Let’s start from the same supposition shall we? 

The persuasion business sucks. 

Think about the last time someone tried to talk you into something – most anything from where you wanted to go to dinner to who you were going to vote for. I think you’ll agree that if they were trying to convince you of something different than what you already wanted that it wasn’t easy.

Or, as Lil’ Nas X rapped in Old Town Road, “Can’t nobody tell me nothin’.”

Talking people into things is tough, tough work. And regardless of whether you’re trying to get them to buy your services, use your products or hire your company, it’s a hard job. And just because you do convince someone of something doesn’t mean it will last.

Because as a friend of a friend, the founder of Boston Market George Nadaff, used to say: “A man convinced against his will is of the other opinion still.” 

That’s the bad news. And it’s the kind of bad news you live with every day if you spend them trying to grow your business. Especially if you’re trying to get your prospects to do something they don’t want to do in the first place.

But here’s the good news – it doesn’t have to be that way. Not if you’re willing to change your mindset and look at the situation in a whole new way.

Truth is, while you can’t tell people what to do, you can help them do whatever it is that they want to do. And if you can figure out the way to re-message what you do to create alignment with your potential customers’ desires then you can get them to do what you want because it’s what they want to do, too.

That’s what being a customer-focused brand is all about.

How to build a customer-focused brand:

1. Know yourself. The ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” takes on new meaning when you apply it to your business. Because before you can sell something, you need to know exactly what it is you’re selling

2. Know your customer. Just like you need to know to what you’re selling, there’s no way to create a client-centric product or service if you don’t understand to whom exactly you’re selling.

3. Figure out where points one and two intersect.

The funny thing about this? Most of us assume we already understand point number one perfectly well. After all, who could we possibly know better than our own selves? Because of this misconception, we just jump right into number two, spending money on research and customer insights, and then on all sorts of media to reach the people we believe are our customers. But if we don’t know what we’re actually selling to begin with, how can we sell it effectively?

Here’s an easy test to determine if you actually know yourself or your company well enough to sell effectively.

How self-aware are you really?

• What do I really want?

• What am I really best at?

• Where do I really stand apart from the competition?

Sure these questions sound easy. But I’m willing to bet that if you take the word “really” seriously, the inquiries suddenly become a whole lot harder to answer. 

The incredible thing is that when you can answer the first three questions (you, your customer, your intersection) and the second three (what you want, where you excel, where you stand apart) and look at your answers dispassionately, you can transform you and your enterprise from being in the persuasion business to being in the fulfillment business.

And that’s where everything changes.

To discover out more about how to do this, click HERE.