STOP SELLING THE PRODUCT. START SELLING THE STORY.

Business systems dealerships have been remarkably good at talking about technology. We know print speeds, paper capacities, duty cycles, finishing options, security features, workflow capabilities and monthly payment structures. And then we wonder why our marketing doesn't get anyone particularly excited.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: Your customers probably don't care nearly as much about your products as you do. That's not an insult. It's perspective. You live in the world of copiers, printers, scanners, software and managed services. Your customers live in the world of deadlines, frustrated employees, rising costs, security concerns and too much work to get done.

That's why effective dealership marketing doesn't start with the product. It starts with the story.

The Problem With Product-First Marketing

Consider the typical product message from a copier company: “Our latest multifunction printer delivers 45 pages per minute, advanced scanning, enhanced security and flexible finishing options.” Technically, there's nothing wrong with it. There's nothing particularly compelling about it either.

Now consider: “When your accounting team spends Friday afternoon waiting for invoices to scan, the problem isn't that your printer is slow. It's that your technology is slowing down your business.” The technology hasn't changed. The story has.

Instead of asking prospects to care about a piece of equipment, whether it’s about  copiers, access control systems, or any other “Frimmel of the Month,” you're asking them to think about a problem they may already be experiencing. That's a much easier conversation to start.

Try This Five-Part Story Formula

The next time you prepare a campaign, don't begin by asking, “What do we want to sell?”

Ask, “What problem do our customers have that we know how to solve?” Then build the story around five elements:

1. Start With the Problem

What's frustrating your customer? Maybe employees are wasting time scanning documents manually. Maybe IT is dealing with too many devices. Perhaps print costs are out of control. Maybe sensitive documents are being left unattended.

Don't hide the problem behind corporate language. Make it recognizable.

2. Make the Problem Tangible

“Workflow inefficiency” isn't a story. “Three employees spending 20 minutes every morning manually processing paperwork” is. The more specific the problem, the easier it is for someone to recognize themselves in your marketing.

3. Show the Stakes

What does the problem actually cost? Time. Money. Productivity. Employee morale. Security. Customer service. A problem becomes more compelling when people understand what happens if they don't solve it.

4. Introduce the Solution

Now you can talk about the technology. This is where your printer, software, managed services or workflow solution becomes part of the story. Notice what happened: the product didn't have to create the story. It became the solution to the story.

5. Show the Transformation

What does life look like after the problem is solved? The accounting team processes invoices faster. IT has fewer devices to manage. Employees spend less time fighting technology. The business gains better visibility into costs. That's the payoff. And it's a much more powerful thing to market than a list of specifications.

Your Dealership Is Full of Stories

If you believe marketing requires a new product, promotion or manufacturer announcement every time you need something to communicate, you're going to run out of things to say pretty quickly. Start looking for stories instead.

Your service department has stories. What happens when a technician walks into a customer's office and solves a problem everyone else thought couldn't be fixed? Your salespeople have stories. What happens when a customer asks for a new printer and your salesperson discovers that the real problem isn't the printer at all? Your customers have stories. What changed after you helped a growing company rethink its document workflow?

Your employees have stories. Why has someone been with your dealership for 15, 20 or 30 years? Your community involvement has stories. Why does your dealership support a particular organization, school or cause? The impossible installation. The unexpected problem. The customer who needed a solution that nobody thought would work.

You don't have a shortage of marketing content. You may simply have a shortage of storytelling.

Stop Trying to Sound Like a Dealership

Thinking this way has another benefit: it makes your marketing sound less like everyone else's. Look at enough dealership websites and you'll find the same familiar vocabulary:

• Innovative

• Cutting-edge

• Best-in-class

• Customer-focused

• State-of-the-art

• Unparalleled service

The problem isn't that these words are necessarily untrue. The problem is that everyone uses them. Stories give you something those adjectives can't: proof. Instead of saying you're committed to customer service, tell the story of the time your service team stayed late to get a customer's critical operation back online. Instead of saying you provide customized solutions, show how you solved a problem that didn't have an off-the-shelf answer. Instead of saying you help businesses become more efficient, show what actually changed for a customer. Don't tell people what you are. Show them what you do.

Give Your Salespeople Something to Talk About

Good marketing shouldn't just generate leads. It should give your salespeople reasons to start conversations. A salesperson can call a prospect and say: “I wanted to tell you about our latest multifunction printer.” Or: “We just helped a customer cut the time their accounting team spends processing documents, and it made me think about how your team handles that today.

Which conversation would you rather have?

Marketing can create those openings. A customer story becomes a reason to call. A short video becomes a reason to email. An article becomes a reason to follow up. A useful insight becomes a reason to reach out to a prospect who hasn't responded in months.

Marketing doesn't have to replace sales. It can give sales more ammunition.

Ask a Different Question

The next time your dealership sits down to plan its marketing, resist the temptation to immediately ask: “What product are we promoting?” Ask: “What customer problem do we have a story about?” Maybe it's a customer who stopped wasting hours dealing with an outdated workflow. Maybe it's a company that discovered it was spending far more on print than it realized. Maybe it's an IT director who finally got control of a sprawling fleet of devices. Maybe it's an employee who got an hour back every day because a tedious process was automated.

Those stories are more than content. They're evidence. They demonstrate your expertise without having to announce that you're an expert. And they give prospects something far more valuable than another product brochure: A reason to care. Because at the end of the day, customers don't really want another copier. They want the problems surrounding their copier to disappear. They want their employees to be more productive. They want their technology to work. They want their business to run better. Your products and services can help make that happen.

So don't just market what you sell. Tell the story of what changes when someone buys it. That's where more interesting marketing begins.

Ready to get serious about telling your story? Reach out to Tim Votapka, Director of Marketing at tvotapka@prosperityplus.com.