The Weakness of Familiarity

An odd phenomenon I've witnessed is that mature companies and experienced client-facing staff, like account managers or project managers, lose appreciation for their expertise and value.

Their familiarity from working with the product or service over the years erodes their appreciation for it.

It's not uncommon for very valuable account executives to commoditize themselves or their services, leading to price competition.

It's even more confusing when it's a long-standing relationship, and they have in-depth knowledge of how to help their clients succeed.

Viewing your product or service as ordinary leads to a procurement-style sales cycle that downplays value and boils everything down to features. This type of selling necessitates low price.

So if your product or service seems ordinary, what changed? Did you lose appreciation for how you can help clients? Or did the market move on, and what previously had value no longer resonates?

Consider the following questions:

1. What do clients expect? (Not opinion, ask current clients in a non-selling environment.)
2. What is basic fulfillment? (e.g., good product, reasonable price, timely service.)
3. What is or would be an unexpected extra? (Think clean bathrooms in a gas station.)
4. Would this make you Remarkable? (It's often small things, not better product features.)
5. How are YOU, individually, remarkable? Or how could you be? (If you are remarkable, people will make remarks about you, prospects will call you, and current clients won't leave you.)

It takes energy and effort to understand and change.

The comfort of familiarity is a powerful force, and when we get accustomed to a certain opinion or mindset, it's hard to change or learn new solutions or tactics.