Most companies think people buy from them because of things like low prices or great customer service. But isn't that what everyone says?
What things should you be telling them?
In the 1960's, Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham created a communications model called the Johari Window that may help you better understand the way customers look at your products and services, and how you can better meet their needs.
In this model, you, the merchant, are identified as "Self" and your potential customers would be the "Others".
The OPEN quadrant represents all of the current information that a business shares with its customers and prospects, usually through standard vehicles like brochures, advertisements and company Web sites.
These same potential customers may also have obtained information about your company or product that you don't even know about. For instance, they may have heard about you from a friend or overheard a stranger talking about your product, good or bad. So while this information may help them in their decision making process, it is BLIND to you.
There is even information that will occur as you potentially do business together that will expose itself over time. Yet, at this time, that information is UNKNOWN to both of you.
However, the greatest gain you can achieve in your sales process should come from the area identified as HIDDEN. This is the information that very well could be the differentiator in that customer buying from you, yet it's not readily available to them.
Every business has things that make them special and different from their competition, and the more you can convey this information to the people looking to do business with you, the more success you should see.
So the next time you create a brochure or update a Web page, make sure that you aren't hiding the information that makes you unique.
