Are You Safe?

For any of you who are wrestling with getting prospects to buy your product or service for the first time or trying to get your current customers to try a new product or service, here’s some discouragement and encouragement all in one post.  Let’s start the discussion with this question… Are you a safe choice for your prospects?

Tough economic times lead to people running for safety.  No one is taking too many risks with their time or money right now.  It seems that any potential expenditure of time or money is being heavily scrutinized – even when talking about where to go out to eat.  I don’t even want to think about the calories and brain cells being burned by someone who has to replace a failing water heater, which they know nothing about!  They just can’t afford to make a bad purchase – there is very little tolerance for risk right now. 

Guess what?  Businesses are acting the same way – only making purchases that will have a safe and very certain payback.  So, no matter what you offer your target customers, you have a bit of a challenge… they are not willing to take a risk. 

Now, if you are old enough, you might remember the last recession – back in the 80’s – when the aversion to risk was similar (even if the economic situation wasn’t exactly the same) especially in corporate America where down-sizing was all the rage and everyone was worried about losing their job.

At about that same time, IBM was the dominant computer supplier to businesses and they knew what was going on in the minds of their target customers, so they created an ad campaign that focused on that fear of risk.  The ad went something like this… two IT managers are talking about needing to upgrade or fix their computer systems and have clearly been struggling with what to do for a while.  One manager says he is going with IBM.  The other manager pauses for a moment, gives a confirming nod and then says something like “yeah, nobody ever got fired for buying IBM”.   The general message was clear – IBM was the safest choice.  In fact, even if it wasn’t the most economical or the most efficient, it didn’t matter.  They were safe.

So, even though our prospects’ budgets may be tight and even though we are tempted to simply lower our prices. It is likely their aversion to risk that is driving their purchase decisions and not their tight budget.  So, stop and ask yourself…  Are you safe?  Are you doing things to make yourself safe?  How can your prospects feel safe with choosing your product or service?

Guess what your prospects and customers are asking themselves about your product or service… 

Until next time… Here’s to you making better marketing and sales decisions.