Consumer or Prosumer?

I have been getting a lot of DM's about as soon I posted it on www.redvwbus.com. The consensus was, "what do I do if I am old school'? "How do I change?" Good questions.

As those of us run businesses in the most anxiety filled time in modern history, there are a couple of obstacles we have to acknowledge first. Today's climate is hard on us as business leaders, with uncertainty at every turn, the complexity of adjusting to new demands, increasingly shorter product lifecycles, competition, etc., there are the facts. Ahh! Here are just a couple of helpful suggestions, to see things from the Prosumer's perspective that may help us tweak our operation and get us on the right path without a lot of heavy lifting:

1) Understand we are all in the same boat - every business is in a similiar situation. They are all struggling trying to catch up to the social behavior shift which has left there showrooms empty. Face it, we have created a monster. Our poor customers are left to fend for themselves, our culture of treating them like customers ('next in line!') has left them feeling no inherent loyalty, and only focused on price and convieniece. That means whatever your price is, I'm looking on the web to find it cheaper. Result? - we all lose, business profits dwindle in our community, jobs lost.

2) See the goal - Our goal is simple, sustainable profits and growth right? The only way, let me repeat that, the ONLY way for that to happen in your business in today's climate is to build customer equity = trust, confidence in us, we care, NO hype, NO info-mercial techniques, those are dead. Our customers, Prosumers, need to realize and see manifested in our business model that we don't have a hidden agenda, help them to learn from their expierience with us that they can trust us. And finally, they should pick up from their interaction with us that when they deal with us, it's not about 'selling them something', it about their expierience and making it the most enjoyable that we can. (i.e.; Apple Store)

3) Make the shift ASAP - Most businesses still operate in the adversarial 'consumer' arena and use traditonal media to advertize their 'sales' and 'sales', blah, blah, blah. This does not work any more - in fact, most companies that remain in the status quo are finding they are paying a "trust tax", a transaction (soon to be reaction) costs which can be up to 70% of the item, which destroys profit margin and will force companies into extinction if they remain unchanged in their methods. We must make the shift from 'selling things' to noticing people! We need to build a desire with our Prosumers, cultivate relationships. If you have been reading my articles, you will recall my simple formula: Thoughts + Feelings = Action. Now, this is a two edged sword, but one that if used right, and all the focus is on the Prosumer's expierience when we get an oppourtunity, that we are going to dazzle them with service, since we are all human, using my formula will create - Trust + Desire = Purchase. It works, 100% of the time!

Hope this of some help.

For all the latest on this subject here on our blog and on Twitter, Ty and I's social media think tank BrainStorm, or feel free to email me with any questions at tim@perspectiveim.com