As I push the spout down on my giant bottle of Aveda Rosemary Mint shampoo, a big generous blob of shampoo runs into my hand. Now I know this is more shampoo than I need for this thinning hair of mine, but something always prevents me from stopping with just a half push. I love this shampoo — its smell is incredible and I believe it gives my hair a little more body.
When I travel, I take a tiny bottle of this same shampoo with me and it’s amazing how little I use in relation to when I have my big bottle at home. How genius of Aveda — the pump makes it easy for me to use more shampoo thus they sell more of their product.
To say professional services have changed would be a huge understatement. But I believe there are a few special insights from this shampoo. When we provide the easy button, people will use us more and actually request the supersize bottle.
In research by Hinge Marketing, their surveys of buyers for professional services have three questions that rank higher than all the others. First, can you fix my problem? This is relevance, and if we can be relevant with our clients changing needs, we can then answer the next question. Can you make life easier for them? The Easy Button. Let’s reflect on how easy it is to get started with our company, how easy do we flow with those valuable insights to secure the trust we need to move forward. What guarantee do we provide? How complicated is our engagement letter? There are lots of ways we can be the easy button for professional services.
The third question is, do I like you? Clients want to work with people they like and respect. This has historically been the first filter, and even now it is still extremely high, but it fails if we are not relevant to the client’s problem or difficult to work with. Personal relationships get us to the front of the line when they are shopping — eye-level shelf, front and center. But they will pick up another brand if we are not relevant for the situation.
What are your clients using? The supersize bottle or the mini travel pack? The easy button can provide a lot of new opportunities to serve expanding needs. CeCe, will you please put Aveda Rosemary Mint, the big bottle, on our shopping list? I’m almost out again!