Timeless Marketing & Sales Lesson #7

Marketing and branding expert John Moore has a great blog called Brand Autopsy that should be on your daily reading list.

John is currently running a series of posts entitled “Would you miss . . . ?” that I think gets to the core of what business and business communication are really all about.

The concept behind this series is very simple and very profound. Mr. Moore takes a different company in each post and asks the question “Would you miss [insert company name here]?”

For example, in one of his recent posts asks, John asks the question “Would you miss Costco?”

Would you miss Costco’s sample Sundays, wholesale prices, hotdogs, etc.? Would you miss Costco’s service and atmosphere? Would Costco employees miss working at Costco? Would you be sad to know that your children would never experience Costco?

Have you ever sat down with your employees or your customers and asked this question?

There is no escaping the fact that business and money have always been and will always be attached at the hip.

However, far too often we get so mired down in budgets, quotas, and quarterly reports that we forget that business is all about relationships. It’s about the relationships between employer and employee. It’s about the relationships between companies and their vendors. It’s about the relationships between companies and their customers. It’s the relationships that really create the value.

When you think about it, the “Would you miss . . . ?” question is what marketing, public relations, and advertising is all about.

Marketing, public relations, advertising, and every other form of business communication are ways for companies to remind their customers (and their own employees) of the value of their relationship.

Forget about awareness, interest, desire, and action. Instead, focus on reminding people why they would miss you if you ceased doing business tomorrow. Sell them on the value of their relationship with you.

Let’s not forget that we are all in the business of selling. If customers and client won’t miss what you are selling and how you do conduct your business, it won’t be long before they don’t miss you.

Timeless Lesson: If you are not missed, you will soon not be missed.