ve. There is so much information that is essentially the same that the consumer can't tell who offers the best product or service for their specific needs. Everyone is professional, has integrity, great customer service, stands behind their work, has the best value, selection, and price.
Or at least they claim to. So how does the customer know which business to buy from? With all things being equal, at least in appearance, the consumer will base the decision on price, proximity, packaging, or some other factor that has nothing to do with the inherent value of the product or service. In an indistinguishable herd o.competitors, the business with the best location or biggest marketing budget will usually win. If you think that the superior product will always emerge victorious, you're in for a rude awakening.
So how do you get people to believe you when you say you have the best product, or the best price, or the largest selection. How do you convince someone that you really do have superior customer service? Most businesses simply state that they have the advantage, without backing it up or providing any specifics. They leave it at the vague conceptual stage. They'll say that they have the best prices in town, and it doesn't even register in the mind of the consumer. It's like the nondescript tan building that they drive past every day on their way to work- they don't even take notice. If it does register with the consumer, they're thinking something along the lines of SThe lowest prices in town? Yeah, you and everyone else.
The answer is to give the consumer something specific to believe, and .compelling reason to believe it. Consumers get more savvy every day. They're not likely to believe something they see in an advertisement. You need to reinforce and fortify your claims with specifics. Make your strongest claims up front, with examples. For instance, instead of saying you have great customer service, tell them something specific that illustrates that customer service.
General claim: SWe stand behind our work. Specific, believable claim: SIf you ever have a problem with our product, bring it back in and we'll fix or replace it on the spot, no questions asked.
General claim: SWere here to serve you. Specific, believable claim: SWe have operators standing by 24 hours a day, able to dispatch any of our 19 mobile service units, staffed by 57 MSCE-certified on-call field agents, covering every inch of the 6 county metro area.
The specific claims go well beyond a no-impact, forgettable generality. It goes right to telling the consumer exactly how you can back up what you claim, and makes it believable. The consumer's mind lets banalities pass right through, but specifics and especially numbers it tends to grab onto.
Another factor that leads to believability is a unique claim. What can you say that no one else can? You should always promote your points of differentiation from you.competition, and the more rare your claim, the more the consumer is going to think that this is something that he or she hasn't heard before. More attention is paid, more confidence is created.
Try this exercise: look through your marketing materials- brochure, website, yellow pages ad, catalog, whatever. Write down the main points you're promoting. Are they specific? Do they relate directly to you and you only? If you were to take out your name and put in the name of another business, would it still make sense? (Hopefully not.) Is everyone else in
