditional marketing strategies seldom focus on telling that kind of story. They tend to focus on the more immediate goals. “Buy Now!” “New and Improved!” “Now with 20% more”¦whatever it is there’s more of!” Those slogans will probably get you some sales, sure, but there are other ways too, and in a world filled to the point of overflowing with “Buy Now!” marketing, how wonderful and refreshing to slow the pace down and come across to your future customers as the genuine article. The company that actually cares about the end to end user experience. That takes guts. That takes bravery, because it’s different.
There is a certain value in doing what everybody else is doing. After all, one of the major reasons everybody else is doing a thing is because it seems to work. Still, there is special value in innovating, and innovation takes many different forms.
Be brave.
Have a genuine conversation with your future customers, and tell them in plain, uncompromising language why they should do business with you. They’ll thank you for it, and they’ll reward you with sales