I read an interesting blog post by Seth Godin, a highly esteemed and prolific author on marketing and similar subjects. In this blog entry he discusses the all too familiar marketing dilemma of the salesperson that "knows" his product is superior to the competition....it works better, it is cheaper, it should be an easy sell, it is so obvious....but he can't seem to make inroads in his marketing effort. His tarket customer simply is too comfortable with the inferior product, he doesn't want to take the risk, or otherwise. He then goes on to explain how it is important to understand the customer, what are his concerns, or how can you make it easier for him to say yes....over and above simply having a superior product or argument. While this is an interesting discussion for marketers, what does it mean for our CPSIA effort? Are there themes here that we need to pay attention to?
Certainly. We KNOW the CPSIA is flawed. We KNOW it does little to improve safety, while threatening an entire industry. We KNOW there are better ways to assure safety, while allowing innovation and product quality to thrive. Why then are we having such a difficult time getting the politicians (and media) to listen?
We know some of the answers. It is a difficult thing for a politician to come out against a "product safety law." They know that the consumer groups will eat them alive. They hope that we will go away before the industry crashes and that they can then blame its collapse on the economy, poor management, or anything else other than them. That is "safer" than taking a risk....just as a business manager feels safe with his existing "inferior" product.
We need to play the game differently. Unfortunately Seth's blog post doesn't list out those things which we have to do, nor do I have all the answers. However, he does suggest it is important to embrace the customer's irrationality, and give him what he/she needs to buy what we are selling. It is time to pay attention to how we can get to "yes" with our politicians (and media).
I hope we can start a discussion amongst ourselves on that very subject. What do they need from us?
In order to help this effort, and our attempts to make a stronger impact with Congress, I am linking to some materials that outline how to improve our lobbying efforts. I hope you will take a look at them and consider them as carry out your lobbying and as you make suggestions for overall improved lobbying.
http://www.marloweco.com/files/HOWTALK2006.pdf
http://staff.washington.edu/oren/blog/2008/08/icpl-2008-politics-101-when-wh.html
Thanks to www.wahmsolutions.com for bringing these links to my attention.
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