Don’t Fall in Love with Products and Services
*** Join us: Tuesday November 30, 2004 from 1pm to 2:15pm ***
The NEW Game of Business Series: “THE Ultimate Profit Model:
How to Generate More Income with Little or No Expense!
Whatever your business, if you want more profit, don’t miss this call.
PHONE NUMBER: 858-300-3030
PIN CODE: 12254# (Remember the # sign).
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One of the main reasons people DO NOT succeed in business is because they fall in love with their products and services. What? Aren’t you supposed love what you do or what you sell?
Do people buy McDonalds franchises because they love the hamburgers? Hardly!
Falling in love with your product can be dangerous to your health, damaging to your wealth, and devastating to your bottom line.
Here’s why: Love is blind.
When we fall in love we can’t see anything but the good. There are positives to that. It stimulates passion and a fervor to share what you have with others. It keeps you moving forward in times of trouble, and gives you the energy to “keep on keepin’ on” when things turn downward. That’s all good stuff.
The downside of falling in love with your product can have debilitating effects. For one, rejection can be personal. When you feel vested in what you say, what you do or what you offer to others, it can create all kinds of negative emotions if those others don’t respond, or worse, outright reject our offer or proposition. Some people cannot get over that snub. Why? Because in the NEW Game…
It’s NOT just business: it IS personal!
Ask the 100 million people who have come and gone in network marketing how much their families and friends contributed to their demise. I’m sure many of them believed strongly in what they offered, yet they were driven out of the business by a handful of Naysayers.
Just because we like (love) what we do, what we sell or what we offer, doesn’t mean it’s going to result in a viable, profitable and sustainable venture.
I’ve asked this question to thousands of people:
“Would you rather have a product you love and others don’t, or a product others love and you don’t?”
For many people, that’s not a tough question. They would take the product they love, hands down. They believe they can be passionate enough to convince others to love it too.
This choice strikes at the heart of business. Too many people have gone to the poor house trying to persuade others to feel the love they have for their products. They want others to love what they represent. The truth is, who really cares whether we love it or not?
What matters in the real world of business is whether other people love it enough for you to earn a profitable living selling it. Whether you sell jet planes or jelly beans, the number one consideration for the profit potential is the market potential. No market, no profit. If not enough people want what you have, you will not make a living doing it.
Representing a product you love is NOT A BAD THING. It’s a good thing. But “falling in love” can blind you to whether that product or service has enough market demand for you to succeed at it long term.
How many burger joints sell better hamburgers than McDonalds? Most!
How many are as successful and profitable as Mickey D’s?
It “ain’t” the quality of the burgers that makes for their profit. I doubt any McDonalds owners buy the franchise because they love the Chicken McNuggets.
When we fall in love with our product or service, we tend to present it from OUR point of view. We are passionate and excited, and that’s fine.
Unless the passion and love causes us to miss the faults and/or shortcomings of our products and services. We lose sight of the most important person’s perspective, the person whose voice matters most: the customer.
Passion is wonderful. I wouldn’t want to leave home without it. It gets attention, and keeps people’s interest. It also energizes the seller.
The conventional wisdom, the old game sales model is…
AIDA = Attention, Interest, Desire, Action!
In the NEW Game…
WE DON’T BUILD DESIRE IN PEOPLE.
It must already exist for them to take action. Their desire, not ours is what creates a buying state. No matter how much we love it, or want them to have it…
IF THEY DON’T WANT IT OR NEED IT, THEY WON’T BUY IT.
After you gain someone’s attention, the buying decision is NOT based on YOUR feelings about the value of the product or service. Old game training taught all kinds of techniques to arouse us, to convince us, to “cause” us to buy.
Millions of businesses that had GREAT products and services went belly up. Many did so because the owner was too deeply in love with the product, and couldn’t see the forest for the trees.
No matter how much you love what you do, if the public isn’t buying it you better have a good Plan B. Companies fold every day because they don’t test the waters before spending a King’s ransom creating, developing and launching a product (as in Dot-bomb.com).
We had a little luncheonette on one of the biggest and busiest corners in town. You’d think it was a slam-dunk, a home run. In the last five years, five owners have come and gone.
When a new guy bought the place one Autumn just in time for the start of school, I told my son Adam he won’t make it to Spring. Sure enough, it was empty most of the time. He didn’t do his due diligence.
The sign in the window said something to the effect of, “Open under new management. Chef at XYZ (famous) restaurant now running the ABC Deli.”
I gave him six months, if that. Why? Five reasons.
1. Lousy parking. A few street-side parking spaces but no separate parking lot, therefore no walk-up traffic.
2. Busy corner means no easy access. People blow right by this corner, and by the time they see it, oops!
3. NO less than eight other eateries, including take-out and fast food restaurants within two blocks.
4. Bad history – nobody succeeded in that location after a popular candy store folded many years ago.
5. He fell in love with it. Love is blind. He thought people would rush in because he’s a great chef.
He severely miscalculated.
In six months, the store was dark.
I could go on, but it pains me. I know the guy sunk his life savings into the place, renovated it nicely, worked long hours, and had high hopes because he loved to cook and serve good food. He was looking for work before the leaves turned green. How sad! He’ll have a hard time recouping from this venture financially, but an even harder time recovering emotionally.
No matter how much you love your product or service, you’d better make sure enough others feel the same way before you sink your heart, soul, time, energy and money into it. Too many people fail because they fall in love with their products, only to find themselves alone at the alter of public acceptance.
Final point: if what you are doing right now DOES have public appeal, and has a growing market potential, be vigilant to adapt, change, alter, even “kill off” a product if it’s not producing a profit or earning you a living.
After all, you wouldn’t buy a McDonalds because you love the hamburgers, would you?
Mitch
*** Join us: Tuesday Call November 30, 2004 from 1pm to 2:15pm ***
The NEW Game of Business Series: “THE Ultimate Profit Model:
How to Generate More Income with Little or No Expense!
Whatever your business, if you want more profit, don’t miss this call.
PHONE NUMBER: 858-300-3030
PIN CODE: 12254# (Remember the # sign).
