| Do you want to learn how to break into the biggest and richest market in the world? July 4th, 2008 "How to sell to Americans?" Excerpt from chapter two: How Americans Think In most ways the American market is exactly the same as it is everywhere else in the world. Advertisers hawk their wares on radio, television, in the newspaper and by direct mail. You can buy products in stores or you can have them shipped to your house or business. But in some very notable ways, the American market is quite different from most other places. How you advertise and what you offer has a slightly different focus. If you listened carefully during the last chapter, you probably picked up on the fact that Americans aren't afraid to push past their limits.
Things like security and stability aren't as important as the appearance of these things are. Paying more than you really should to be able to drive a car that looks better and has more gadgets than the one your next door neighbor has is a tradeoff most Americans are willing to make. The “American Dream” isn't as much about being successful as it is about looking that way. To most Americans, admitting you're poor is a shameful thing. According to several studies, the number one quality American woman look for in a man is how much money he makes. Men, on the other hand, are most attracted by how a woman looks. Issues like character and values fall somewhere lower on that list. Conversely, men find it important to put on an image of making a lot of money and woman are willing to go to great lengths to look “pretty”. Someone, somewhere has convinced us that our happiness and our peace of mind depend on putting on the right kind of show. And these are the things we push towards blindly. It's a country where we buy more fake Rolex watches than we do the real thing. Obscene amounts of money are spent every year on products that help us lose weight and look sexy. We live in a neighborhood where public relations firms are a thriving business. A place where learning what to say is much more important than becoming the kind of person who would naturally say the right thing. “Therapy” in America is usually more about changing behaviors than changing people. It's about becoming proficient at putting on a good show. It's about a husband learning that he needs to hug his wife 2 times a day and say “I love you” at least once if he wants her to go to bed with him instead of taking the time to actually learn to love her and then do what comes naturally. It's a country of short term thinkers. We're far less interested in teaching our children to be honorable and courteous than we are to force them to act right in public. We aren't as worried about kids talking back to us or being disobedient in private, but we're quick to punish any kid that would embarrass us in public. There was a time, not that long ago, when Americans prided themselves on their high values. A man's worth was measured in terms of his integrity and being honorable in your dealings meant much more than how little you had to do to get the results you wanted. But these times have changed. Americans have become greedier, more self seeking. We want more and are willing to give less to get it. Whereas therapy once meant sitting with a counselor for several months working through the issues that caused the symptoms we wanted vanished from our lives, there is now a disturbing trend towards creating pills that can effectively hide the pain. We may be depressed because we've done things we're ashamed of and live lives of little value. A few years back that would lead to sessions that encouraged us to find ways to accept responsibility and make restitution for the wrongs we've done and pursue courses that would add value to our lives. Today it usually leads to a prescription for Wellbutrin or Zoloft. We are much more interested in feeling good than we are in being good. I make these observations not as a critique of American life as much as in an attempt to clearly define the kind of products an American might be interested in considering. A product that offers long term solutions to current problems is much less likely to make it as would a problem that can offer immediate relief or at least create the appearance of a cure. We sell many more emotional and physical band aides than we do sutures.
In my book you will find answers to many questions about how to successfully sell to Americans!
If it were possible to sell a mask that would make our faces look smooth, clear and healthy it would be an instant best seller, while a guidebook on how to eat healthy and take the proper nutrition to clear up our skin problems and reduce the wrinkles has been tried several times and usually failed miserably. Americans aren't as interested in what the face really does look like as they are in how it looks to those walking by. Yes, I realize there are those that might look at what I'm saying as an unjust condemnation of the American lifestyle. But if they take the time to look closely, most would have to admit (if they were willing to be honest), that all I'm doing is taking that mask off and exposing reality. Unless a marketer truly knows what's going on under the mask, he or she will never really know what products are sure to make a hit.
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