What Do Your Prospects Think About You?

Let me clarify what I mean by prospects, I mean the casual shoppers, the ones who will be interested in your product or service someday. You may be thinking "Who cares!" or "I need business today. I will deal with someday, someday" or even "What does planet robot prospect that far out matter?"

It is amazing how many companies do not know the answer Creepy Crawlers "what do your prospects think about you?" It is astonishing! The companies that take the time to find out Star Wars information learn not only how Fantastic Four prospect views them, but how to target them better as well. By finding out this information you will learn what is, what needs to be and what their needs are. Let me explain.

What is? How are you currently perceived in the market? Is this perception what you would like it to be?
You would be amazed to learn that the perception of most companies is normally not at all what the company thinks it is-regardless of what the advertising efforts entail.

What needs to be? Your brand is a presentation of what the customer will experience when they do business with you. It is your company painting the picture of the promised experience before it occurs. If you paint one picture and a customer experiences another, a disconnect occurs with the customer. This can work to your favor if the customer is getting more than expected or more commonly, can work against you if they are not getting what they expected.

Let's assume for a moment that a disconnect occurs with the majority of your customers and they all receive more than expected. This sounds good right? It can be. But it can also be a bad thing. Depending on what and how much they are getting for the price, you could establish the perception of being cheap. This means if you raise your prices, your clients will go elsewhere. Every company needs to raise prices at one time or another, having a cheap reputation may get you the sale today, but it will not keep the client coming back.

What are the needs? All businesses suffer at one time or another from jargon-itice. Jargon-itice is a case of a person or company knowing enough about their industry (to be dangerous) that results in them assuming the market knows the same information; or a person knows enough about their industry that they assume prospects and clients are idiots. Both scenarios normally result in the person using industry jargon and talking about the perks from a business perspective not the needs of client, again causing a disconnect.

So why is this disconnect such a big issue? Look at how much you spend on advertising and marketing in a year. That is a large amount of money to risk wasting. By knowing and understanding this information accurately you can better target your clients, their needs and properly attract more qualified business.

Mel DePaoli is the president and founder of Omicle located in Seattle, WA. She is also interviewing companies for her upcoming book series Brand or Culture: Which Comes First. Please visit href="omicle.com">Omicle.com for more information about how Omicle can become your Catalyst for Discovery and href="brandorculture.com">brandorculture.com to get involved in the Brand or Culture Debate!
This article may be reprinted with by-line and credit given to Mel DePaoli. Ms. DePaoli can be reached at href="mailto:mel@omicle.com">mel@omicle.com.