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In marketing we are often wanting the people we communicate with to say 'yes' to what we are offering them.
An interesting strategy you might like to test is called 'CVS to BVS'.
I first came across the concept of CVS to BVS in the book 'Wombat Selling' by Michael Hewitt Gleeson.
CVS stands for the "Current View of the Situation."
This is the way you (or someone else) views some part of their life.
Example:
Many years ago I did particularly well in a sales competition and won a brand new computer with all the trimmings.
My CVS or current view of the situation (as far as computers were concerned) was they were handy if you wanted to write an occasional letter.
I had this CVS for about three years and as long as I had it I my actions were always consistent with that viewpoint. I think I used the computer to write three letters!
I had no interest in computers and took no notice of anything to do with them.
The only way you can get a person to change their actions is to show them a
BVS.
A BVS stands for a Better View of the Situation.
This happened with my computer.
I read a book on technology called Technotrends by Daniel Burrus.
The book explained in detail the effect of technology on our lives.
Once I read that book my CVS changed.
I immediately saw that if I wanted to succeed in today's business environment I had to master computers. If I didn't I would be left behind!
My BVS was that computers were indispensable; they had thousands of uses and could save me time and make me a lot of money!
Once I had a new BVS guess what changed?
That's right. My actions!
Suddenly I was interested in anything to do with computers. I bought computer manuals and software. I invested in tuition. I began reading everything I could get my hands on about computers. I upgraded my existing computer and bought a new one.
All these actions were consistent with my new BVS.
This has tremendous relevance in marketing.
If you can't get your customer to change their unhelpful CVS about your product or service to a more helpful BVS you are wasting your effort trying to get them to buy.
If you look at my computer example, you can see that no matter how persuasive someone might have been about the value of a good computer, the message was falling on deaf ears as long as I had my unhelpful CVS about computers.
The only time I was receptive to spending money on anything to do with computers was after my CVS changed to a BVS. Offering me anything before my CVS changed would have been a complete waste of effort.
Here is another example:
In the book "Yes-50 secrets from the science of persuasion" there is an interesting example of a new sales approach taken by a home improvement firm that sold expensive hot tubs.
These hot tubs sold for around $15,000 so were a big ticket purchase for most people.
This firm did two very simple things differently and this increased their hot tub sales by over 500 per cent.
First of all they began telling prospective customers, honestly, that many buyers of their top of the range hot tub model reported that owning it was like adding an extra room to their house.
Secondly, they began asking these prospective customers what it would cost to build an extra room on the side of their house.
When you compared the cost of a $15,000 hot tub with the much greater expense of building a new room on your home, the hot tub seems far less expensive in comparison.
This made it a lot easier for clients to justify purchasing it.
So your goal is to change an unhelpful CVS that a potential customer has about your product or service and turn this into a more helpful BVS. This BVS now makes buying your product or service a logical and smart choice for them to make.
'I would rather try to persuade a man to go along, because once I have persuaded him, he will stick. If I scare him, he will stay just as long as he is scared, and then he is gone.'
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) Thirty-fourth President of the USA.
Action Exercise:
1. What is a CVS that many of your prospects about your product or service that is not helpful to them wanting to purchase?
2. What is a BVS that would make it logical behaviour for them to invest in your product or service now?
3. Explain this BVS to a number of your prospects this week.
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