Simon Sinek: Start With Why
Selling based on price is like heroin. The short-term gain is fantastic, but the more you do it, the harder it becomes to kick the habit. Once buyers get used to paying a lower-than-average price for a product or service, it is very hard to get them to pay more. The downward spiral of price addiction is inevitable for all commodities.
Manipulations (price cutting, fear, promotions...) lead to transactions, not loyalty.
Start with why, then how, then what. Most companies do it backwards.
Like the products the company produces that serve as proof of the company's WHY, so too does a brand or product serve as proof of an individual's WHY.
Don't define your 'what' too narrowly. Consider the railroad business. Railroad companies had altered the entire world in their innovation and their products were relied on by everyone, but they forgot their why and became obsessed with their what. They were in the railroad business, and they missed the trend of aviation that destroyed all the big railroad companies. Had they defined themselves as in the mass transportation business, they could have pivoted and leveraged their existing infrastructure to come out on top of a budding industry. Going back to your original purpose for business will help you adapt.
Be careful what you define and brand yourself as.
Dell selling mp3 players just doesn't feel right because Dell defines itself as a computer company, so the only things that belong are computers. Apple defines itself as a company on a mission so anything they do that fits the definition feels like it belongs.
Use your WHY to sell the prospect on your brand over others, then you can use rational facts and figures when they decide which of your products to buy.
By starting with why you have already sold the customer's limbic brain, the decision-maker. Now their neocortex will work for you and seek positive aspects of your product as it tries to rationalize your decision. This is why your product doesn't even have to be the very best if you can sell your why, as long as it is good or great you have the close.
Deep dive into why, how, then what:
At the what level, authenticity occurs. You can't ask your customers how you could be more authentic, being authentic means that you already know. Without a clear understanding of why, the instruction of acting more authentically is completely impossible. Authenticity is being fully behind your message and your why, you actually believe your purpose and your content.
Authenticity cannot be achieved without clarity of WHY. And authenticity matters.
The what provides tangible proof for the WHY - but the WHY must come first. The WHY provides context for everything else.
Ex. Southwest was not built to be an airline. It was built to champion a cause. They just happened to use an airline to do it.
Remember: if a company mistreats their people, just watch how their employees treat their customers. Mud rolls down a hill, and if you're standing at the bottom, you get hit with the full brunt. In business, that's usually the customer.
Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them, they hire already motivated people and inspire them. You don't hire for skills, you hire for attitude; you can always teach skills.
For employees, your why gives them a sense of purpose, a feeling of belonging.
Average companies give their people something to work on. In contrast, most innovative companies give their people something to work toward.