Do you know what this animal is? It’s a Narwhal, of course! It’s a whale with a huge tusk that lives in the Arctic waters around Greenland, Canada, and Russia.

Did you need to know that? Did you want to know that? Is there a difference? There is when it comes to promoting your service business and to selling what you do. Let me explain.

“I need a new pair of shoes”

This might be enough to make you actually go out and buy a new pair of shoes. If you need new shoes, it’s probably because your old ones have holes in, or because you broke the heel the last time that you wore them. So you probably have a pretty good idea of what you’re looking for – you might even know the shop that you’re going to visit, in order to buy your shoes. If you know exactly what you need, you could just order them online from the comfort of your laptop.

“I want a new pair of shoes”

This is a very different purchase. You’ve already got a very good pair of blue shoes, but perhaps they don’t go perfectly with the outfit that you want to wear to that special occasion. Maybe you’ve seen a pair in a different style or height of heel to the pair that you already have. You don’t need to buy another pair of shoes, but you want to.

Shoes vs Service

In case you’re thinking that you would never ‘want’ to buy a pair of high heeled blue shoes, think instead about what other people consider, when deciding to buy from you. Do they need to work with you or do they want to?

Let’s use the example of business coaching, as I work with many Business Coaches. Do potential clients of coaches decide that they need a coach? They may start by realising that something isn’t quite right in their business and they’re not sure what to do about it. A small proportion of people may decide at this point that a Coach is exactly what they need, but the majority won’t know that a Business Coach is the solution. So instead of searching the internet for ‘business coaches’, they will speak to people they know, telling them about their current challenge, so see who can help. Usually they will receive recommendations for a variety of solutions and one of those might be for a Business Coach, or two. So they look at all the different options, to see who can help them best. They will weigh up the options so that they can make a decision about which solution to go with.

How do they make that final decision, between Business Coach A, Business Coach B, something completely different, such as taking a course, or trying to do it themselves? Their final decision is most likely to be made on which person they want to work with. Human beings buy on emotion – we work with people that we like and trust, rather than choosing the most logical, rational option, in many cases. This is especially true when we buy services, rather than products. When a prospect is looking to buy a service from a Coach, they are buying your time and expertise – they are buying you. So if they like and trust you, they will buy from you because they want to and not because they need to.

What does this mean for your marketing? It means that you need to appeal to the emotions of your prospects. Show them that you understand their issues, challenges and fears. Build up trust with them, by getting to know them and they will want to buy from you. Show your prospects that you understand their problems and that you care about helping them to achieve their goals and aspirations and they will want to work with you even more!

If you want to know more about how to do this with your marketing, do get in touch for a bit of free advice. Call me on 01635 578 500 or click here to email me your questions.