Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Selling vs. Buying...A Marketing Wake Up Call

I've been boo-hooing about the need for timeshares to stop selling and let consumers buy the product for years now. And for years now, the old-timers in the industry have ignored me or worse, countered my thinking with the old stand-by, 'timeshare is different.'

Well, in a recent blog "Rocket Watcher-Product Marketing For Start-Ups" by April Dunford, she clearly illustrates what has changed and why marketing has to make the change from selling to helping consumers buy. Here are her thoughts, which I completely agree with:

* We Don't Believe Advertising
* Customers Can Broadcast To The World
* Prospects Can Easily Communicate With Each Other
* Information About Products Is Easy To Get (Without Having To Talk To the Company Directly)

True for other products and services, especially true for timeshares. The sooner the industry realizes that the customer is highly in control of the buying process, the more timeshares will be sold and the happier everyone will be.

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