To businesses decision makers, technology is no longer an expense item. It’s a tool for profits, cash flow, and productivity. The leading reason parents buy computers is to get their children on the Internet because their future depends on it.

• Because the relevance of any product or service has evolved to solve problems, people judge superiority in the context of accomplishing some task or goal.
• They assign superiority to the product or service that can best solve their problem.

Tom Trapp. President of Bear Brook Design said, “The goal isn’t to get a customer to take action once, but to establish a continuing relationship. The most effective marketing approach is a combination of brand building - generating awareness and making emotional connections; plus, persuasive direct marketing - using tactics designed to elicit a specific response. Ultimately, the success of any organization lies in using these approaches wisely and in concert.”

Trust is a huge issue in the minds of clients. Clients will choose the brand that offers the best combination of a powerful value proposition, strong on-going support, a compelling vision of the future, and a high degree of trustworthiness.

Prospects know that when they make a purchase, they are, in effect, buying an implicit futures contract, and they want to know you’ll continue to be around to service their problems.

• The interdependent nature of many products or services is extremely important and often requires “partnering” to solve a customer problem.

• From the customer’s perspective, every product or service enables a total solution or participates in it.

Thus, organizations must determine what role they play in solving a client’s problem. Nothing is more important to long-term success than the quality and the quantity of ongoing support. If “partners” are involved, from investment statements to medical examinations, they reflect directly on you, and your on-going customer relationships depend on their proper performance.

Financial service consumers have evolved to purchasing only when convinced that a particular product or service is the best solution for a problem of personal or business importance. Marketing to them the solutions to their problems is the key ingredient to continued success.

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