For "Credence Goods", Leadership is primary, Ads & brochures are secondary

When customers cannot see - or differentiate between products - the "source" of the products becomes important. Customers prefer to buy from leaders in the field and they also pay a better price to the Leaders. It is therefore important to act like a leader.  Are you one ?

As the incomes rise in our economy,  a large class of customers willing to pay a huge premiums is emerging.  Who would have thought 10 years ago that people would routinely 

• buy flats costing a couple of Crores ?
• buy cars costing 20 Lakhs ?
• spend thousands in beauty parlors ?
• pay thousands for a child's school fee ?
• spend thousands for a personal trainer ?
• dine in restaurants costing thousands per person ? 

These are called "Credence Goods" in marketing language. In this article I present :

1. The rules of marketing them are different.
2. You need persona, process and evidence.
3. The source of customer's trust is your Leadership.
4. How to acquire such leadership.

 

RULES ARE DIFFERENT

It will be a cardinal mistake for anyone to sell luxury products and high end services as if it was a cake of soap or a bar of chocolate. The rules of selling such "credence goods" are different altogether because the process of buying them consists of two steps.  

1. Customers need to believe in the "source"
2. Only then the second step comes into play : what is the "offer". 

PERSONA, PROCESS, EVIDENCE

The source can become believable  due to all - or any combination - or one of the following three things that make a source trustworthy

1. A Persona, A Face, A Name - that represents a cause or becomes a genre. Ex : Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram, Mahesh Bhupati Academy. Ex : "Apple" imbued with the spirit of "Steve Jobs": technological innovation.  Ex : "Beatles" music became a genre
2. A Process of Grading, Examination, Selection, Verification, Quality.  Ex :  Passed from Harvard School, IAS Batch of 1980, Padmashri Awardee. Welspun pipes certified by American Petroleum Products Association
3. An Evidence of quality.  Ex : "Champagne" is white wine from the French district. Ex : "iphone" business is higher than the whole "Microsoft" company  

SOURCE AS A LEADER

It is therefore important that the source brand be seen as an expert and a thought leader in the field. 

You or someone who represents you should be the face(s) that lives, speaks, writes, breathes and evangelize the areas that are important to the prospect's most pressing problems and opportunities.  

For example, a major cause of success of Anna Hazare was that he became the visible face of the anti-corruption sentiment that was seething in the minds of people in India.

Partners at the consulting firm McKinsey speak and write and publish regularly and this gets them business. The same is done by law firms. Doctors conduct camps like wise. You can do the same.

Free blogging platforms like WordPress and Blogger have created explosive growth in Internet publishing. You should write blogs too.

BECOMING A LEADER

So, if you are selling "credence goods", stop wasting money on ads, brochures and sponsorships. Instead, start writing how-to articles and convert those articles into speeches and seminars. The best marketing investment you can make is to get help in creating informative websites, hosting persuasive seminars, booking speaking engagements, and getting published as a blog columnist and eventually a book author.


Be curious. Start by asking following questions to your customers 

1. What do they want to achieve ?
2. What do they want to fix ?
3. What do they want to avoid ?
4. What do they fear ?
5. Whom would they like to be associated with ?
6. What do they doubt ?

Be the expert who educates your prospects on how do they compare with their peers and what are the  best practices to overcome these issues. The more your prospects hear about your being in the field of solving their problems in general, the more they will hire you for doing the specifics. 

The same is true of products too. Why is BMW a Leader ? Not only because it makes good cars but it also undertakes following leadership activities

1. It regularly enters and wins some of the toughest races in the world and proves it has the engineering skills that matter when the going gets tough on the track.
2. It sponsors a "Driving School" which teaches driving in critical conditions
3. It spends enough in R&D to ensure that no other competitor is ahead in innovation