Just ADD WATER – that’s all! In ONE Second Your AMAZING Sea-Monkeys Actually Come to Life!
Seeing the advertisement for Sea-Monkeys was certainly a blast from the past for me. Many of you will remember the ads for these cool little creatures found in your favorite childhood comic books.
Through a process called cryptobiosis, a small pouch containing dried shrimp crustaceans would instantly come to life when added to a cup of water.
The ad claimed they clean their own water; they would require little to no maintenance; they could be taught to perform tricks for friends, and live for months – even years.
But Sea-Monkeys didn’t do any of those things. In fact, they were a huge letdown.
They quickly died (usually within 24 hours), they looked nothing like the fantastic drawings found in the comic books, they couldn’t be taught tricks as the ads claimed, and they really weren’t all that exciting to watch.
I remember anxiously waiting for the package to arrive and when I finally got to them I had the overwhelming feeling of, “that’s it?”
The inventor of Sea-Monkeys didn’t care. He purchased 3.2 million pages of advertising a year. Yes, that’s 3.2 million and per year! And people bought them by the millions. He didn’t care about lifetime value or customers for life. Most of us don’t have that luxury. We have to care.
To me, this is the perfect example of the Expectations Gap – the difference between what the customer thinks they’re buying, and what they get.
Are the Sea-Monkeys in your business destroying your ability to create customers for life?
Throw a rock in any town or city you’ll hit a dozen experts that will promise you more leads, more new customers, and the secrets to the latest new social marketing platforms guaranteeing you more “eyeballs” on your brand, your products, and your services.
But none of those things mean a damn thing if the Sea-Monkeys don’t do what was promised when they arrive.
This is the gap that’s costing so many companies thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions in lost revenues.
A company says, “we need more new customers.” But it’s almost always not what they need.
Most organizations are working their tails off to create a transaction. They are working to create a transaction and hoping the customer decides that’s enough to engage in another transaction. What they really need is to minimize the gap and maximize the value of every customer interaction.
Take a minute to ask yourself: Is what you promise in your sales and marketing efforts congruent with what clients get or the benefits they receive?
The expectations gap can be minimized through things like the Evergreen Experience Audit. It’s improved when we engage in internal benchmarking efforts with our clients. And the gap can be obliterated when you get serious about improving the customer’s experience across the entire organization through process improvement.
Our consulting approaches have added tens of millions in business results for our clients. Let’s talk about the expectations gap in your organization and what it costs you.
Today’s Key Questions: Are you selling Sea-Monkeys that leave your customers with an overwhelming feeling of, “that’s it!?” What are you doing to kill the Sea-Monkeys?
