Buying a smartphone is a very overwhelming process unless you work for a cell phone carrier or read Cell phone today on a regular basis. The number of phones, plans, carriers makes it impossible to compare apples to apples. I experienced this first hand researching phones for the last three months or so. I started with asking all of my friends and even some clients , which phones they had and which service they had. Everyone had a different phone but some used the same carrier but they all had different experiences of using that carrier and phone. I went into every major carrier’s store and talked to reps there. Every rep basically told me what they liked and recommended what they liked. I even had one guy at Best Buy (where they offer all of the phones and carriers) who was so convinced that his carrier and phone were the best. The thing is that I actually went back to the store and luckily talked to him again but this time his phone was in the shop being fixed – the camera had broke! All he talked about was the next phone he was going to get. So much for his love affair.
I researched various phones online and watched youtube videos comparing different phones and carriers – faster this or that, more this or that, better screen, better battery -again with each person who was reviewing them coming up with a different answer depending on what they liked. This phone felt better to hold. This phone was faster in one city and slow as molasses in another. No one ever asked me what I would be using it for. I even went online to see if there was some sort of Smartphone picker- choose these options and features that are important to you and here are the top phones offering that. In the beginning of the search though I didn’t even know what to ask about the Smartphones to try to compare them!!!
I finally bought a month to consumer reports and they again had a different story. Everyone in the stores trashed Sprint but Sprint was rated second highest by Consumer Reports. They rated Verizon the best but I could hardly get a rep to talk to me when I went to their stores – twice even. Their plans cost the most. I had been thinking about changing service even though I have been with Sprint like forever (haven’t had any problems with them at all except for a few dropped calls when it is cloudy but I found out everyone is getting dropped calls on every service!)
With so many choices how does one decide? I decided to stay with Sprint and compared their top three phones – the Evo 4G, Samsung Epic 4G and one other one I can’t even remember right now. The videos online had it tie between these two. On a tip from a friend I found the Evo on sale at Radio Shack of all places for $30 but darn it – they were out of them and the sale was over this weekend and they weren’t getting any more in. I could get the Evo at the Sprint store for $99 and the Epic for $149. I usually default to the lower price because at this point in the game I just need a new phone. But I really liked the sliding keyboard. Do I need it? No not really. I almost was going to to with the Evo 3D phone because it was really cool but heck no one else can see the 3D pictures and there aren’t any 3D movies except for the Green Hornet or something like that which I saw on one of the “kids” at the one of the stores. I usually always buy last years technology at lower prices but I finally opted for the more expensive phone- after all I deserved it as I have been working so hard and I think this phone can help me do more online from the office since I don’t have a computer at the office.
Is that what I really needed? Do I need 4G and a sliding keyboard? Probably not but it is really fun as heck (except I need to carry an extra battery pack on my back!) What would I have gotten if I had shopped on need alone – probably one of the free simple Smart phones with only 3G.
People buy on emotions and on price. In the absence of concrete information on being able to compare what they are getting from various products/service they shop on price usually. On the absence of creating a user experience that is emotionally based(like most places I visited you couldn’t play with the phones except the Sprint Store had all of their phones hooked up and so did ATT) , people will default to shopping for price. I finally just had to try one because I couldn’t stand shopping anymore and needed a phone really bad. I can get out in 30 days or I can get a new upgrade in a year – that’s not to bad if this doesn’t work out.
The same goes for finding and choosing a massage therapist except you are just out $60-$80 and aren’t committed for two years to your massage therapist….hmmm…could that be a new marketing plan- to have a contract with a client for a few years and a $300 early cancellation fee like many of the wireless companies.
How can you do that for your massage business? With all of the many different types of massage, different types of therapists, different personalities of each massage therapist how does one really find the best massage therapist for that day for that person? If you don’t know what type of massage that you need to begin with it can be very overwhelming. If you start searching for MT online and find a dozen different websites (or no websites!) and start reading – what do you use to make your decision? If you start asking your friends or family doctor for a name it can be a good place to start but that doesn’t mean that they will work out for what you need (or the client needs) on any given day. Did they just work too much in the yard last weekend or play too hard with the kids? Did they just ride a 200 mile bike ride? Did they just have their parent die or spouse? Would one MT be able to meet all needs? Maybe, if the MT is good at asking questions to find out what the client actually needs.
Going out and actually doing the research to find a MT for yourself can be an eye-opening process. You can learn from what others are doing or more importantly – not doing. Go through all of the steps of finding a MT. Ask your friends. Google or Bing them. Read their websites (if you can find them). Call them. Make and appointment and try one!
What do they say on their website? Does it answer your questions? Make you feel comfortable? Do you trust that MT by what they have presented on their site? Email them or call them. Do they respond within an hour or so or even answer the phone directly? Or does it take 2 days for them to call or email you back? When they do respond how do they sound on the phone or email? Are they rushed? Do they ask questions and are they interested in figuring out what you need? When you actually get the massage do they address your needs or give you the massage that you want? Do they talk to you about their type of massage and what they specialize in or can do for you? Or do they do the massage that they want to do? (Like did they give you a deep tissue massage when you wanted something relaxing or you had a pain in your left quad and they never touched that area because they spent too much time on your back?)
Being able to give the type of massage that the client needs is an art form. It is a combination of interviewing the client from the first phone call or email enough to understand what is going on and then talking to them about what you do and figure out if that will meet their needs. Marketing is just being able to share with people what your vision of your ideal client is and seeing if they will be a good fit for your business. The clearer you get about the picture of your ideal client, the more successful you will be in getting and keeping clients.
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I get the *intended* connection a little, but the length of each section makes it read like two separate articles in one. Each separate piece was helpful, but maybe not together? Thank you for consistently publishing helpful articles, though.