| ial yearly issue of Success Magazine called "The | | | | to determine whether you are any better or any |
| Selling Issue" quoted Scott DeGarmo, "The big | | | | different from anyone else. So your marketing |
| money goes to those companies with superior | | | | goal should be to narrow the Confidence Gap and |
| marketing operations. Entrepreneurial companies | | | | restore the consumer's trust and confidence. How |
| of today must evolve from being sales oriented | | | | Do I Fix This Problem? The questions you may |
| to being marketing oriented in order to now win | | | | be asking yourself are: "How do I figure this out? |
| the consumer." Let me explain why it's important | | | | How do I fix this problem?" Go to the business |
| to focus on marketing instead of selling. There | | | | section of any bookstore and you'll find all kinds of |
| was a time known as "the days of simple selling." | | | | books on this topic. You'll find things like "Better |
| The days of simple selling are generally considered | | | | Customer Service." The theory is if you have |
| the days before 1980 or, in some industries, | | | | better customer service, you'll have more |
| before 1990. In this period of selling, it was a lot | | | | customers. The problem with this philosophy is |
| easier for a salesperson to go in and sell to a | | | | you must have a customer in order to give them |
| buyer. The reason was simply because the | | | | service. You can't just say, "I've got great |
| marketplace was a lot less crowded. For example, | | | | customer service." It doesn't work that way; you |
| in 1980, if you wanted to buy a Ford pick-up | | | | must have a system that will drive the customer |
| truck, where did you go? You went to the | | | | to you! One of the things you might hear business |
| dealership. This was the only way to see your | | | | gurus say is, "If you have more sales training and |
| choices and ask your questions. You couldn't go | | | | if you are better at sales, then you'll be able to |
| online or to Barnes & Noble and read fifteen | | | | get more customers." The problem with that is, |
| magazines that compared and contrasted new | | | | again, you've got to have prospects in order to |
| trucks and cars because these sources of | | | | use your sales skills. If you look at all the sales |
| information didn't exist. The dealership was the | | | | training books and all the sales training seminars, |
| only source of up-to-date information. In the days | | | | they are all short on advice in this particular area, |
| of simple selling, there was less competition, | | | | namely: "How do I find someone to sell to in the |
| fewer choices, and it was easier to make a | | | | first place?" There is another way that business |
| buying decision. Let's wrap this up by saying, "in | | | | books and business gurus tell you how to |
| the days of simple selling, the seller had the | | | | overcome this thing we call the Confidence Gap. |
| power because the buyer had very few options." | | | | "Use advertising tricks and techniques." Through |
| The Days Of Simple Selling Are Over! Now we | | | | misleading advertisements you can trick people to |
| have a new situation; buyers no longer have to | | | | call you or come in. For example, I saw a car ad |
| rely on limited sources of information about a | | | | that said, "Pay no tax on all new vehicles." Do you |
| product or service. The landscape of business | | | | think that sounds like a pretty good deal? Would |
| now involves increased competition, information, | | | | you be thinking: "If I weren't paying any tax, then |
| choices, and more resistance. It has made buying | | | | I'd probably save a couple grand." The problem is |
| cycles longer. There is price competition now that | | | | that in the fine print it said, "Customers |
| didn't exist before. Products are becoming | | | | responsible for all sales taxes, state, and local. The |
| commodities and a lot of the marketing | | | | dealer will pay for the inventory tax." This is a |
| messages are identical. Now a wedge has been | | | | sales trick. It does nothing to build trust and |
| created between the seller and the buyer. This | | | | confidence. Instead it builds contempt, hatred, and |
| wedge is called "The Confidence Gap." "The | | | | suspicion. The result is a widening of the |
| Confidence Gap" is the consumer's inability to | | | | Confidence Gap when the goal of the |
| determine whether any of the products or any of | | | | advertisement should have been to narrow it. |
| the services are any better or worse or any | | | | These examples reveal a problem. We used to |
| different than any of the others. This creates a | | | | have the days of simple selling; now we have The |
| big problem. What you need to understand is that | | | | Confidence Gap. You, as a business owner, need |
| people, who will be buying from you, have all | | | | to overcome this in order to be successful. You |
| these different choices. It's very difficult for them | | | | need to find a solution to the problem. |