Let’s Cut Down the Theme Song and Get to the Bar

by. Ron Daly

I used to love watching Cheers. A funny show with a great cast, Cheers lasted through eleven season, a female lead change (are you a Diane fan or a Rebecca fan?) and thousands of shouts of “NORM!”

Sometime in the middle of its run, Cheers cut down its theme song and opening credits (“Where Everybody Knows Your Name” is stuck in your head now, isn’t it?) to get to the show faster. Why waste time? Squeeze in more show, a few more jokes, a couple more beers – don’t bother with the song we all know the words to anyway. Get to the point.

I bring it up because I just read a bit of ON Innovation by author Terry Jones. In it, he talks about how the nature of gathering information has changed. Customers are walking into buying situations with a heaping helping of information and prep. From the book:

My realtor friend told me the other day, there is no such thing as a “First Showing” of a house anymore. “Every showing is a second showing as all my customers have whittled their list down online and have seen every house already!”

Customers no longer need you for information, they need you for advice! “Actually sir, this color looks better on you”, “I drove this model for three months and got about 21 mpg, so that is what you can really expect”.

Interesting. As information becomes more and more accessible, people spend more time reading and researching major purchases. It theorhetically makes a sale easier. Theorhetically.

continue reading »