I’m sure I have pondered with you the value of merchants of all types and sizes emblazoning this on their premises. But, seriously, I wonder why?

A case in point: The other day I was contentedly tooling along on my wonderful eBike when I spied a bike shop across the road with a large sign screaming “Under new ownership” on the window. Now, I reckon I must be one of their target market… avid bike rider, loves bike stuff, reasonably affluent and have bike riding grandkids.

But did I come to a sudden stop? Did I dismount, park my bike and roar across the road to see what marvellous bounty this change in circumstances would bestow?

Nope, I just happily pedalled on.

Like most merchants who display “Under new ownership” they had only given me the half of it. This packet of soap powder should serve as a reminder of the FAB rule.

Use marketing magic to increase your profits by 200%, 300%.... even 400%! Get it now

Yell out the features, spell out the advantages but SELL the benefits!

The benefit is the WIIFM… the what’s in it for me. I just couldn’t see any benefit for me to leap off my bike and race into the shop.

If they’d said “Under new ownership… 20% off everything” I’d have worked out the benefit… buy gobs of bike stuff and save a heap. Or maybe “Under new ownership… bikes fixed in 2 hours” I’d have worked out the advantage… the previous owners took weeks.

Maybe even “Under new ownership… we treat you good!” (despite the bad grammar) meant I could have worked out the feature that the previous owners were mean and nasty and totally unhelpful.

Ah, the sweet smell of benefits… they get people off their bikes instead of pedalling past!