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Avoiding the commodity trap

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What is the Commodity Trap?
When customers perceive your product or service as being identical regardless of the source, in other words, a commodity; the only differentiating factor then becomes price. Therefore, a commodity trap is a situation where products and services have slipped into purely price-based competition. And this is a bad thing because it means customers will go for the cheapest option, and this will force brands to compete on price.

 

Contact me via e-mail for a segmentation review of your marketing or branding strategy, and stop your customers asking the following questions when they see your product offering:
-       What is it?
-       How does it work?
-       How is it different?
-       And how much does it cost?

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There are a lot of factors

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What separates an average salesman and a good salesman?
I think what separates them is the understanding that in sales it’s all about the customer and not about yourself. Most salesmen are trained to learn a bullet point pitch and closing related to the pitch, and they are not trained to understand why customers are not buying. Good salesmen know how to ask deeper questions which are not scripted. I think sales in general is about finding the customers pain points and guiding your customer through a sales process where your product or service metaphorically fixes their pain. I have been a salesman and nowadays I’m a consultant, and if you go through sales training or workshop with me, your sales team will learn the tools to communicate value. Contact me via e-mail for sales training and workshops.

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Reason and rationality

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Fear is natural and I think it’s central to the human experience and these fears often come in disguise, for example, a fear that you’re not enough. The fear of not being good enough can surface as anxiety that you can’t explain or rationalise. Over the years of coaching and mentoring conversations, I’ve found that tapping into the imagination is the most powerful complement to traditional memory. The imagination gives us the ability to tell stories and form images about what is going on for us.

“The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety.”
— Deepak Chopra

We listen to reply

I think, well the vast majority of the global population thinks the biggest communication problem is we don't listen to understand. We listen to reply. We all have to develop our interpersonal skills, connecting with people we are just meeting for most people is pretty difficult. Human beings are hard wired not do it; our subconscious mind sees anybody that we don’t know as a possible threat. The idea of what we normalise in a culture is so important. For example: there was a time when being overtly racist was normal. We have moved forward from those days when such behaviour was normal. What do you think about that?

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”
— Harper Lee

Confidence is important

I think confidence builds competence and it helps us to continue to improve and move from “I know how” to “I’ll try” to “I am doing it.” A lack of confidence can hold people back from reaching their full potential. Without confidence we won’t overcome discouragement, disappointment and challenges, and we likely won’t practice. And if things don't work out at first, confidence helps us try again and directly contributes to a more positive attitude and expectancy which are contagious and can help those around us grow too.

“An artist is not paid for his labour but for his vision.”
— Burrellism

We reap what we sow

Intelligence is the ability to change your mind when presented with accurate information that contradicts your belief.

Closed mindset         
Talking              
Argumentative          
Taking                         
Arrogant                     
Defensive                   
Blaming                      
Rigid                            

Open mindset
Listening
Empathetic
Giving
Humble
Collaborative
Educating
Adaptive

Learn the difference

Some talk to you in their free time, and some free their time to talk to you. Focus on what you can control and find good mentors to help you make it easier to get out of the door in the mornings and remain motivated throughout the day. It’s a good idea to set yourself up to perform and work in intervals, set out to be consistent instead of making heroic efforts. Success does not come to you because you want it, success comes to you because you do the right things.

Redefining your goals

A campaign without a clear goal is essentially a waste of money, as you won’t know how to measure the impact or value of the work you’ve put in. Goals are there to provide clarity, purpose, direction and vision. Whether personal or commercial, they are what lead to success for you, your department, and the business as a whole. Hitting your goal proves you're making an impact. Contact me via e-mail for an evaluation of your goal setting procedures.

Identifying your brand metrics

What goals should brands be focused on?
It’s a combination of enhancing your brand, building up your credibility and cache and lead generation. There are several other goals that may be important as well, such as the sense of accomplishment. I’d strongly suggest that you don’t let the more intangible goals get in the way of the tangible ones as you can do both – it just takes planning, discipline, and focus.

 

Here are some action goals:
⁃            Add value
⁃            Make it work for them
⁃            Know your business goals
⁃            Make it actionable
⁃           Stay flexible
Contact me via e-mail for an overview of your brand goals.

The diffusion of innovations

The diffusion of innovations is a theory that describes the pattern and speed at which new ideas, practices, or products spread through a population. The American communication theorist and sociologist, Everett Rogers’ in his book, “Diffusion of Innovations” introduced the term, early adapter. The main players in the theory are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards and the book was first published in 1962.

Where do I apply my skills?

I think selling is both an art and a science. It’s all about leveraging quality content that’s visually engaging which is deep and consultative. It’s also important to pay homage to the science of selling and the need for buyers to be able to justify their decisions with logic. I’ve been analysed and various people have tried to pick my brain about my process. By me telling you what attributes you are going to need, doesn’t mean that you are going to have them. I don’t want to be dogmatic or stubborn about what selling is, as my process is a set of attributes that have worked well for me both personally and professionally.

Lead from the heart

For things to be better you first get yourself better, don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better and ask to be wiser and stronger. Have a great week and work on the small gains.

“Men will work hard for money. They will work harder for other men. But men will work hardest of all when they are dedicated to a cause. Until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts rather than following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more if only he could.”
— Harry Emerson Fosdick

Selling needs to be fun

We survive and thrive on the backs of people who do good. Unfortunately, we have too many sales managers who expect salespersons to do what they want and do it their way, and the only metric that is important to them is more activity. I think everyone is successful in their own way, and the salespersons who are consistently successful do it their own way. The highs are not as high, and the lows aren’t as low. If you find the way that works for you, you are going to be an excellent salesperson.

That's the reality

“Heuristics” are the mental shortcuts human beings take when processing information and making decisions. Marketing teams are fully aware of how to use heuristics to simplify complex and difficult questions as they are fast and accurate ways to understand and influence behaviours.

Brands use the anchoring and adjustment heuristic to strategically set a product's price point. For example, an electronic retailer in Denmark lists a television at a higher price than its fair value, and the potential buyer will use that price as an indicator that they have received a bargain when purchasing the TV at the “sale” price.

Three wise men

I think there are certain people who are meant to serve and others that are not and it is your job to work as hard as possible to find people who you are meant to serve. And I believe you will find them when you show up fully self-expressed. Most marketing books are tactical, so they focus on quick solution, for example, just do this or do that. This is OK if you are looking for a quick fix, but this does not teach you how to build trust and credibility, or how to price your products or how to have simple sales conversations which is required if you are doing pay per click advertising.

All business is personal

Why is it necessary to know people before you ever need them?

Remember that if you can build people up then you can build a business. In my experience I have found that sometimes people have ulterior motives with regards to the relationships they enter into. I think that when you create authentic relationships, you’ll see other possibilities to help each other along the way. My parents gave us the wings to try something new and they constantly told us that there is only one business and that’s the people business. It doesn’t matter what industry you work in, if you take the people out of the business, you’ll have nothing at all.  

The leadership gap

When I started my blog in 2017, I tried to interview the author of “The Leadership Gap”, Lolly Daskal. Lolly is coach, consultant, and leadership expert. I think there are sheep and shepherds, and there are also wolves. Wise leaders must understand some wolves are so clever, even though they are dressed up like sheep. Part of leadership skills are awareness, sensitivity and understanding - knowing the scenario and being alert for the inevitable.

 

Research shows that if you give people agency to “do their thing” in the decisions they make, they are more likely to make better decisions and morally follow-up and follow through on the decisions they make and achieve their goals.

“Management is about persuading people to do things they don’t want to do. Leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could do and end up doing it.”
— Lolly Daskal

Keeping it real

When you establish a pattern of honouring people through your actions, word gets out and your positive influence will spread. And since you have acted thoughtfully and with integrity, when you speak, people will listen. Authenticity doesn't mean sharing everything about yourself, to everyone, all of the time. It does mean saying what you mean, meaning what you say, and sticking to your values and principles above all else.