Will Your Prospect Change Their Tea Brand?

With solution selling being in no small part about the promotion of ‘change’ and perceptions of how it’ll affect those involved, I was fascinated by this piece of consumer product pre-Easter PR.

Tea vendor Clipper (who’s products I have myself bought) sought to highlight how ingrained our daily habits are.

Their angle clearly pushing the English towards trying quasi-artisanal alternatives to either their behemoth caffeine fix or big label – and by association perhaps, flavourless – teabag suppliers.

The company must have loved these opening tabloid sentences;

why changing habits is just not our cup of tea, &

stuck-in-a-rut Britons are twice as likely to have dumped their partner in the past decade than changed their tea brand

To summarise the ‘findings’, so-called “big” upheavals are easier to, ahem, swallow than daily routine tweaking. Six out of ten of us “actively avoid” change. We apparently mostly range from being generally “scared” to worrying about the consequences of it.

They even have a “life coach” on hand to provide comfort for all frustrated solution pitchers;

Change is a word that seems to strike fear in people, when actually it is a really positive thing, it means we’re giving something a go

It reminds me of many a banging-head-against-wall conversation. Usually with losers. But sometimes – and here’s the rub – with those that seek ‘change’ yet fear the risks. We must treasure these souls and hold their hands accordingly.

I’m reminded of a page I used to put in my Props. It was boldly entitled Risk Mitigation. I’d wax on items such as legacy issues, implementation, on-going project management. It always went down well.

I fancy there’s quite a slide you could create around change aversion that could help relax a room full of prospects. That “dumped” line of the above article also evokes the oft-quoted banking current account fact. We’re supposedly ‘more likely to commit a crime than change our bank”.

So, our “favourite routines” as uncovered by the cha-makers, show these as our top ten most set-in-stone habits;

1. Hairstyles
2. Hair colour
3. Breakfast choice
4. Mug for tea
5. Bed time
6. Brands of food and drink
7. Takeaway restaurant
8. When the shopping gets done
9. Brand of teabags
10. Time of day you drink tea

It conjures in my mind a similar listing for any potential buyer. What are their typical routines? Would they be open to discussing and ranking theirs? If they are (and you can fruitfully identify where you impact on them) then you could be well on the way to swapping “fear” for them “giving something a go”.