"You'll See it When You Believe it" is a wonderful book by Wayne Dyer. In business when positioning your products in the market place, the objective is to let your customer see it when they believe it. Look at the brands we buy, we believe they are the best fit for us therefore we see that they are. We believe they will make us happier, stronger or better and we see that they do. Or do we?
Believing is the key. It is the cornerstone of any marketing campaign; how can we make our customers believe something? How can we make them believe our products are the best option for them? This is the battle. Never mind whatever happens after the customer already believes what it is you are promoting, at the point the customer believes, you have won the battle. Everything afterwords is almost automatic. Don't believe me?
Think of yourself in the grocery store, what products are you buying? Why are you buying what you do? You believe that what you're buying is the best options open to you. Once you made that decision, you saw the quality in them which reinforced the decision you made. Look at the car you're driving home in. What made you choose it? Same reason. You thought from all possible options open to you that this one was the best one. You still think so today otherwise you'd have sold it!
Having beliefs in your business is an important part of running it. It is key to selling but it is also key within your organization. Do your people believe that your company will thrive or go out of business? You can imagine the different results these believes will have. Once they set in, it is remarkable how many things will reinforce that belief. I worked in a company where the belief was that the company was out to slight the employees whenever possible. In reality, the company was not doing well because of its fierce loyalty to its employees and the resulting financial burden it carried because of it. The healthcare plan was very generous as was the retirement plan. There were often extra people on the payroll to help them out and salaries were well above the industry standard for the area. So how was it that the employees only saw that the company was out to slight them? They believed it. I don't know when this belief crept in but it was well entrenched when I got there. The more important question is, how do you change it?
What beliefs do people have in your company? Do they believe in it? Do they believe in the CEO? Do they believe in the products? It often takes a very consorted effort to change beliefs but if you have negative beliefs in your company, it might be very much worth while taking the time to confront and change them. Acknowledge them, discuss them and ask for help to change them. What would it take? It often doesn't take much. You'll be amazed at the results.
