Inflection Points

Sherlock used powers of observation to understand causation. Here's how to apply that power of observation to determine what causes people to buy. If you can identify that 'inflection point' you can be there at the right time with the right messages.

Homeostasis is a biological system's ability to maintain an internal equilibrium in response to changes in the environment. Plants, animals, bacteria every living thing is looking for this equilibrium. And when that equilibrium gets disrupted, then you have an inflection point.

Moving beyond biology to how people chose to live their lives, we find that most people (and businesses) seek balance; otherwise, it's chaos. However, in every business and in every person's every life, inevitably, the fates conspire to break that equilibrium.

When that happens, the opportunity for change is not only created, but change becomes necessary to get back to that balance. Now, if you can figure out what causes these imbalances or inflection points in your respective markets, you can arrange be in the right place at the right time with your communications and sales efforts.

This is particularly important now that the power in the buyer/seller relationship has shifted away from the salespeople to the buyer. It means that salespeople, unlike before, can't easily create the disruption. You have to wait for that inflection point to occur and then wait for the marketplace to say, "Hmm, I'm warm, I'm cold, I'm hot. I need something." This is true whether you're selling services commodity products like natural gas supply, for example, or capital equipment of some sort.

Here are some easy examples of inflection points:

• When somebody gets married, they buy life insurance.
• When somebody gets a promotion, they'll buy new shoes.
• When a new VP is promoted, they want to make their mark; they want to do something different,
• Promoted VP of Marketing might hire a new agency
• New VP of operations might put new processes
• New VP of Finance might change their auditing firm or change their bank.

So, no matter what you're selling or marketing, you should be looking for these inflection points - the identifiable things that signal a disruption in customer thinking. By using your Sherlockian powers of observation, you can magically be in the right place with the right message at the right time.

What are the inflection points in your business that cause somebody to say, "I need one of those"?

If you don't believe it's possible, give me a shout. I'll help you figure out what that inflection point is and how you can market to it.

After-all, its simply elementary.