A question that gets asked a lot.

Surprisingly, many people either aren’t sure how to respond.

Or they think they are in a kind of business, but their customers think its a different kind of business.

Huh?

Take this as an example:

Most dancing school teachers believe that their business is to teach people to dance.

Ask some of the students or the parents of the younger kids there and one or two will say they are there to learn to dance. Yet for many, the reason they are there is to gain confidence, learn social skills, be more active, build their self esteem and the parents may also suggest that their kids are there for exercise, build stronger bodies, improve confidence and get the kids away from TV for a while.

Few will say they are there specifically to learn to dance only.

Most dance schools still fail to recognize this in their marketing efforts.

They continue to advertise ballet, tap, latin, dance classes… the business they think they are in – while the customer continues to buy for other reasons.

The schools that can change the focus of their marketing to self improvement through dance will prosper. It’s likely that they may teach their classes just the same as those who believe they are in the dance business, but they can expect to enjoy three to four times the response from their advertising and marketing.

Charles Revlon once said, “In the factory we make perfume, in the stores we sell hope”!

People buy for their reasons, not yours!

You may offer the best coffee in town because you own a coffee plantation and grow the beans yourself, but if your customers are coming to you for your cookies, focus your marketing message on cookies.

Focus on what your customers are buying and forget what you are trying to sell!