Why Does Your Furniture Business Exist?
Chances are, the title of this story gave you a bit of a chuckle. After all, there is an obvious answer to the question; why does your furniture business exist? If you’re like most people, your immediate response is something along the lines of “to make a profit so I can support my family and sustain my lifestyle.”
While this, of course, is a valid reason, it means absolutely nothing to your customers. If you want to stand out from the gaggle of other e-commerce merchants selling furniture, you have to answer this question from the customer’s perspective.
Customers Look for Compelling Reasons
In a world in which 15 stores all have the same product, with no differentiation between them whatsoever, how does a shopper decide from whom to buy? Yes, price is a consideration and the seller with the lowest price will likely win out in this case—all other things being equal.
However, if you’re the seller with a compelling story about your business, or you can demonstrate added value, those sales are going to go to you. Put simply, rather than “What” you do, people prefer to buy “Why” you do it.
How To Find Your “Why”
Perhaps you realized people were having a hard time assembling furniture when they had it shipped. Maybe you came to understand that young people move quite a bit from place to place before they finally settle down.
Or perhaps you observed good quality furniture was getting more and more difficult to come by at reasonable prices. In other words, to make your business compelling, you have to be capable of articulating its primary benefit to your chosen customer base.
Which brings up another good point. Before you articulate the “Why” of your business, it’s a good idea to determine “Who” your business serves. You’ll find yourself in a much stronger marketing position when your “Why” and “Who” match.
What To Do With It
Let’s say your “Why” is to help young families get off to a comfortable start with quality furniture at affordable prices. There’s a great tagline in there for your advertisements, marketing materials, email campaigns and social presences. You can also use this information to inform the look and feel of your site when you open a furniture store online.
Your “Why” should also inform the style and tone of your marketing materials, as well as your persona in social media. Further, this “Why” can be applied to many other aspects of your business.
For example, hiring people who believe what you believe will surround you with employees who are solidly invested in your company. True believers will go far beyond those just working for a paycheck. This is particularly important in client-facing positions such as customer service.
How To Convey It
Distilling your “Why” into one sentence featured alongside your logo tells visitors to your site what you’re all about right off the top. Naturally, this information makes for a terrific “About Us” page.
There, you can also go into the details of how you realized the need your aim is to fill. People love a great story. Let yours convey the “Why” of your efforts on their behalf. A video in which you verbalize how your “Why” came to be is another good way to convey it.
So, why does your furniture store exist?
The sooner you figure it out and incorporate that philosophy into your way of doing business, the sooner you will find yourself selling to a group of loyal customers. Do it well and the profit to support your family and sustain your lifestyle will also accrue.
