If I was visiting your store trying to sell you on our line of liquid pool covers and I said, "We've been manufacturing them for 20 years," would you care? No; that's a platitude.
What if I said, "We're very professional, and we'll got the extra mile for you." Would you sign on the dotted line, or roll your eyes and think "Platitude!"
If I added, "We think of our customers as family, and we know that our liquid pool covers will provide you with everything you want from a liquid pool cover" you would probably scream in my face "GET OUT OF MY STORE AND TAKE YOUR PLATITUDES WITH YOU!"
All of those statements are entirely true, but they just don't really matter. There are more important things that you would want to know about.
I read a joke today about 3 violin makers in Italy. They were all located on the same block. One day, the first violin store put up a sign in their window that claimed they made the best violins in all of ITALY. The second pool store didn't care for the challenge, so they put up a sign that told interested violinists that they made the best violins in the whole WORLD. Well, the owner of the third violin store read these signs and shook his head. He decided to put up a sign that read "We make the best violins on the block."
Sometimes the world is too big of a space for regular people to care about all the time. A pool owner is much more concerned about their pool than they are about the rest of the pools in the world. Rather than making grand claims that don't mean much to the individual, give your customers a GOOD REASON to continue shopping with you and potential clients a detailed account of how you are going to help them.
Instead of saying, "We've been manufacturing liquid pool covers for 20 years," I would be better off telling you that "BECAUSE we've been manufacturing liquid pool covers for so long, we have taken the time to properly test the products so you can rest assured that the products you are selling are safe, effective and proven to be quality."
Rather than promising our professionalism and the extra mile, I should tell you that we offer a variety of training materials and literature to help you understand and promote our products, and we offer co-op marketing opportunities to help you build up market share in your area.
I might add that our liquid pool covers are known to save up to 50% of overnight heat loss, between 10-40% of energy costs on heated swimming pools and approximately half the water normally lost to evaporation.
When you are talking to a customer or planning a marketing campaign, skip the platitudes and get down to facts. Most people don't have time to waste wondering what you mean when you try to be sly; they would rather simply find a straight-talking competitor who will answer their questions directly.
Finding platitudes in marketing is a hobby of mine (admittedly geeky and lame hobby) and I will often amuse myself by coming up with more powerful messages to replace them. What platitudes have you seen lately? Do you suffer from the inability to rephrase a platitude? If you have need help or would like to offer help with platitudes, leave a comment below. I'm sure we could all use some creative interpretations and suggestions to get the creative juices flowing.
The season is about to pick up, and it is time you BESTED the so-called "best!"
Comments
I used to work for a company that had a sales manager that, at every sales meeting, would say "Tell the potential customer that we are the best. Tell them we will be there for them if there is a problem. Tell them we have the best products". I would always say to him "How 'bout giving me something else? All the companies we compete with say the same thing"!
The other "gem" he had was "Stick with any new lead until they buy or die". He directed us to call at least once a week to "check in" with the customer, until they bought from us or died!
I've been away from that company (and he was canned long before I left!), but I am still involved in the pool industry and get invited back to some of the homes I had visited when I was there. The ironic thing is that I've been to pools that I visited several years earlier (I was working for a plaster company) that still have not done the work! Had I kept "in touch" for all these years, I probably would have been told "GET OFF MY PROPERTY WITH YOUR PLATITUDES" (stolen from Monique, of course!).
Great article, Monique! You have great insight as to how to present a product, and how to understand your customer!
-Bruce