Part V- My Favorite Thing?  

Everyone has, at one time or another, learned the hard way. All that glitters is not gold. Expecting X, we got Y. Expecting a meat lovers pepperoni pizza, we get ten measly pieces of pepperoni. From the cellophane window on the chocolate bar, we were expecting a lot of hazelnuts. We find out that the only hazelnuts in the whole bar were those right behind the little cellophane window.

When you think about the nature of the beast itself, most disappointments do not originate from the circumstance, but from our expectations. Because products so often fail to deliver, consumers have learned to distrust everything marketers have to say. All marketing sounds like, “Waa waa, wa wa waaaaaa”. (Say that in your best nasal intonation.)

Entrepreneurs have their work cut out for them if they want to sell anything at all. While we cannot control every expectation, and despite the general jadedness, it is still possible to divine the first impression of your product or service. (We talked about this in last week’s post, here.)

If you are an entrepreneur, managing expectations is your primary work. It is not easy. Let me explain with this example:

When my children were small, I would allow them to choose what they wanted for a birthday cake. Even though I am a graphic designer by trade, a cake decorator I am not. There were many times I was tempted to take a ball bat to the thing on the table. Frosting as medium and cake as sculpting material were never my first choice. Still, I enjoyed creating delight on their faces. Thankfully, children, and joyfully so, are forgiving by nature. Except on this one occasion. On his 5th birthday, my son wanted a rocket ship cake. Easy enough. I baked a flat sheet cake and used brightly colored frosting to illustrate a metal rocket ship complete with rivets and windows and flames. There. It was a rocket ship destined for Mars. But when my son saw the cake, he burst into tears. He was expecting it to stand up, as if on a launch pad–not flat on the table. And of course he did! He was five. And I had disappointed him so. But in all honesty, I did not ask him. If I had asked how he envisioned the cake, I could have coached his expectations back into the realm of reality and his mother’s capacity. It was a birthday blowout, and I am not talking candles.

We entrepreneurs prepare our products and services in much the same way. After all, part of the reason we started our business was because we wanted to have it our way, right? We prepare our product the way we want to prepare it, explain it the way we want to explain it, and package it the way we want to package it. All in a way convenient for us. Then because we have worked so hard to do it, we expect our customer to be happy with it, because it is blatantly obvious that it is the best product around.

Do you see anything wrong with this picture? It is common for us entrepreneurs to design things for our convenience and from our viewpoint, and call it good. We do not design for the customer. We design it for us.

Here are five ways you can avoid self-occupation in your marketing:

Ask your customer. Ask them what? Everyone knows that excellent customer service is essential in small business. (Fortunately, it is our easiest advantage over the mega-store.) You must find out what is it like to walk in their shoes. Go out of our way to find out how your customer would improve your product or service.  If you want to hit the mark, you must be able to see it.

Package your product in a relevant way. If you are going to build anticipation around your product, you need to package and deliver it in a way that provides clues to the contents. The shapes, the fonts, the color, the packaging, and any corresponding marketing must give an expectation of the reality inside.

Represent your product in an honest way. Claiming your product is the most amazing and best product in the marketplace is tempting but dangerous. Customers have already experienced many disappointments from false claims. These claims at best will only cause skepticism. Your customer is set up to be dissatisfied if the product does not live up to everything they have imagined in their heads, (think rocket-ship cakes standing straight up here). Instead, work continually to make your product the best product it can be.

Hone your customer service systems. We cannot expect to deliver great customer service if we do not have systems in place to make it happen. Systems help us meet the customers expectations, keep our promises, and do it consistently. We can then plan to exceed the mark. Systems will help ensure that you can do what you have set out to do.

Confirm you have hit the bullseye. It is not enough to intend. You must ask your customers periodically if you have done it. Meeting and exceeding their expectations need not be costly. The Customer Contact Council’s study confirmed that even where managers went out of their way to deliver over-the-top service, most customers did not perceive it as exceptional. Instead, these customers preferred the kind of service that solved problems and made their life easier, regardless of extra perks. This kind of service is easier to deliver.

We have spent the entire month discussing Brand as Gift:

In giving back to the world to make it a better place.

In doing all that you were born to do.

In preparing your best work, as if you were wrapping it up as a gift.

In choosing the right wrapping for your gift.

And this week, in setting expectations and keeping promises.

The beauty of all of this is that wherever your intended performance meets or exceeds the customers expectations, you have created a brand.

To be in business or not to be in business. That is the question. Small business survival is not determined by how well we conduct our business for ourselves, or how much money we make, but whether we are doing the right work at the right time and for the right persons. If you are doing what you were born to do, the whole world is enriched. A true brand is an expression of love, and a gift to all of mankind.

What matters is doing the work that matters. Rethink your Gift.

We wish you a happy and prosperous New Year. May 2016 be the year that you find your Gift and express it to the full.

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Why do we at etc!graphics inc, a graphic design company, care about your business strategies?  Because no matter how beautiful we make your visuals, your graphics will never make more sense than the clarity of your own vision. The clearer your target, the more lucid your marketing will be, and the better connection you will create with your visual graphics. We want to help you become the best you can be. Join us all this month as we share ways to help your small business sustain and grow in a crowded marketplace.

Etc!Graphics is devoted to helping you, the small business owner, think like a marketer.