"Keeping Your Thinking Journey On Course"  (It's All About The Thinking)

For this article, I offer you two book-ends for your thinking - "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind" (Ries and Trout, 1981) and "In Search of the Obvious: The Antidote for Today's Mass Marketing Mess" (Trout, 2008). In the 1981 book, the authors started with a concern for an "over communicated world." True then but so much more true today. In the 2008 book, Jack Trout builds a case for finding the "obvious."



Finding the obvious is probably the most difficult task in any kind of thinking. We honor the difficult. We pursue the complex. We applaud the creativity within our messages. Yet, "the obvious is apt to be so simple and commonplace..." The obvious appeals to your common sense! But, you ask, "How do I find my obvious?"



START WITH YOUR COMPANY AND YOUR CUSTOMERS. - Do not think about what you deliver to your customers. Think about what your customers want from you. If you do not know, ask. Ask often. Then, LISTEN. Hear the words they use. Hear the combinations of words. Their desires are your first steps to your obvious.



As your listening resources grow, start creating word combinations. Listen for the sound of the words together. Hear the rhythm of the words when you speak them. Watch what happens in your mind. Identify what you have displaced in your mind regarding the perception of your company by your customers. After all, "perception is the reality."



Then, apply the same kind of thinking to prospects, to desired customers. What do you want these prospects, these desired customers, to remember about your company? For what do you want them to appreciate your company?



WHAT NEXT - With the company-customer "obvious" in place, you now move to each product or service you provide. As you think, do not violate what you established as the "obvious" for the company. That obvious is what keeps all of your additional thinking on course.



One at a time, take each product/service. Determine how existing customers perceive each product. Listen to what the customers say. Then, ask yourself three questions. Are these the customers we want? Are these the customers we need? Can we really market to these desired customers? If they do not fit your definition of "desired customers," you are now free to use your common sense in search of the obvious for the customers you do want, do need and can serve.



Use your brain. Do not collect gobs of research data. Think simply about the market segments you want to serve. You want to decide how each segment perceives each product/service within your company. You may even want to create different product/service names for the different segments. To help you, remember that soap is soap. Ivory soap reaches one set of customers with a specific need, Tide meets a different need, and Cascade a third need. Three separate products - all soap!



Also, try to identify the behavior of desired customers beyond what you believe they might say. Do their words reflect or contradict their behavior? If they contradict, you must work to be even more obvious. You want them to get your simple message, understand it, and act positively to purchase their perceptions.



WRAPPING UP THE PACKAGE - When you have your picture complete and when your thinking has led you to your "obvious," you have established your unique selling positions. You are thinking strategically.



Now to complete your work, you need to define your difference from all of your competitors. If the difference is not clear, disassemble their positions, understand their positions, and then re-build yours appropriately. Once you are clear where you are going, you will quickly think of ways to keep your "differing" messages clear and simple. And, everything you deliver will be consistent with your strategic big-picture. You have found your "obvious." Relish your success. Build your future on your obviousness. And, keep your thinking on course!





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Virginia L. McBride, The Haven Maven

Founder, EPROW Images

Creator, "IT'S ALL ABOUT THE THINKING"

Virginia builds personalized "thinking environments" to strengthen innovative thought. Working with EPROW Images, clients describe their desired customers' behavior. This describing keeps clients focused on customer perception.

To qualify for a free 30-minute consultation, submit a "pitch" through EPROW's PAPPY program => http://www.eprowimages.com