Subscribe
Peter Drucker famously said the purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer. In order to do that, of course, your business must provide a product, service or experience the customer judges to be preferable to all of the other products, services or experiences currently available. In other words, you must create a compelling offer for the customer to buy what it is you sell.
A compelling offer has four primary characteristics. It is:
- Meaningful to the customer
- Divergent from the competition
- Intensely focused
- Concisely communicated
Let’s consider each of these characteristics…
Meaningful to the Customer
Since Edward Chamberlin first coined the term “product differentiation” in his 1933 book, The Theory of Monopolistic Competition, marketing gurus have beat the drum of differentiation. And differentiation is critically important. But not all differentiation is created equal. Some differentiating qualities matter to the customer, others don’t. For example, you might be the only bank in town that has horse in your logo. That probably doesn’t matter to very many people. On the other hand, if your bank is open 24 hours a day, that might be meaningful – especially in a community with a large number of night shift workers.
Divergent from the Competition
The second characteristic of a compelling offer is that it is divergent from the competition. It’s unlikely that what you sell can be completely divergent from your competitors. But if your product, service or experience isn’t divergent is some significant way, it simply doesn’t provide the customer with a compelling reason to buy from you.
Intensely Focused
The third characteristic of a compelling offer is that it must be intensely focused. In their wonderful book, Made to Stick, the Heath brothers lobby for focus with this quote from a defense lawyer,
“If you argue ten points, even if each is a good point, when they get back to the jury room they won’t remember any.”
Customers and prospects simply don’t have room in their heads for all of the wonderfulness of your product. So focus. Tell them what matters most – emphasize the one thing that is most likely to compel them to buy from you.
Concisely Communicated
Finally, the fourth characteristic – your offer must be concisely communicated. In the screenwriting trade, this is called the logline, or more commonly, the one-line. The one-line tells potential viewers what the movie is about. In his book, Save the Cat, Blake Snyder uses these examples of a one-line:
A cop comes to L.A. to visit his estranged wife and her office building is taken over by terrorists (Die Hard)
A businessman falls in love with a hooker he hires to be his date for the weekend (Pretty Woman)
Your one-line must explain to the customer what he or she gets, and it must do so in a heck of a hurry. If your customers and prospects can’t easily remember and repeat your one-line, you probably need to keep editing.
If your offer contains these four components, it is likely to be compelling and your company is exceedingly likely to grow… leading to… A Good Business, A Great Life!
—