There are three big reasons why people hire you: time, money, & happiness.
I recently faced this in my own life – I needed to hire a housekeeper. Again.
You may know that I live in the mountains in California. It’s a really small town in a small county. To put it in perspective, the University of Central Florida has more undergraduate students than we have county residents. It also seems to be a place where people don’t stay because I have gone through a number of housekeepers since I have lived here since 2020. They just leave or disappear. Flakey.
So, back to this challenge to find a housekeeper. I want to find a new housekeeper because I don’t want to spend my time cleaning and it doesn’t make me happy to clean. I am willing to spend money to fix this problem. Because it is challenging to find reliable service, I am willing to spend more for a quality, reliable cleaner.
Any cleaning service who speaks to me in terms of reliability, stability and proven professionalism is going to make my heart swoon and I will meet them with an open checkbook. They would be speaking to my pains and I would be an easy “yes, sign me up!”
If a cleaner comes in and promises great service but can’t speak to reliability or about a proven track record and a back up plan, I am going to be a little doubtful about whether or not they are going to be yet another flakey entry in my housekeeper saga. I am going have doubts about the longevity of their service and if they will contribute to my ongoing heartburn over this issue. If they are cheaper than someone else, but not hitting my “happiness” button, they probably aren’t going to get my service.
So… how does this apply to you and your business?
If the problem you solve doesn’t hit two of the three concerns, or you can’t even frame your solution to bring more money, time or joy, then you might not get the business.
When I owned Frodo Joe’s (the coffee and tea bar), I knew my clients would pay handsomely every day for a great cup of coffee because it was faster/easier than making it at home (and probably tasted better!) and it would make them happy to have that steaming cup of love in their day.
Two concerns solved: time and joy. If my baristas worked too slowly or made a bad cup of coffee, then I also knew I would potentially lose business – so I had ‘consistency’ as a core value for my employees.
What part of the equation are you solving for your customers?
Picking two and sticking to it!
Jenell
