It’s true subscription buyers are looking to exchange money for benefits. But what’s funny is I so often hear from executives and companies, we need to go subscription, we need to find a way to turn our business model into a subscription. I got to tell you that’s very inside-out type thinking.
That’s a company thinking about themselves and what they want. Now mind you, it’s a great idea because of valuations for subscription companies are huge compared to more traditional or transactional type businesses. But yet, if they want to go subscription, instead of saying, how do we go subscription, we need to flip the script and say, What are the benefits our buyers are buying from us? What are the benefits they expect? And is there this periodic delivery or receipt of benefits that they’re getting? Because that’s what we really want to do. Think about Porsche, again, is a great example of this. What are the advantages or benefits to owning a Porsche itself?
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“Subscription buyers are looking for a clear and easy exchange of money for benefits.”
– Mark Stiving
Well, I own a Porsche Well, actually, I don’t, but I could own a Porsche because I want the fun of driving one. Or maybe I like the ego of being seen driving one. Or maybe it’s because it’s in my garage, and it’s ready to go. Anytime I want it. It’s right there. And I probably drive it every day or every other day, I drive it a lot. So these are benefits you get when you own a Porsche. But what about if you subscribe to a Porsche, could you still deliver all those same benefits, we’re sure we can deliver the fun of driving one, you can still have the same ego stroke, when you’re seeing driving one, you can hold it in your garage and be ready, you can drive it every single day. All those are great. And in addition to that, they can add even more benefits to the subscription.
For example, they cover the maintenance, they cover the insurance, you can change out cards, right? If you own your own car, you can’t change a 911 for a career up or a 911. For a Boxster, you’ve got to have whichever card is that they’ve got that you bought. And by the way, there’s no real commitment. you commit a month at a time. I could go try it, I can see if I like the plan, I can cancel someday.
Think how hard it is to sell a car and switch cars. If you’re really thinking about going to subscription, then what you want to do instead of saying how do we go subscription? Instead ask the question, what are the benefits that my customers expect on a periodic regular basis? And by the way, what are the hassles that they have on a periodic or regular basis? And can we solve those using a subscription as well.
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