One day I was visiting my brother in Boston, and we
were strolling through the Boston Common. Just like in the Peanuts cartoon, we
came across a young girl at a classic lemonade stand making lemonade with
lemons, sugar, and ice. This isn’t something you see in Australia, so I walked
over to purchase a glass of “real” lemonade.
As I approached, I noticed the girl had a can
of 7UP sitting on the bench. I asked why she had the can of soft drink when she
was making lemonade. “I like the taste of 7UP better” was the answer.
I didn’t buy a cup of lemonade from her.
Use what you sell and sell what you use. It is
hardly inspiring to your clients if the products you choose to use are not the
same products as those you sell. There are a number of reasons to “drink your
own lemonade.”
First, it helps you maintain the quality of the
products you sell. If you sell brand X of external hard drives and use the same
brand yourself, you will be the first to see if there are failures in the
product or the product doesn’t live up to expectations. Then, before you start
to see complaints from your clients, you can test a different brand to find the
best solution.
Second, if you use your own products—and even
your own services—it will help you understand exactly what your clients experience.
Nothing inspires confidence more than a staff member telling a potential client
about their personal experiences with a product. When you believe, you are
believed.
Third, if you truly believe that your products
are the best on the market, in just the same way as it should improve a
client’s business, then it should improve your business.
And lastly and most importantly, it builds your
credibility. If you don’t use the products you sell, why should the client?
Would you buy lemonade from a girl drinking 7UP?