Innovative Systems

June 2008
Do We Sabotage Our Own Sales and Marketing Efforts?

Really, I believe that we are our own worst enemy. By trying to be everything to everyone we make our products and services seem so confusing that it’s a wonder anyone buys anything. That might sound a little harsh, but stay with me.

Take Voice Mail as an example. For Voice Mail to work to its maximum potential, you need to have ‘call forward no answer’ and ‘call forward busy’ on the station. A feature benefit of Voice Mail is that it can take messages while you are on the phone. It seems logical that by default both of those features would be ‘included’ with Voice Mail and not priced or selected separately. Asking customers to make a choice to have ‘call forward busy’ as they purchase Voice Mail makes the transaction more complicated than it needs to be. Complicating the transaction gives the customer a reason to do nothing. And let’s face it, it’s just easier to do nothing.

Another example is Caller ID. In my mind, Caller ID means that the caller’s name AND telephone number appear on my Caller ID display. But, how many companies still advertise and price separate services that amount to Calling Number and Calling Name & Number. Seriously, what’s one without the other? Make it simple and offer one service. Removing an irrelevant choice removes the potential for customers to do nothing.

Take note of how many packages or bundles you are offering. Are you trying to create a lot of packages so that something will appeal to everyone? That’s really not the point of a package. A package is a package and to get the best ‘deal’ customers know they need to purchase the package. Anything that deviates from the package is a custom solution and should be priced accordingly.

Keep things simple.

Choice = good.

Too many choices = not good.

If there are too many choices for customers to make, they will often choose the one that give you no benefit at all – to do nothing. There’s no revenue in their choosing to do nothing. So, keep it simple and customers will thank you for it with their pocketbook.

You are invited to direct any questions related to marketing Innovative Systems AP products to either Scott Meyer (605.990.7202) or Lisa Johnson (605.990.7149).