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Mental Models

Mindshare before market share

Don’t sell a product, sell a new way of thinking.

Conventional wisdom says to establish a company as an expert within the existing mental model. Envision Marketing offers you a better way – sell a new way of thinking that challenges the prevailing model.

Mental models are the lens through which we see the world. For customers to accept a product it sometimes requires a new mental model. To sell the iphone Steve Jobs had to change our mental model from phone to smartphone.

Change not what customers think, but how they think

Information, and value propositions are not enough to sell innovative products, Envision Marketing helps you change not only what customers think, but how they think. Without the right mental model, they won’t see the problem, understand the benefits, or make the change.

We put the power of mental models to work in your business, in three fundamental ways:

FIRST: Identify the shift

We identify your customers’ assumptions (usually unconscious) about how the world works and the “aha” moment when someone turns from disinterested to enthusiastic. The shift is not a typical linear marketing context – from hard to easy or from big to small but rather a non-linear jump from one reality to another. In cars that might play out as gas to electric, in retail from bricks & mortar to online.

SECOND: Find the sticking point

We determine how mental models are getting in the way of your success. The sticking points are usually in one of three areas:

  • Illuminating the problem: The customer’s mental model does not allow them to see a problem.
  • See the problem but not your solution: People recognize the problem, but fail to see how your solution could solve it.
  • A viable roadmap: Customers recognize the problem, and the value of the solution, but can’t make the leap.  Often they fear the jump.

FINALLY: Build the program

We can bring new thinking to every industry and function. Most retailers are merchants using technology. Amazon is a technologist empowering merchants. Traditional retailers obsess over sales tied to business goals. By contrast, 80% of Amazon’s metrics provide feedback on how well it is helping customers.

We create programs that allow your customers to embrace new models, and unlearn old habits.

“The really good ideas – the ones that change things – need to be explained before they’re accepted.”

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