What's the Only Question That Matters?

by Jesse Laffen

Everyone that's considering a purchase – a B2B customer, a B2C consumer, it doesn't matter – has a really simple question they want to be answered, and it boils down to some variation of: is it going to work?

Very often, those being asked think they're answering it. Sometimes, the one doing the asking thinks so, too. But companies that can reimagine the question and get closer to the answer than their competition gain a substantial advantage in the marketplace.

Take Dominos, for example, who just surpassed their rivals to become the highest-selling pizza chain in America. Their rise in revenue started by addressing product quality. After all, it's hard to convince your audience that "it's working" if the product ultimately fails. But then, they did a better job than anyone else answering is it going to work with a simple piece of technology, a progress bar, that convinced consumers in real time that "Yes, it's still working."

Uber originally solved the same problem. Calling a cab requires some faith. Did the dispatch hear the address right? Do they know where it is? Did the driver estimate the time right? But with Uber, you know where your driver is, how long it will take them to get to you, and what your exact fare will be; all before you leave! They convinced their users that the product was working, way better than taxi companies ever did.

You see, in between a customer's agreement to buy and delivery of what you sold them lies a risk that's usually pretty square on the shoulders of the buyer. In both cases above, Dominos and Uber, these companies helped ease the mind of their customer, thereby making the risk they were taking seem smaller in comparison to their competition:

"Will my pizza show up?"

"Yes, let me show you."

What are you doing to help your customers answer that important question? What insight could you provide that no one in the marketplace is offering to help them understand and mitigate the risk they take when they wait for you to deliver results?

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