Who Does Your Audience Perceive You to Be?

April 28, 2009 by Sandrine
Filed under attraction marketing

Although the way we do business evolves very rapidly, what customers are looking for will never change; they are looking for value. We all agree that the more value you provide the more customers you will attract. Defining that value, however, is not always easy.

There a several aspects to value and one key component of it isthe perception your potential and existing customers have of you. Who does your audience perceive you to be? In order to be successful, you must have a clear answer to this question and it must be the one you want.

Traditional sales techniques were about persuading the customer to buy. Today’s shift is on attracting customers to us so that they want to do business with us. This shift places the decision to do business in the hands of customers.

Who does Your Audience Perceive You to Be?

Why would customers decide to do business with you? Because of whom they perceive you to be. Do they perceive you as the kind of person who will add value to their life? If they did, they would be doing business with you. So what can you do to be perceived by your audience as a value provider?

As Chris Widener put it in The Art of Influence, “you have to become the type of person that others want to buy from.” The value you provide is not just in the quality of your product, but also in your character as it comes across to your audience.

People make decision to buy from those who they perceive to have such character as honesty, passion, compassion, authenticity, integrity, fairness, loyalty, and much more. Whether you realize it or not, you are constantly giving away your true character in exchanges you have with your customers.

When your audience perceives a weakness in your character, your product loses appeal to them. They know that there is enough competition to provide them with a substitute. Who you are is more important than what you offer and if they cannot trust you, they cannot trust what you offer,

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