The Marketing Lessons I learned from Bachelor's Season Premier (Spoiler Alert.... Kind of...)

3:30 Minute Read

The Bachelor and The Bachelorette is a show my wife is absolutely addicted to. It’s amazing how deep she gets into this show, and the number emotional faces she makes in one episode. In just this premier I saw her adore Peter, cringe with embarrassment, shake her head with disgust, become angry with all the stealing, and shocked with the Hannah drama. Regardless of what happens, she’s hooked and having anything else on the Living Room TV on Mondays is next to impossible. She’s even participating in a bracket this year!! 

Instead of fighting the movement, I thought I’d watch the first episode to see what these women were willing to do to stand out and find true love. Here’s what I saw, and what I believe sales leaders can learn from their efforts. 

 Do your research….

The contestants suggested Peter was their soul mate because she liked to travel and he was a pilot. If that were the case, what about Peter separates him from the other 609,306 certified pilots?

Another contestant thought randomly seeing Peter at an event suggested they were meant for each other. How many other random people will this contestant meet before she realizes this is absurd?

We do the same thing when it comes to targeting prospects. We decide a company is worth targeting based on their industry, employee size, cars in the parking lot, number of beds, revenue, etc… Targeting in this way is as illogical as the contestant examples. Instead build out a detailed customer avatar describing their goals, values, challenges, pain points, source, of information, possible objections, and role in the purchase process. Understanding what matters most to the buyer is how you differentiate yourself.

Separate yourself based on your customer avatar, not your competition….

One contestants gets a grandma to write a letter, another awkwardly asks for a happy dance, another came wearing Angel's wings suggesting she was going to wing it… The next group of contestants went with barf bags, emotional cows and a suite case entrance. And then the last 20 contestants played off the flight attendant theme blending in with the rest of the group. How could Peter determine which contestant was most qualified when they all blended together?

 Once again we do the same things when it comes to communicating with prospects and customers. We all try to separate ourselves based on quality, service, delivery, business models, and people which leaves us blending in with everyone else. Instead focus on what matters to your client, and how you can uniquely help them achieve their vision, and overcome their problems.

 Same is lame. Get Bold…..

Being boring will kill your brand. You might be hanging in there for now, but what happens when competitor hits the scene like Hannah B? The contestants were shocked, worried, unprepared, and scared. I would have been too, if I hadn’t had the opportunity to build a relationship, differentiate myself from the pack and show how I could help my prospect achieve their vision. Instead of being the business who fails to grow market share, strategically craft bold appointment setting tools, presentation tools, following up tools, and customer retention tools to generate quality sustaining customer relationships. Don’t be like Karina hoping you were more aggressive while leaving the show…

 Bottom line…….

 These girls are up to whatever it takes to find true love with Peter, and all Peter wants is a girl who he can call his best friend. Their job will be generating amazing impressions every step of this journey. Only one contestant gets the final rose.

 If you don’t want 2020 to be another year of blending in, then transform your sales & marketing items into engagement tools!