Sales For The Asking

Marketing Myth: To understand what customers want, just ask them.

Reality: This may be true if you are lucky enough to have loyal customers willing to speak their mind about your business. But more often than not, just asking won’t be enough.

It wasn’t until we started testing messages that seemed counterintuitive that we discovered a key principle of the marketing game:

What customers want isn’t necessarily what they respond to.

Furthermore, what customers say they want may be what they want after they purchase your product or service, but isn’t always what attracts them during the consideration phase. That said, most customers will give you the information you need to sell to them, but it’s usually found between the lines.