This article initially appeared as a guest blog by Deborah Tutnauer on Launch and Hustle dot com. You access the original here.
Clarity of Impact for Entrepreneurs. Knowing why your customers buy your products and why they buy from you is crucial to understanding your impact, which is the precursor for your marketing and advertising strategy.
No one wakes up one morning and jumps out of bed, excited beyond belief because out of the blue they decided they wanted to buy a drill, and today was the day! There is no reason to randomly want nor need a drill. But a hole — THAT is a completely different story. There are many reasons to want a hole. It could be for wiring a new piece of electronic equipment through the walls, or hanging a picture using an anchor, or putting together a piece of furniture. The need for a hole is the reason to get excited about buying a drill.
What Gets People Delighted About Your Product or Service?
Do you know?
Here is where clarity of impact for entrepreneurs meets depth of understanding. Here is also where many entrepreneurs miss the proverbial boat. I have a client who designs jewelry. Initially her website was a beautiful showcase of pieces with descriptions of each piece and an emphasis on the quality, unique craftsmanship and customer service. But is that why people decide to buy a piece of jewelry?
Randomly search through websites and even old fashioned flyers and what do you see most often?
Let’s go back to our drill. Most likely on a tool website you’d see a list of the drill attributes:
- Fast
- High Powered
- Light Weight
- Long Lasting Battery
But remember, people don’t want a drill, they want a hole . And they want a good hole that’s simple to create.
What would it be like for a potential customer to read instead:
Best Holes Ever! Clean edges. Super fast drilling. Perfect holes every time!
Hang your pictures, shelves and more like a pro.
Never make a drilling mistake again with our instruction guide .
This drill makes simple, professional holes!
Clarity of impact for entrepreneurs is about knowing what business you are REALLY in.
My jewelry designer friend is indeed an artist and a craftsperson. Yet to market and sell her art she must appeal to the reason people buy jewelry, not just the details and attributes of the piece. Love. Beauty. Status. Appreciation. The business she is in is NOT the jewelry business. She is in the business of helping people communicate their feelings for another. She is in the business of inspiring people to accessorize as they dress to portray their passion or interests. She is in the business of making people smile when they look in the mirror.
This is why old Kodak commercials never talked about cameras or film. Instead they shared “Kodak Moments”. Pepsi advertising never listed the ingredients of the beverage. They focused on the “Pepsi Smile”.
For clarity of impact for entrepreneurs you must dig deep into your marketing avatar and into the impact of your product or service so that you know intimately and can communicate with clarity, what it is you REALLY offer. How does your product or service REALLY impact your customer?
Your customer does not care about attributes and details until after they feel you are speaking directly to them and their problem or desire. Customers want a solution to discomfort, confusion, frustration. Customers want to be cared about and understood. They want to know why and how your product or service will serve them. Once they feel connected in that way, then they will look at your details.
Taking the time to appreciate and discern the impact of a product or service will be money in the bank over the long term. Understanding clarity of impact for entrepreneurs is often overlooked in marketing and business plans. It’s a simple and powerful focus shift that will set you apart from your competition.
Deborah Tutnauer
Coaching both privately and in groups, Deborah is also a speaker, author, event leader and consultant. Creator of the Foundation and Framework Intensive, Question Master and Leader of the Entrepreneur Business Success Club, Deborah has been called an “Architect of Magical Business and Soul Structure”by her clients because she has a powerful ability to perform alchemy, changing passions and dreams into money and time by design.
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Hi Deborah,
Clarity is the name of the game, isn’t it? It seems lately I’m beating my head up against a wall with some people, lol…
I had a call earlier in the week where I walked a person through the process of understanding what having real clarity looks like in her business.
Her answer was “I know all of this” yet her website said clearly that she didn’t and she couldn’t even tell me what she does without confusing both herself and me.
That is not clarity!
I realized quickly that I was wasting my time talking with someone who just wants to “do” without slowing down to “be.” She will continue to struggle because she refuses to gain the clarity she needs to persuasively talk with her audience (which doesn’t know who they really are because she’s not clear).
I wanted to pull my hair out, lol…
Great post Deborah! Keep up the great work.
~ Don Purdum
Don Purdum recently posted…How Successful People Think*
I most definitely hear you and understand Don. From decades of being a professional in the helping professions (teaching, psychotherapy, coaching and consulting) I too have had my share of frustrating moment. From my perspective, digging deeper to develop that clarity we are speaking about, takes courage and sometimes people are too afraid to discover that they don’t know the answers. They may not want to face the challenging truth that their business foundation may be a house of card, because they have only DONE without first understanding their BEING or the ESSENCE of their business solution.
I feel strongly that this point is where the real work begins. If a client is not yet ready to do the work, then we keep hopefully can keep them in our communication sights and offer small pieces of mind expanding thoughts and information – gently leading them to a place of potentially ready to get down and dirty with the work!
Thank you for your thoughtful comment Don.
Always a pleasure to see you here.
~Deborah
Deborah Tutnauer recently posted…Four Myths About Coaching Plus One More
Hello, Deborah,
What an excellent article, and one I could resonate with so very well.
Yes, it’s the end result that people are after, and they need to see the person offering specific help to get them that desired result.
Absolutely agree. Focusing on benefits as opposed to features is definitely the way to make the emotional connection that preludes the desired action being taken.
Love your outline of the foundational element in marketing plan, Deborah, I agree. Also, maybe you could share your secret for how you were able to get LaunchandHustle dot com to allow you to publish their article (I realize you’re the author, but they’re the owner), as this would really help me with how to leverage my hard work and time creating unique and original guest articles. If you can’t share, I understand, however.
Have a blessed day.
˜Carol
Carol Amato recently posted…Is PLR Trash or Treasure?
Thank you for your comment Carol and I hope you are enjoying your weekend.
Yes, the focus on the foundation is so important. Without it, a business will be built on a pile of shifting sand.. which we know over time will not support a strong and stable structure nor income stream
As for Launch and Hustle. Our contract allows me to republish my own articles and link back to the original after a specified period of time has passed.
Warmly,
Deborah
Deborah Tutnauer recently posted…Can I Afford a Business Coach
Thank you for sharing, Deborah, I really appreciate that. Have you had good success with ranking, or does the original publication on the guest site usually do better? Will definitely consider this in future. Appreciate it. ˜Carol
Launch and Hustle found me and invited me to write for them monthly. It is the contract they gave me. I’m sure all guest postings operate in their own unique manner. Their site is highly trafficked and cuts a wide swath. So I don’t even take the time to compare Carol. Though traffic is important, it is not the determining factor for my business.
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Excellent post Deborah!
And i’ll bet you have a field day with the average
small business and or service provider, that initially
have virtually little or no idea what you’re talking about!LOL!
I love “how” you explained the business your friend that designs jewelry is really in!
Your definition has much more impact, than merely a website with some nice
images on it.
Without a doubt it would definitely behoove all serious entrepreneurs to dig a little
deeper as you suggest, in order to discover what business they/we’re really in.
Thanks for sharing an excellent post and conveying a rather tricky concept!
Mark recently posted…Why No Matter What The Local Or National Economy Is Doing Real Entrepreneurs Will Always Thrive! Part Two
Welcome to this conversation thread.
I apologize for the delay in getting to your comment! It is such a serious and important topic and one that causes many to roll their eyes in either frustration or confusion or “I don’t need to understand that stuff”. But regardless, they do if they want 21st century success!
Hope you have enjoyed your week Mark!
~Deborah
Deborah Tutnauer recently posted…Lead With Your Authentic Heart and Good Business Will Follow
Hi Deborah,
I love the analogy of the hole and the drill! It is so simple, yet we often complicate it in marketing.
The example you have given about your client selling jewelry hits the nail on the head! Yes, there is beautiful jewelry she can offer but “why” is what we need to focus on.
Jewelry can make you feel good, it can enhance your outfit, it can also draw attention and so much more. The list goes on and on and that’s just it…the list! And that’s where we get Clarity.
Whatever we are marketing, we MUST make that list of benefits before we even put it online. “Buy product x to help with ____ If you buy product x it will make you feel____ Product x is having a 10 day sale don’t miss out! These are the “shoe ins” as I call them to capture attention.
We want to hit the person’s emotion, logic, pain. Three small principles of marketing. (When I say pain…it is the missing out perception) All with pure clarity of our avatar.
I like an offer when it is clear to me what it is, no matter which way I’m attracted to it. The worst I’ve seen online are those who say “affiliate this and you will get all this free stuff” Then I ask the person what the heck are you really selling and in reply they will tell me that it will be launched soon. No Way would I opt into that because the message is not CLEAR!
Thanks once again Deborah for putting things into perspective.
-Donna
donna merrill recently posted…Should Bloggers Give Away Their Best Information?
Isn’t that just a great analogy Donna?!! One of my favorites.
I’m not sure who first used it, but I initially came across it in Mike Dillard’s very first book! At the time a read it 8 or 9 years ago, it was very much a light bulb moment. It is so simple yet profound. I buy a light bulb not for the bulb, but to be able to see in my house at night. I buy ski gear not only because I love shopping for gear (LOL), but because the right gear gets me down the mountain with more control and more fun!
I hire coaches and consultants not because they are nice people, or even because of their background or skill set. I hire them because they offer a solution to something I am struggling with in my business ( or life). Thus right now I do not have a business coach as things in that arena are copacetic. But I do have a meditation and personal writing coach. As my business has boomed my internal care taking has wavered. Joining a specific class for meditation, centering, journaling and creating space was exactly what I needed. The person I hired offered the ideal scenario for me.
Our work is to market whatever it is we offer and sale, keeping in mind the needs of the end user and Value to them!
Thank you for your thoughtful(as always) comment Donna.
~Deborah
Deborah Tutnauer recently posted…How You Do Something is How You Do Everything