“Tell me what you want, what you really, really want!”

What do a Henry Ford reference, Seth Godin, the Spice Girls, and my husband have in common? They connect for an important marketing lesson. We need to use what our customers “really, really want” in our marketing so they see how we can help them reach their goals.

“If Henry Ford canvassed people on whether or not he should build a motor car, they’d probably tell him what they really wanted was a faster horse.”

Perhaps this idea came from Henry Ford, but Quote Investigator says it’s more likely to have come from a Henry Ford reference made by John McNeece.

“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.”

Theodore Levitt, but Seth Godin expanded on the idea in This Is Marketing.

“Tell me what you want, what you really, really want!”

The Spice Girls, Wannabe

“Okay, you want a ________, but what will you be using it for?”

My Husband

Time and time again, I am reminded that the object or service being purchased is (usually) not the end-goal, and our customers don’t simply tell us what their end-goal is. We need to do our own research and be present in our market.

Henry Ford’s Innovation

The lesson behind the Henry Ford quote is that customers don’t know what they don’t know. Before Ford’s motor car was manufactured in the U.S., the general populace assumed they would continue traveling the way they always had. If asked, they probably would have noted whatever issues they were having with horse- or other animal-driven carriages and locomotives.

We have to have our eyes and ears open for opportunities to help people with their problems. Then, when we have a solution, it’s our job to get the word out.

The Solution Isn’t a Drill or a Hole

In several talks and in his book, This Is Marketing, Seth Godin expands on Theodore Levitt’s quote on people buying drills for the holes they need in their walls. It’s not the hole people want. It may not even be the shelf they’re putting up. They want their stuff off the floor and the satisfaction that they got the job done themselves.

We can play this out with almost anything. The family doesn’t want the hotel room, they want a safe place to rest between going to the beach and other tourist destinations. The business doesn’t want a Facebook ad, they want people to visit their stores.

What You Really Want Is…

Like the Spice Girls and my husband inquire about true motives, we must discover our customers’ end-goals. Instead of coming right out and saying what they need and why, customers will most likely tell us their next step toward reaching their goal (and only if they think we have the solution). We need to know our customers and their needs in order to provide the right solution(s), and that may take some digging.

My husband always asks qualifying questions when I approach him for help. He needs to know what I’m envisioning so he can hand me the tools that I can both handle (I am not strong nor tool savvy) and that will still get the job done. He can also then assess how much support he’ll need to provide during the project. (Does anyone else have the Joneses for an Instagram-worthy porch?! And why do you have to push drills so hard?)

Knowledge & Understanding Leads to Better Marketing, Better Service

As I’ve said in plenty of blog posts, our businesses ultimately exist to help others. Knowing our customers’ problems and end-goals gives us a better idea on how to best serve them. It also helps us relate to our customers’ through our marketing. Ads shouldn’t say, “We have drills!”, but show a man or woman putting up the shelf and getting the mess off the floor. Ads shouldn’t say, “We are a hotel!”, but show everything a family can do before sinking into hotel bed after a fun but exhausting vacation day.

What problems do you solve? How are you different? How will your product or service bring customers to their end-goal? Go show them.

Thanks for reading!
Amber