What is a Core Message Guide?
A core message guide provides a clear outline of your business’s key messages all in a single place:
- answers to buying objections;
- memorable tag lines;
- succinct product descriptions;
- your differentiators;
- meaningful statistics;
- calls to action;
- … and much more specific information to make your life easier.
Basically, it compiles all the core messages needed to describe your products and services in a single document which every member of staff who communicates with the outside world should have at their fingertips. It also provides a coherent message for internal users and ensures that you can easily reinforce key messages within the company.
The Problem Many Businesses Face When Talking to Prospects and Clients
You may remember the film “50 First Dates” where the young lady has amnesia and the young man discovers he needs to start over every time he meets her. Many businesses are like that.
There is no consistent message, and there is very little coherence between prospect and customer touch-points. Your business may have a range of products or services to meet different needs, but they are all tied together by a common element – your core message guide helps you highlight these commonalities.
A core message guide helps you find that element and then bring it into all your conversations. This makes it much easier to move customers up your ascension ladder, and it also makes it easier to move them from one product to another when their needs change because they see the commonalities clearly.
Having key messages that are regularly reinforced is even more critical when it comes to prospects. Experts differ on the number of ‘touch-points’ it takes to move a person to the buying decision, but it’s usually somewhere between 7 and 12. You don’t want to waste those opportunities to reinforce your brand by seeming schizophrenic and having your messages scattered around, yet that’s what many businesses do.
But Doesn’t That Stop Me From Tailoring a Message to a Particular Prospect?
Not at all!
In fact, a core message guide lets you communicate even more precisely because you have a core message to keep returning to in your discussions, and that reinforces the relationship in your prospect’s mind.
Many transactions fall through because the seller cannot adequately explain the value proposition to a prospect. The prospect usually has a clear understanding of what the product does, but they balk at the cost because they cannot see the benefits. It doesn’t matter if you are writing to someone, or speaking to them, your focus needs to be far more on how your product or service improves their lives, profits, or positioning than on the things it actually does.
If you have these benefits outlined in a document … complete with useful phrases then
- It’s much easier to remember to talk about them; and
- You always know exactly what to say;
… and of course, once you’ve used these phrases on the phone and in emails, they quickly creep into your conversation easily and effortlessly.
All this preparation allows you to listen more carefully to your prospect or client, and to really think about what they are saying, so that you can actually address their concerns in a very specific and tailored fashion … another win for your Core Message Guide!
Truly, it’s difficult to over-estimate the benefits a core message guide can bring to every aspect of your business communication: – from internal messaging, to sales and marketing at every level. All the areas that impact your business’s bottom line.
