Giving people what they want
I’ve written before about the fact that people only buy one thing. Today I’m giving you the four part formula I consistently strive to provide people with in order to produce products that make them happy.

This is the formula that I use when freelancing and job hunting, corporate settings and business ventures. It applies whether you are in business for yourself, trying to sell yourself to get a job, or already in a job. All of us have to produce something whether for customers, potential employers, or management.

The reason this formula works for all of them is because it is based on the recipient and not the “seller”.

Recipients are all the same: they’re people.

Stick around the business and marketing world long enough and you’ll hear talk about selling benefits instead of features. That’s because features focus on the business doing the selling or the product being sold while benefits focus on the buyer’s favorite topic: them. (That’s fair, in my opinion, since it IS their money being solicited.)

The formula is really four components that I make sure to incorporate in everything I do in order to create happy customers. Focus on making each of these things a benefit of what you offer.

The VSQA Formula

V – Valuable

Our world contains so much noise it is often difficult to find real value. So many things fight for our attention that finding real value is often a chore, if not just impossible.

Even more difficult is that value is subjective. While it’s valuable to me to know when my favorite DJ’s newest album comes out, most of you couldn’t care less about techno and trance. Likewise, I keep seeing “GGGGOOOOAAAALLLL!!!!!!” on Twitter and couldn’t care less what it’s referring to.

We need to provide value, not just another product, to our customers. We need to make sure we demonstrate our value to current and future employers. Too many products and too many people state what they can do without thinking of what the value is to the recipient.

Don’t just make noise, clearly state why you are valuable.

S – Simple

Rube Goldberg was famous for creating cartoons that illustrated very complex and elaborate ways to perform mundane tasks like brushing your teeth or washing your hair. The illustrations would involve things like scaring a dog who pulled on a rope that dropped a bowling ball to squeeze out the toothpaste. They were comical because they were ridiculously complex.

Unfortunately, much of our lives are the same way. Anyone who works in corporate America has probably been in a meeting to plan other meetings. Ridiculously complex and inefficient. Too often we get enthralled with the complexity of a process and focus on how to navigate it while losing site of the goal.

Simplify what needs to be done and you will make lifelong fans. The best part is that if you simplify, you’ll be making YOUR life easier too.

Focus on clearly identifying the goal in any process. Then provide the simplest method of achieving that goal.

Q – Quick

Despite the fact that many people waste large chunks of their day in front of the television or doing pointless tasks (none of us, right?), they all believe they are overwhelmed and busy to no end. The number one thing people consistently wish they had more of is time.

Therefore, making things quick is always a big win. It’s the reason we go through the stress of airports only to sit in a tiny, cramped seat next to people we don’t know: flying is quick. It’s the reason we eat fast food even though we know it is bad for us.

It doesn’t even have to be a need; remember that value is subjective.

Provide something people WANT quicker than how they currently get it and they will pay you for it.

A – Actionable

This last one is something that gets overlooked a lot. We often remember the first three parts of the formula to varying degrees, but rarely do people remember to make something actionable.

By actionable, I mean that you make something easy to act on:

• If you are selling a product, don’t make people hunt around in order to buy it. Nobody wants to scroll through hundreds of lines of sales copy just to get to a “Buy now” button; give them the option to click on it right from the start. And don’t create a false sense of scarcity when it is not necessary. If we have to manipulate people (which both of those methods are doing) then we aren’t confident we are providing something of real value…and probably shouldn’t be selling it in the first place.
• If you are selling a service, people don’t want to have to hunt you down to get in contact with you. You need to be where they are, not the other way around. Go find them and let them know you can do what they need. If you can’t do that, at least make your information easy to find so they can get in contact with you. Companies with customer service, get a clue on this one and put me in contact with a human when I need your service. Potential employees, putting your resume on Monster and Career Builder is not enough; get in contact with the places you want to work!
• If you are selling information, make it easy for people to take what you’ve told them and then use it in their life. Giving someone a small bit of information that they can’t act on only serves to frustrate people. We don’t want frustration attached to our names, do we?

Make it easy for people to act on what you provide.

Final thoughts
Any part of this formula done by itself stands to give you a product or service that people are willing to pay for. Start combining them and you’ll be making people really happy.

Remember, happiness is the only thing people are willing to pay for.