Ultra Low Emission Zone

There were three by-elections in UK yesterday with remarkable results. Perhaps the most surprising was that the Conservative Party retained their seat in Uxbridge. This is partly explained by vigorous campaigning on what is essentially a local issue, the extension of the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) which requires owners of highly polluting cars to pay a fee for driving within the zone.

It was reported that Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said that the problem with ULEZ, being extended to outer London, was that central government had not provided London with enough funding to help people who need to get rid of polluting cars. She argued that the Uxbridge result did not mean ULEZ was wrong in principle; it just showed that people needed support to change their behaviour. 

Whenever we ask people to change, they have a tendency to resist. There is ample evidence that highly polluting cars are bad for the environment and to the development of children in these areas. The ULEZ has already started to make a difference since it was first implemented in central London. However, many more people are now being affected and are resistant. The benefits of the change have not been properly explained and the help that they need in order to change is not sufficient.

This is exactly how your customer feels when you ask them to buy your product. You are asking them to make a change and while they may understand the need for it, they may be concerned about how difficult it will be to implement. You need to help them with this as well as explaining how your product benefits them. Without the information required to know how to change, they are unlikely to adopt a new solution.

They need to understand:

• What do they need to change?

• What else might they do?

• Who will be impacted?

• What are the desired outcomes?

• What is the roadmap?

• What problems might occur?

• What does success look like?

If you can plan all of these in advance and demonstrate that they are not that difficult, then your customer will be more assured of success and more likely to say yes.