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Thinking Outside the Box: An Exercise in Thought

We have all heard the term, "Think Outside the Box," but what does it actually mean?

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Draw this simple box of dots on your own little scrap of paper and begin with these simple instructions.
• The idea is to connect the dots with only 4 lines.
• Position your pencil on one of the dots and DO NOT ALLOW THE PENCIL TO COME OFF THE PAPER! Do not pick up the pencil and start from another place in the box. It must be a continuous flow of writing once you start. Think outside the Box!
• When you think you may have figured how to think outside the box, or if you cannot figure it out, email me for the answer.

Just as it is tough for us to "think outside the box," so it is for our customers as well. People are not "Bayesian," that is, they don't change their minds easily. Bayes' Theorem explains how odds or probabilities should change in the light of new information. People are very conservative (even liberals!). It requires far more data for them to change their minds, usually, than Bayes' Theorem would suggest mathematically.

What does this mean for us? We may have a tougher time converting someone else's customer to our side than we would attracting a new customer. They usually will require more evidence that they need to change than a more objective buyer would require: there is emotional inertia attached to the previous choice they have made. At times, their wants, needs, pains and priorities will be quite different from a "new" customer - especially if they are confronting making a change.

As you think about "Voice of the Customer" efforts and data, make sure you have studied new buyers versus converts as a form of segmentation. Your marketing solution for attracting converts may lie "outside the box!"

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