Home Energy Audits are not going to take off. Nor will Business Energy Audits, even if they point out areas of waste and areas of potential savings. Or even if they are free. Why? Because they are called audits!

No one wants to sign up for an audit, even when it's designed to help them.

If you would take that same energy audit and repackage it as something more desirable, like a savings kit or The Wastebuster or something, you would get more takers.

I caught myself doing this not long ago. I was doing free marketing audits for clients of a CPA friend, only we didn't promote it as a marketing audit. We called it a free marketing review. Not sexy, not glamorous, but better than an audit! And I was booked solid all day long.

It matters what you call things. If you want a premium price for a watch, refer to it as a "timepiece." If you know a good mechanic, refer to him as "the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench." (Sorry, that was stolen from a country song.)

The point is, rethink the words you're using to describe yourself, your company, your products and what they're used for, your services and what they accomplish. Choose words that say more. Choose words that move you more upscale or more value-driven. Don't just say what has always been said. That's how you end up with energy audits no one wants.

Labels: customer centered, differentiation, marketing, messaging, planning, strategy