Why does connecting Michael Jordan’s name to a sneaker make it worth twice as much money to a teenager? Because it gives the sneaker the personality of the great basketball player. The teenagers want to be able to relate to the character that they respect so much. The difference in price between the “no personality” generic brand and the sneaker with personality becomes incremental profit to the business and to Michael Jordan.

Are you getting the higher profit from your product or service by giving it personality, or are you settling for the prices you can get for your product’s features and benefits?

When you developed your sales and marketing strategy, you probably have decided on your target market and the benefits your products and services would provide them. This is what almost every book and workshop on the subject tell you to do.

There is one important component of marketing strategy that many leave out. That is deciding and communicating the “personality” of your product or service.

Highly successful companies spend a lot of time and money developing and communicating the personality of their products and services.

You do not have to use Michael Jordan or other endorser to give your product personality. BMW combines the major differentiating features of its cars, highly engineered automobiles, with its advertising message, “The Ultimate Driving Machine,” to communicate a confident, take charge personality. With their personality, BMWs are not cheap and there is a waiting list to buy their top-of-the-line models.

Establishing and communicating personality is important in all industries. Restaurants can live and die by the personality that they project. Law offices and other service providers define the prices they are able to charge by the personality they project.

Before you settle for having to sell at the lowest price, look inside your business to see if there is a personality you can develop and communicate for your products and services.