It’s time for a wake-up call: Most of us have been selling the wrong stuff the wrong way.

That’s according to the book, “Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action,” by Simon Sinek. It sounds like a book on leadership – and it is – but it also has some incredible insight into how to market, sell and even plan for succession.

If I had to boil down the book’s message to one line, it would be this: your long-term success depends on your ability to let your reason for being (your “why”) drive your company rather than your processes and systems (your “how”), your products and services (your “what”), profitability or shareholder value.

That’s not to underplay the importance of these aspects of business. They are incredibly important. But you can’t let them drive the bus if you want to stay on the road to success, according to Sinek.

The phrase “reason for being” sounds kind of fluffy, but Sinek makes the argument that what’s at stake is your survival. The main reason your “why” is so vital, he argues, is that consumers make their decisions about what products and services to buy with the emotional part of their brain, not the analytical part. Therefore, features, benefits and price take a backseat to whether the buyer can personally identify with the company’s reason for being.

Sinek’s favorite example is Apple, which he says was founded to “challenge the status quo.” Apple’s most loyal customers are those who personally share this reason for being. By purchasing a Mac or an iPhone, they are making a statement about who they are. Price, therefore, becomes less important, and these consumers are much more likely to buy another product from the company, even if their ownership experience is less than perfect.

That has major implications in the boating industry. Given the sheer number of parts and accessories that go into each boat produced, the challenges of servicing such complex products, and the harsh environmental conditions under which a boat often operates, the boat ownership experience is almost never perfect.

If you take a look at Apple’s marketing, you gain some insight into how they have communicated their “why.” Apple stands out because the majority of organizations focus their marketing messages elsewhere, such as on the features and benefits of the products they sell.

That’s certainly true of most boat businesses. As an industry, we’re not exactly known for our innovative marketing and advertising. That makes it hard for consumers to choose a boat out of the sea of white fiberglass for sale. There’s a good chance our customers can’t identify our companies’ “why.”

That’s a problem, says Sinek. Maybe a customer will buy a product from that company once, if the price or the features and benefits win them over, but it won’t take much for them to look elsewhere for their next purchase.

By focusing your marketing on your company’s “why,” you will not only differentiate your business from your competitors, but you also will have a better chance of earning the business and loyalty of those who buy from you. Manipulations such as price, promotions, novelty and aspirational messages can be effective short-term strategies, but they won’t lead to the long-term success that comes with loyalty.

At most companies, the founder is the person who stands for the company’s purpose in the eyes of customers and employees, and keeps the company focused on fulfilling that purpose in everything it does. The other members of the executive team tend to complement their leader through skills related to the “how” and “what” of the business.

This is the beginning of what could be a big problem. There’s a good chance that the founder’s executive team doesn’t contain a successor who can carry their work – and the entire company – forward on its current path. If their experience is based around finding success through “how” or “what,” they are unlikely despite the best of intentions to be able to keep your “why” as the company’s focus. And yet they are the most likely to be chosen as successor.

What is needed in a successor is a person who not only understands the company’s “why,” but also lives and breathes it, and can use it to inspire the team and customers the way the founder has.

Whether or not you agree with these ideas as I’ve presented them, I suggest you give this book a read. It contains some great examples of companies and strategies that have excelled at earning and maintaining customer loyalty. That’s a goal we all share. Plus, its ideas are already influencing the thinking of our industry’s leaders. For example, MarineMax recommended this book to us.

-Liz Walz, MRAA