Business monitor JAN:Layout 1 25/01/2010 13:13 Page 23
BUSINESS MONITOR
“
If you drone on about
300gram cotton most customers
won’t have the first idea what
you mean and I wonder how
many people know what a
placket is?
”
claim it. More than that, there are a lot of other emotional hooks for the
business owner. “See more of your kids”; “ make your business
immensely respected”; “develop for the future”. For printwear
businesses ‘smart’ is surely right up there as a key word and that means
smart in both senses.
Emotional imagery is something of a minefield, but not to be ignored.
Benetton gained fame and then infamy by overdoing it. Dulux, Andrex
and Churchill Insurance all use dogs, which are nothing to do with
their product, but people respond well to them. These are amongst
our most trusted brands. In Canada I’m told the beaver gets plenty of
marketing use, thanks to his notorious business. Babies and young
children do it for recent mothers, but not by any means women in
general. You’ll have noticed that chocolate is being used to fill this
role.
Negatives and positives are an interesting issue. Sales trainers will
tell you always accentuate the positive, avoid negative terms. At
the same time John Lewis have made a good thing out of being
‘never knowingly undersold’. “We’ll never let you down” is stronger
than “We’ll always look after you.”
Use the words that your customers use not the ones that you use
when dealing with other printwear specialists. If you drone on about
300gram cotton most customers won’t have the first idea what you
mean and I wonder how many people know what a placket is? Talking
(or writing) trade jargon to non-experts isn’t just the best way to lose
a sale it is also rude – the equivalent of assuming that all foreigners
should understand English. Care is indicated because a few
customers genuinely know their printwear onions – they’ve been
buying it for years. A very good salesman I know asks customers
about their level of knowledge in his initial fact-find, saying quite
simply “I don’t want to use trade terms if you don’t know them, but
if you do I’d hate to insult your intelligence.” Apparently everybody
responds well to this, so I recommend you copy it.
l Paul Clapham is a marketing consultant with over 25 years’
experience covering a broad range of business sectors and
a full spread of marketing disciplines. He works
with small, medium and large companies
alike to increase their profitability
through marketing. Tel: 01453
765432
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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