Like Simon Sineck says in his book, Start With Why or in his TED Talk, the most effective marketing tells people WHY and not WHAT or HOW. I find many building material companies are still focused on the WHAT or HOW.
I see them go into great boring detail about WHAT their product is and HOW it works. Imagine walking into a Jaguar dealer and have the sales person start by giving you a tour of the engine, transmission, differential and brakes.
Many building material companies are so proud of the technology or the WHAT and HOW of their product that they forget the WHY.
They start the conversation by talking about their flux capacitor or how it passes some obscure test or has phlegm rating of 12. 90% of building material customers don’t care. They just want to know if it will make their life better.
I’m not saying that this technical information is not important; I’m saying that you should never lead with it. Most of your building material customers are not looking to change anything unless they are having a problem. Change means extra work. Change also means risk. They know the risk of what they are using today, they may not know the risk of switching to you.
What does your customer really want?
You need to identify the primary need or motivation of your customer and then lead with that. For example the primary motivation of most contractors is the cost of labor. How does your product address this?
It might install faster or be able to be installed by less expensive labor. Maybe it reduces costly callbacks, all issues related to the cost of labor.
The primary motivation of an architect is their reputation. Their reputation could be effected by a building that gets noticed because of your product that draws more commissions. Their reputation can also be effected negatively by a product failure that reflects badly on them.
WHY is your product a sexy business proposition?
If you were trying to sell a sports car to an oversexed single guy you would be wise to realize why he really wants it or what it would take to interest him. Similarly, you need to follow the same thought process with a building material sale. Just remember WHY – WHY – WHY!
If you haven’t seen Simon Sineck’s TED talk video, it’s well worth the 18 minutes. Here’s a link to it.
Yes I am known for occasionally pushing the boundaries of propriety to make my point. I get very passionate about sharing my point of view. Sometimes, appropriate politically correct politeness just doesn’t get your attention.
About The Author: Mark Mitchell is a Sales and Marketing Consultant who specializes in helping business owners and senior executives in the building materials industry overcome difficult sales problems. Using his extensive hands-on experience, he shows them how to creative effective strategies to identify and eliminate blind spots that allow them to get past the roadblocks that keep them from realizing their revenue goals. Click here to learn more about his one-day workshop “Selling Today’s Building Materials Prospect.”
Subscribe To My Newsletter
If you like what I say, sign up for my newsletter here and get my weekly newsletter every Sunday night.
