An Important Lesson From Dr. Suess

As Dr. Seuss would have put it- “It’s all about the WHOS in Whoville.”

No one says, “I wish my marketing took longer to get results. I enjoy stretching things out and wondering if people will come in to buy from us.” 

We want them to get there as soon as possible.

Moving “Prospect” to “Customer” and “Customer” to “Loyal Customer” more quickly means, very simply, making everything all about–you guessed it–the prospect and customer. That’s what we’ve always taught. 

As Dr. Seuss would have put it- “It’s all about the WHOS in Whoville.”

Marketing your business is not about you, the Owner.  It’s about the customer. You want to ensure that you keep the focus on the customer in all your marketing interactions. It is an effective way to build trust with the customer and to demonstrate that your primary concern is understanding their requirements, problems, lives, wants and learning what you need to do to deliver value to them.

Every time you have an opportunity to tell your prospect or customer something, think about it from their perspective.  Even better, if you have an opportunity to ask them questions, do it.  Focus groups, surveys, comment cards, online review sites…all of these can be a wealth of information for your marketing efforts.  

Ask. Don’t Tell.

Begin to build the foundation of trust and credibility with your marketing that will differentiate your business from the competition. Talk in benefits to them, not in feature you have created.

Features: what the product or service does, descriptive facts that make it unique/special

Benefits: why those features matter and how they help improve your customer’s life

If you are in a telling mode when creating your marketing and everything you say is fundamentally about you, you will lose your prospects’ attention. Even if benefit statements accompany all your factual claims, you are still talking about yourself. And the prospect can sense this.

Focus on the WHO, the customer.

If you do this, your prospect will transition from half-heartedly reading your marketing to taking a mental test drive of your offer.

Print out a big sign and post it next to your desk- “It’s All About The Who.”