How to be memorable and interesting

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One of the marketing challenges we face in business is in making our product or service both interesting and memorable to potential clients.

This is also very helpful for getting good referrals as well.

One way to do this is to come up with a one sentence description of your product or service that creates a vivid mental picture in the mind of a potential client.
Here's a good example

A while ago I met a client that was having problems selling a new software programme she had developed. The programme was an online booking system and was aimed at businesses who sold a time based service. So people like hairdressers, beauty therapists, tradespeople and many other businesses were potential clients for this online booking software programme.

When I first met with my client she was struggling to sell her online booking system to potential clients. She asked if I could help.

My first step was to ask her a simple question.

What does this online booking system do from the viewpoint of the person using it?
For the next 20 minutes my client proceeded to show me all the features of her online booking system and how it worked.

At the end of her presentation I was a bit confused and I still did not understand what she was selling.

I explained that her main marketing problem was she was not able to explain quickly (in an interesting and memorable way) what she was offering to potential clients.
And if potential clients didn't understand what she was selling it made her sales job a lot harder than it needed to be.

My client hired me to come up with a memorable and interesting way to explain her software programme.

A few days later we had another meeting and I shared my ideas with her.

Here's what you sell I told her...
"You work with businesses who sell time and you sell a system that helps these businesses create up to 7 brand new revenue streams in less than 30 days."
I then showed my client a one page diagram I had created that showed what the 7 brand new revenue streams were.

I gave each revenue stream a catchy title
One revenue stream was called 'The 24 hour cash surge'.
Another revenue stream was called 'Turning lemons into lemonade'.
Another revenue stream was called 'Raising the dead'.
And so on.

I had a short explanation of each revenue stream and how it worked.

The 'Turning lemons into lemonade' revenue stream was for the situation where a client cancelled an appointment at short notice.

One of the features of the online booking software that my client offered was that you could text any of your clients a short message. So if there was an unexpected cancellation you could text clients who might want to have an appointment at short notice and give them an attractive reason to book this appointment with you.

This way your 'lemon' of a cancelled booking could be turned into the 'lemonade' of someone else coming and paying for that cancelled booking.

My client got really excited about what she was selling once I gave her a new viewpoint on the benefits of what she was offering her clients.

And the same concept can be applied to a range of other products and services as well.

Here's another example:

A few weeks ago in a recent Herald Column I mentioned a business in Auckland, New Zealand called Sales Syndicate

Sales Syndicate is essentially a high level networking and mentoring programme specifically for Sales Managers.

Sales Managers who join the Sales Syndicate meet once a month for four hours with other sales managers in non-competing industries.

In each meeting they get high level training, coaching and feedback on sales management.

Only one sales manager in any industry can participate in each Sales Syndicate group and membership is on a month to month basis.

So there are no long term contracts and members can stop membership at any point.
So what does Sales Syndicate really sell?

From my viewpoint I believe that Sales Syndicate offers 'Sales Manager Success Insurance'.
In other words they help sales managers become successful as sales managers and stay successful as sales managers.

So if you are a sales manager and want 'Sales Manager Success Insurance' then Sales Syndicate are worth talking to.

I think a one sentence description like this is both interesting and memorable.
And if what you sell is both interesting and memorable to potential clients your marketing job becomes a lot easier.

'For me, being memorable is more important than winning.'
Ricki Lake

Take Action:
Take a good look at the benefits of the products and services that you sell.
Brainstorm with your business colleagues and see if you can come up with a one sentence description of what you offer that is both interesting and memorable
(If you would like some help with this just contact me using the email links in this column.)

Graham McGregor is a consultant specialising in memorable marketing. Download his 396-page Unfair Business Advantage ebook at no charge from theunfairbusinessadvantage.com.