What would stop someone from joining a gym?
What would stop them from giving a donation?
What would delay them from making a decision to start a project?
Is it really the “economy”? Or is it something else that is totally within our reach to change and improve?
Well, when I think about exercising today, I automatically think about how I won’t have time to exercise enough to get really fit. I start thinking, “I won’t stick with it”, “I travel too much”, “Don’t have enough time”, etc. My eyes have been opened to this by Seth Godin’s post today, here are the points he makes:
Peter Singer is famous for posing a stunningly difficult question, paraphrased as, “If you are walking by a pond and you see a child drowning, do you save her? What if it means ruining a very fancy pair of Italian shoes?” Okay, if we assume the answer is yes, then why not spend the cost of those shoes to save 20 kids who are starving to death across town or the world? There’s really no difference. Or by, extension, invest in research or development that solves a problem forever… The issues are proximity and attention.
My take is that most people would instantly save the kid, but given the choice, probably wouldn’t take the road by the pond again any time soon. We like to avoid these situations, because these situations make us uncomfortable.
It boils down to a simple question, “how much is enough?” She knows that one iPod is all she needs, but she wonders how much philanthropy is enough? And this is a key marketing question for anyone seeking donors.
Do I have to use up all my Italian shoes? How much is my share? …and at some point, will we end up avoiding Singer’s question altogether?
If you don’t give anything to good causes, then you define enough as zero and you have no worries about achieving ‘enough’. A sad but effective strategy.
If you give money to emergencies, friends with the guts to ask and the occasional feel good moment, you’ve also defined ‘enough’ in an easily achievable way. Your gift is a reaction to inputs.
What about people who make substantial, anonymous donations to long-term causes? How do they know what’s enough? How do they decide that now it’s okay to go out for a fancy dinner and not send the money to the worthy cause instead? If the solution isn’t clear, if it’s limitless, how do they avoid the temptation of avoiding the problem by doing nothing?
Marketers at good causes have a real challenge as they try to raise money from people who aren’t billionaires. As they approach people with $10,000 or $100,000 in the bank, this fear of not seeing a limit is very real, and if it’s not confronted, they will fail at both raising the money and generating satisfaction for the donor.
The Mormon Church says, “tithe”. They say, “10% is a lot, and 10% is enough.” This is actually very smart, because they’ve created a difficult but achievable standard, a way to be a member of good standing in their tribe.
When my dad ran the local United Way drive as a volunteer, he pushed for one percent. “One percent isn’t a lot, but it’s enough.”
What’s enough? I don’t think good cause marketers need to worry so much about which number or figure they choose, but I think they need to dream hard about whether giving people comfort with a ceiling will bring in a new class of significant donors. Too many people still avert their eyes.
PS this same thinking works for marketers trying to persuade people to join a gym, learn an instrument or go on a diet… if people can’t figure out what ‘enough’ is, where the end lies, they may decide it’s not worth starting. Sad but true.
So, Seth mentions, uncertainty, uncomfortableness and I, Christie, think this may also have to do with FEAR! Fear of not giving enough, fear of failure, OR fear of not making the right decision!
IF you sell a product or service or run a non-profit, you need to see this as a HUGE roadblock to getting people to buy, spend, dedicate.
If you have an ongoing service, this will prove to affect you as people will think about all of the reasons why it won’t work, why they will fail, whether you or your company are the right choice. SO, determine a price structure, or an exact plan for people to follow, you have to define “enough” for them, you have to determine “right” for them. THEN, the decision making process will be easier.
A few weeks ago on a call, I talked to a service provider about why he is not a fantastical success. I saw there was a huge problem with his offerings to prospects: a wide open service offer, choose any of the services, mix and match totally customizable services!
This WILL cause people to DEBATE about hiring you, rather than evaluating and buying. If you define your offers very clearly, then people who are ready to buy will have a much faster process, your sales funnel can be shorter for this group, rather than pinging them around for months, possibly years and then your competitor coming up with a complete package offering and dragging YOUR buyers there! THAT’s what people want, COMPLETE packages.
So, how does this play out and affect your business?
What will you change? Improve? Implement?
My best,
C
