When I consult with a business for the first time, one of my first questions often is: “What is the purpose of your business or organization?” I usually get one of three responses. One response is a clear and concise purpose for why the organization exists.  This is good. A second response is when the person stumbles and doesn't really answer the question. The third response is an answer that is somewhat off target from what the business is actually doing.

Allen asked me to review some ad copy that contained a number of claims: “You will save money;” “The system is reliable,” or “My system is easy to use.” My first response was, “Says you!” 

Allen paused before he asked, “What do you mean?” I explained that his entire advertisement was made of claims without providing any evidence. How did he expect prospective customers to trust his statements without evidence? 

I belong to Business Network International or BNI (https://www.bni.com/), an international network group designed to help each other grow their business. Members are encouraged to share what they do, learn about other members, and refer business to other members of the network. I often recommend this as a marketing step for businesses and have found it to be effective.

BNI teaches three steps to success: visibility, credibility, and profitability. These are steps we need to utilize in our general marketing.

I was looking over a restaurant’s menu of multiple pages and was struggling to figure out what to order. After a few moments I found an old stand-by. It was a safe choice, and I placed my order. Others at the table had similar challenges.  There were just too many choices.

A study published by Ragan’s PR Daily offered one group of shoppers 24 different samples of jams while another group was offered only six possible selections. Interestingly, the customers with six choices chose 20% more product than those with 24 choices. Sometimes by offering fewer options we increase our chances of making the sale. Too many choices may make the customer indecisive and confused.

Like many of you I've been watching the Kilauea Volcano devour neighborhoods on the big island in the Hawaiian chain. Watching people's houses swallowed by lava flows is heartbreaking. Some years ago when I was visiting the area, someone told me that a lot of the houses were built in what was known as the “red zone.” The red zone was land subject to volcanic activity. Building in the red zone meant that insurance was either costly or impossible to obtain. At the time I remember thinking these nice houses were in an ideal environment, unless the volcano turned angry.  That’s when I was reminded of the key principle in business:  it’s not a problem until it is.