It’s Not About the Product: It’s About the Emotional Need
by Scott Koepf /
Following is the latest in a series of guest columns on sales
Trouble in River City!
In this article I will continue to reference the world of musical theater to make a point about how to be successful in this wonderful industry.
If you share my passion for Broadway musicals then you know the title of this article comes from one of the greatest sales pitches in all of theater.
Harold Hill, known simply as The Music Man by his competitors, provides a fabulous example of successful marketing and sales. If you know the musical you might find it incredible that I’m using a scam artist as a positive role model.
I could defend this choice by pointing out that the story has a happy ending and Hill changes his devious ways (remember this is musical theater so he also gets the girl).
Creating buzz
But while ‘Professor’ Hill had crooked intentions, one cannot argue that his ability to create buzz and close a sale provides us with a great lesson.
The first thing Mr. Hill does when he gets to town is survey his market. He looks for the major issue in River City and how he can create an emotional response to it.
In River City the buzz was a new pool table which led to an extraordinary marketing campaign based on fears of its influence on the boys in the town. It was fortunate that it was a pool table in town, as trouble starts with ‘T’ and that rhymes with ‘P’ and that stands for pool—but again, I digress.
Where the Professor had to create some fear and emotion about the pool table coming to town, you have to determine what may be keeping your clients from making the decision to book with you.
Paint a picture
Learning from our professor, first acknowledge the situation then don’t sell anything. Yes, that’s right—he didn’t sell something, he simply painted a picture. The best marketing paints a picture that the target audience wants to be in!
Escaping to places where the day’s most difficult decision involves choosing which lounge chair to relax in, is a marketers dream. It’s not easy but once again look at what Harold Hill did: Review the situation, point out the problem, paint the big picture of the solution on a big scale, then personalize that picture for each customer.
Harold Hill’s products are musical instruments and uniforms but he was brilliant enough to never sell those.
Instead he painted a picture to all who would listen of a River City Boys Band. In every pitch he found his clients’ emotional needs first, then painted a picture of how that band would fulfill those needs.
As our business offers such amazing products, we forget that people don’t buy tours, cruises, resorts or destinations. Instead they buy a solution for whatever emotional need they have, be it romance, adventure, ego or escape.
Professor Hill didn’t talk about the details of the instruments or how they would sound. Instead he focused on the feeling the boys (and their parents) would have by just being in the band.
It’s not about the product
In other words, as magnificent as our products are, it is not about the product, it is about the emotional need that product fulfills.
I suggest you follow the Professor’s model.
First, spend time reviewing your business and your market by finding the “pool table,” which may be the economy, world events, finances or something else you’ve not even thought of.
Second, create a vision that is the solution for your clients’ emotional needs. Your boys band may be a new branding of your agency, a unique group offer or some other differentiator.
And finally, present that picture to your clients so they can see themselves in it.
Next month I will look at a few other lessons from The Music Man since we can learn some exceptional selling techniques, in addition to marketing techniques, from the Professor.
In the meantime, remember you do have trouble my friends, but that trouble can be the catalyst for becoming the leader of the band!
Scott Koepf, CTC, MCC, senior vice president of sales for Avoya Travel, is an industry veteran known for his retail travel sales acumen. Koepf brings sales techniques to life through referencing his other passion, musical theatre. As both a performer and a salesman, he provides sales techniques and insights to help travel professionals grow their business.