Wiifm?

byCraigBarnes

425 followers

5 years ago

There is a very old saying in professional sales and marketing. It says that the great maority of prospects and customers are tuned in to a radio station called "WIIFM" or What's In It For Me?

Put another way, THE most important or critical question you must be able to answer from any prospect or even customer is: "Why should I do business with you?" or "Why should I choose your business when I want to buy ..."

If you can't answer that question, especially online, they will be gone before you even know it. Yes, the competition online with billions of websites (including blog and video sites) is that ferocious.

Let's briefly examine how and why you might answer this key question and help prospects and even your regular customers feel confident in doing business with you.

One of the most common and costly mistakes any marketer can make is to forget about what I said above.

You can't force your prospect or customer to do business with you! You have to give them a very persuasive or compelling reason (answer) as to why they should do business with you. Your job as a salesperson or marketer is to persuade a prospect to do business with you in the first place.

Don't do this and you will most likely fail very quickly.

Think of it this way. How many shopping options do people have today. The numbers are almost too large to count, especially online. Are you really foolish or crazy enough to think an online prospect and visitor thinks they can't shop wherever they want to?

It doesn't matter how great you think your product or service is. No, all that matters is what the market(place) tells you. You don't tell it, it tells you. Before you decide on a (target) niche, you must first do a careful self-inventory/analysis as your first step and then a careful and thorough target market/audience analysis.

Despite what almost every site says, including here, choosing a niche is not the first step. Even Kyle admits and says to examine/list your passions and interests as the first step. Where I disagree with is the idea or dirrection to immediately jump to choosing your target niche as the next step!

As I've said again and again, passion alone is not enough to succeed online as any kind of internet marketer. If you want to have the best chance of success, you will also take inventory of things like your strengths, weaknesses, interests, skills, expeince, training, education, and even your hobbies. Considering all these other categories will only help you when you do get around to choosing your niche.

Why would you ever think that a prospect would even be interested in what you have to offer if they don't have any interest in what you're offering?

Doing your self-analysis and also considering things like your interests will go a long way in helping you avoid choosing a niche that just isn't right for you or your customer/prospect.

In some future posts, I will go into the proces of market (not niche!) research and analysis and then target audience reseasrch and identification come before you choose your niche. You actually can't choose a niche, good or not, without first knowing you are in the right market and have a crystal-clear and detailed picture of your idea customer (pesona is the term professional marketers and companies use).

Until then, signing off and wishing all of you stay safe until you know what ends.

Craig