The Power of Why, Breaking Out in a Competitive Marketplace

By C. Richard Weylman

Hardcover:  176 pages, $24

Kindle eBook: $5.99

Reviewed by Chris Wendel

Four out of Five Stars

Beyond the world of customer surveys, most companies form their marketing efforts around what the company believes of itself internally, rather than the buying motivations of paying customers. It’s safe to say that most businesses get so caught up in the day to day operations that very little effort is put forth to figure out what makes their company important  to the people that pay their bills.

This, in a broad sense,  is what sales expert and author C. Richard Weylman has in mind in his recently released book “The Power of Why, Breaking Out in a Competitive Marketplace”.  Weylman has worked in sales for decades selling everything from pots and pans door-to-door as a twenty something, to Rolls Royce cars, to eventually a sought after sales consultant. With these decades of honing his skills, Weylman has the credentials to dig in deep and get to the root of how customers’ loyalty can be earned and retained.

Weylman argues that traditional marketing has focused on developing a unique selling proposition (IE “We have great service.), which says more about what the salesperson or company thinks about their company. What new and established customers actually crave is want is what Weylman terms a “Unique Value Promise”.  The Unique Value Promise takes the unique selling proposition and digs further to find out how the company’s product or service will help customers ultimately “accomplish their outcome”.

Weyhman argues that in the 1990’s, low price replaced value for how companies position themselves to buyers.  The problem with this is twofold. First, customers have evolved to the point where they now prefer value to a lower pricing. Secondly, a company that focuses only on price, forces consumers to compare their product to their competition. The idea according to Weylman is that a Unique Value Promise will set you so far apart, that there is no competitive comparison in the eyes of the customer.

Weylman believes that organizations need to find out from customers what makes them distinct. It is recommended in the book that companies big or small interview their top 6-8 customers asking them questions about their Unique Value Promise. Asking the first question “Why do you buy from us?” will elicit a normal, not too revealing response like “You have good service”. But if this is followed up with the second question, “Why is this important to you?” which according to Weyhman will produced real (and sometimes shocking) reasons why the buyers chose them.

Michelin for example for many years market edits tires to consumers by claiming they sold steel belted radials with a better warranty than their competitors. After going through some of Weylman’s techniques the company realized that consumers actually bought Michelin tires because they kept their families safe. It didn’t take long for Michelin to supplant Goodyear whose marketing slogan had been “We’re the #1 selling tire”.

Federal Express went through a similar process back when it was trying to separate itself form UPS and DHL. Interviewing their customers they learned that the company’s pick up to delivery tracking (new at the time) assured as one customer quoted “that my package will absolutely, positively be there overnight”. This resonated so much with Federal Express that is became the main piece of their marketing effort. The book includes 40-50 of these case studies that show many more strategic techniques that go far beyond the usual “cost versus benefit” demonstration.

It’s amazing how such a straight forward concept can be missed by so many businesses. Weyhman can be quite detailed outlining his strategies, but the small investment of reading “The Power of Why “ will be appreciated by you, your employees, but most importantly your customers.

Chris Wendel is a consultant and commercial lender with Northern Initiative in Traverse City. Northern Initiatives is a private, non-profit community development corporation based out of Marquette. Northern Initiatives provides entrepreneurs with access to capital, information, and new markets.