What Are You REALLY Selling?

A confession, by Julie Hein

I color my hair.  Otherwise I would have white and fuzzy skunk-stripe, placed low enough for most to see since I am quite untall.  I affectionately call the grays "sparklies" and I've been known to hit them with a sharpie if they're prominent at an inopportune time. 

Department stores want me to buy hair dye from them.  I have bought a lot of it, around $10 at a time.  Salons want me to buy it from them and I do that now, from $50-150 dollars at a time. 

To them, I remind (and to you, I suggest that you look to the analogous element of your business) that the reason people like me buy hair dye is so:
* we look younger than we are
* we get a date or a spouse
* we keep said date/spouse
* we have more confidence
* we get a new job or promotion
* we look as good or better than our peers at the HS reunion, especially the old boyfriend's wife.

The CEO at Revlon once said that they sell HOPE.  Not lipstick, not shampoo.  Hope. That's what I'm buying.  What are you selling?  Can you see into the heart of your customer and give them what they really want? 

We're here if you want to talk.