The Sudden Death of Products and Services
The Sudden Death of Products and Services https://csuiteold.c-suitenetwork.com/advisors/wp-content/themes/csadvisore/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 Chris Westfall https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/d61af0ca0206462a574e5d49fdf940e9?s=96&d=mm&r=g
Your customer has spoken: products and services are dead.
Consumed by new marketing strategies, all products and services have been replaced.
The next next thing in marketing and branding?
“Experiences”.
Calling something a product or service just doesn’t make any sense in the new economy. The description is out of date. Those words don’t apply to today’s consumers or companies.
Marketing professionals and sales people need to understand:
Products and services are dead.
Every leader has to understand: every company, everywhere, is selling experiences.
Think about it: The things that we buy and consume, either as individuals or as a corporate entity, are not products. These things are not services.
We buy, acquire, endure and enjoy experiences.
Related: Four Ways to Overcome Your Blind Spot on Entrepreneur.com
Today, commerce trades on the experience you have, and the experience you provide.
Consider these experiential products:
- A vacation in Hawai’i
- Purchasing a new Porsche Panamera
- Transitioning your organization to SAP CRM
- Changing vendors for your outsourced call center
Which of these are products, and which are services? Answer: None, and all. The old words don’t work anymore; we need to choose new ones if we want to tell a story that’s authentic and complete. And all customers – all consumers – crave authenticity.
You see, no product exists in a vaccuum.
Even a vaccuum cleaner.
No service stands alone without products. These things are really events, or experiences, made up of a series of products, services and interactions.
And so many things are outside the scope of either products or services. For example: what if you donate to a non-profit? What about that last iPhone app, or a new piece of software – what is it exactly, product or service?
What we want, what we pay for and what we get can all be summed up in one way: experiences.
Today’s customer (whether a corporation or a person, and by the way they are NOT the same) wants an experience. Perhaps an experience that is fantastic (like visiting the most beautiful place on the planet, Hawai’i) or excruciating (transitioning to SAP CRM, for example, because your CFO chose the low-bidder on the job).
Even a traditional product purchase, like buying a new car, requires a series of events that create an experience that circumvents the “product” (whatever the hell that is, anyway). For example, when you buy a car, unless you have $108,433.00 cash (that’s a nice car! welcome to the C-Suite), you are going to need financing.
Maybe you will lease the vehicle. Maybe you will talk to the finance manager, or the sales manager, about your options. You go through a series of events and choices; this is all part of the experience of ownership. The most traditional “product” in America (the automobile) gives you an experience. The experience of the purchase, the experience of the service, and the experience of the brand. How does your car make you feel about yourself? Are you comfortable, and do you feel powerful behind the wheel? Those feelings are as real as the tires and the spark plugs – a very real experience, indeed.
Marketing Matters
“Product” and “service” are incomplete definitions. Consider the experience you want to have, as a consumer or a corporation. And, if you want to reach new customers in new ways, think long and hard about the total customer experience. Services and products alone just aren’t cutting it anymore.
More Information and Additional Resources:
Check out Bullet Proof Branding. Find out how Cisco, Cargill, the Huffington Post and other organizations are creating impact in the digital age.
With a foreword by Ted Rubin, this book takes a look at how the conversation is changing for companies and individuals, in the age of social media.
About the Author: Chris Westfall is the publisher of seven books, including BulletProof Branding. His latest book is called Leadership Language, coming from Wiley in the fall of 2018. A business coach to entrepreneurial leaders on four continents, Chris Westfall has reshaped brands around the globe – creating multi-million dollar results in the process. His clients have appeared on Shark Tank, Dragons’ Den in Canada and Shark Tank – Australia. Find out more on his website and follow him on twitter.
Photo credits: Texas Sunset by the author. Girl with laptop and vacuum cleaner: creative commons via flickr.