One of the most common mistakes marketers make is that they think their customers and prospects care about them, what they sell and how it works.

The human truth is that consumers think, feel and ask: “What’s in it for me?” They have something they want to accomplish – from getting a cereal that their kids will eat to finding the right de-greaser for their airplane engines. Their buying decision is going to be based on satisfying that need.

When it comes to buying decisions, our choices are always:

• Based on emotion (positive or negative)

• Based on meeting our needs and wants (even implicit)

The truth of it is, consumers usually don’t care about understanding the nitty-gritty of how those needs and wants are met. I’m not suggesting someone would turn a blind eye to dangers, laws or morals. But think of your own buying behavior. Typically, we don’t care how something works; we just care that it does.

Or we care about some very specific aspect of how it works that is tied to us getting the result we want. It might be speed, expense, reliability, safety, etc. that is tied back to that emotional tug. It’s all about the end result, though.

Contrast that “cut to the chase” hunger for a solution with the marketing or sales teams’ attempts to sell. We often build elaborate cases for how and why our product or service is the absolutely right solution. We dig into the nuances of every aspect of how we get something accomplished.

See the disconnect?

Worried that your marketing might be putting the spotlight on the wrong part of the equation? Here are some common trouble spots.

Headlines: Most headlines are feature headlines. They are about us, not the consumer. “From 0-60 in 5 seconds” is talking about an attribute of our product. “You’ll never be late for another soccer game” is about the buyer’s desires.

Try this instead: Make sure your headline is making a promise or pointing out the consequence of not using your product. Use the buyers’ emotions to connect them to how your wares can solve their problem.

Trade show booths: Because space is at a premium in trades show signage, booth graphics and materials, we tend to use bullet points galore. We want to pack in the facts. Which means we’re telling our story, not the one the buyer wants to hear.

Try this instead: Think about what your prospects ask most. Use your booth to answer those frequently asked questions about end results, rather than talking about features.

Sales presentations: If you pull out some old sales presentations, take this simple test. Grade each PowerPoint slide – about us or about them. In most cases, your slides are going to be 75 percent about you and 25 percent about what the customer wants.

To remedy that, use this recipe when putting together your next presentation. The first two-thirds of the slides should be about the client, the client’s business, the client’s challenge and what you can do to fix it. Then take that final third of your slides and divide them in two. In the first half, you can give information about your company, working with you, etc. The final section should be refocused on the prospect and solving his or her problem.

If you start looking at all of your marketing materials with this new perspective, you’ll quickly be able to spot which ones need to have their focus readjusted.