Ever observed in detail what politicians say? Probably not, is the response I would suggest.

Politicians don’t talk about needs, they talk about the future.

Successful politicians use this concept of selling in every speech. They know it’s all about staying in office or getting reelected and they have to know what people want and build it into every presentation they make. They never talk about the past willingly, and only if pressed talk about the present, it’s always tomorrow … I am the doorway to your future.

The travel agent talks about the trip you are going to make, how you will feel when you get there, never about the trip getting there. The seven day cruse in the Caribbean shows you all the fun on the ship and the food and entertainment. However, they don’t tell you that to get a piece of this future you need to fly to Puerto Rico where you join the cruise and the 4 hours waiting in line to board the boat.

Insurance companies talk about the future of accidents, fires, floods, illnesses, death and financial ruin. The entire insurance industry is based on selling you a future and how terrible it could be without insurance. They build pictures in your mind about a retirement without your partner and without money, the pain of waiting months before you can go to hospital or the frustration of not having a car to drive after someone else wrote yours off. When you buy insurance you spend thousands and have nothing but a piece of paper in return. Insurance companies are experts at getting a piece of your future. This isn’t necessarily good or bad, it’s simply the way they sell their products.

Law enforcement is about your future behind bars. Think about how lawyers approach their communication. The worst thing is to have your future taken away from you. Every time you watch a movie where someone is put behind bars with no hope of release you can’t help but feel how that would be. What a criminal see is a future of getting away with something unearned. Getting caught isn’t a possibility.

So what do you talk about to your customers?

Price?

Features and benefits?

Or how your product or service can enhance their future?