Why You?

I read an article on RainToday this morning that struck a chord in me and has had me walking around ever sense trying to come up with the answer to a question posed in the article, which was......."Why, given all the competitive alternatives in the marketplace, should anyone buy from you?" Wow! What a question! Do you have an answer?

The article (which can be found on wwww.raintoday.com was written Kevin Dervin, the owner of KPD Marketing and creator of the ABCD Growth Marketing System (no, I don't have a clue either) and is one of many interesting articles that can be found on RainToday. If you're interested in lead generation and demand marketing, it is a treasure chest of information and insight.

Okay, so back to the question. I've been walking around the office asking various associates how they would answer if asked and the range of answers is pretty interesting. They include some fairly traditional responses, none of which really differentiate the firm, and one or two unique twists; e.g.: one sales person responded that he was the reason they should buy from us. Funny as it may seem, I don't think he was far off the mark with his response. Given a set of reasonably equal capabilities, what does differentiate Company A from Company B? The answer is often the people, the attention to detail, the sense of confidence that is created during the sales process and the execution of the delivery. Human beings are instrumental in all these areas and human beings relating to other human beings are most often the compelling reason for doing business with one company or another.

Allow me to give you an example. This past Monday evening I went to Phillips Arena to watch the Hawks play the Washington Wizards. I invited Traci Fenton to be my guest. You may remember that I mentioned her in an earlier post. You can find everything you need to know about Traci at www.worldblu.com. She is a very bright young woman and I thought that since she recently moved here from D.C. she would enjoy a chance to watch the Wizards play our Atlanta Hawks. Anyway, Brad Hamacher, the senior sales executive with the Atlanta Spirit who stayed on my case and got me to renew my season tickets, met us at the door and escorted us to the Club so we could grab a quick bite before the game. He later visited us just after half-time and brought a cap (Hawks of course) for Traci and explained to her that now she is living in Atlanta she needs to be a Hawks fan. Traci loved it and she certainly had a delightful time. Now, would she have had just as good a time if Brad had not met us and gone to that extra effort? Probably. But she is going to remember that he made the effort and she will have that hat hanging somewhere in her condo reminding her of how much fun she had at the game and I'm guessing she will go to another game or two or three this season on her own or with friends. Brad made the difference that night and so when my sales guy tells me that he is the difference, I think he is right. A professional services company has to live or die on its delivery and its delivery is based on the skills, attitudes and knowledge of its associates. It seems intuitive when you think about it, but he was the only one who made that point.

Anyway, a great game won by the Hawks in the final seconds (102 - 99) and they are now 6 & 1 in preseason with one game remaining. Looking good! By the way, that good looking guy with the white hair in the blue shirt looking some worried (the game was real close) is none other than yours truly and this shot actually made the Hawks home page. Cool, as Ellie would say!