What BMW understood is that the customers don’t care about a list of technical features. What the customer convinces is a whole story about what your product is. For BMW the message is clear: You don’t buy a car, you buy special moments of joy. A BMW guarantees the pleasure you experience while driving, no matter the circumstances. Joy is a very intimate, personal feeling and most of us strive for it. Because in moments of joy you are fully with yourself, you are fully alive.
If BMW drivers weren’t convinced by this promise, BWM wouldn’t be as successful as they are. But since a BMW is not only an excellent car – like many others, too – but also has a great emotional story, they are even more successful than many other car manufacturers. A product is a story as just as a “BMW is joy”. Building such a story is not an easy thing to do. In order to be convincing, your story must neither be exaggerating nor uninspiring. By getting to know your customer and what he wants you will be able to build a convincing story.
BMW proves this: The main job customers nowadays want to fulfill with a car is to love driving itself. All the technical details have become standard. As a car manufacturer technical lead no longer guarantees the biggest market share (which, by the way, is true for many markets). And even in markets where technical lead is a key feature, a bullet point list is not what makes a customer buy.
Do you know what story you should tell your customers?