One of my all time favourite clients refused to believe that he could sell his product. He would always tell me “I am just an engineer, I know how to make it but I don’t know how to make people buy it.” That was his first mistake, thinking that he had to make people buy from him instead of approaching it from the perspective of helping people to buy...
Let’s face it, the average consumer today is way too sophisticated and street savvy to buy something they don’t want or need just because we tell them to. We tend to buy from people we trust and those who show they understand our worries and concerns. We also respond to people who really know and love their product; and that’s great news for my client and every other small business owner who is a reluctant sales person.
One of the most important advantages small business has over big business when it comes to selling is the passion and enthusiasm of owners and staff. It’s infectious and absolutely irresistible when it comes to making the sale.
But before we even start to sell we need to think about what we are actually selling. It may not be what you think it is. For instance, when you buy a drill what is your hardware store selling you? A power tool, a piece of equipment or a handy device? None of these; in actual fact they are selling you a hole. If you buy a hand drill you are buying a slow hole, a power drill gives you a fast hole and a masonry drill gives you a hole in bricks or masonry. So think about what you are really selling. Here are a couple of examples to get you started.
An accountant selling tax services isn’t just selling their time or expertise they are selling the fact that you won’t get into trouble with the tax office if you do your tax return, or maybe they are selling the fact that you will get your tax refund in your bank account sooner. If you buy a children’s DVD they aren’t selling you a new release or DVD it could be an hour and half of peace and quiet or a learning experience.
Once you have worked out what you are selling you are on your way to sales success. The next step is to identify all the features associated with your product or service. I usually recommend that you brainstorm a list of all your features, the more the better. The trick is to be specific and features should be detailed rather than general. For instance, we visit you on site, our consultants all have ten years industry experience, this machine is portable or the appliance has a five star energy rating.
Make sure you think about all the features that make you better or different from your competitors. Don’t just write down “better customer service” as it is too broad. Divide customer service up into all its steps and write down what makes your customer service better. Do you offer your clients cups of tea in fine china? Do clients have three case managers to look after their file?
The good news is once you have a list of features you have lots of points you can include in advertising, press releases, web copy and sales brochures. The bad news is your clients or customers aren’t really interested in features; they want to know what the benefits are for them. These are also known as WIIFM’s (What’s in it for Me).
So, your next job is to turn those features into benefits. And you can do this with two little words. Go back to your list and beside every point write the words SO YOU. Now work your way through the list and turn each feature into one or several benefits; for instance:
“We visit you on site so you won’t have to waste time travelling or being away from your business”
“We visit you on site so we have a much better idea of your business so you will get better quality, tailored business advice”
“This nozzle is double chromed so you will have less equipment down time which will save you on production costs”
“This nozzle is double chromed and lasts 30% longer than other nozzles so you will save on production costs”.
The great news is that by using features and benefits together your sales and marketing material will look, sound and feel different to your competitors who may still using standard features based advertising.
The next time you have to write a sales proposal, advertisement or press release instead of hitting the panic button, get out your list and choose the best features and benefits for your target market. It will suddenly be much easier to demonstrate to clients just how you can help them and make their life easier.
This approach doesn’t just work for marketing collateral it is also perfect for face to face selling. Instead of leaving it up to the customer to “guess” what is in it for them you can confidently explain the benefits and how you are better or different from your competitors.
My favourite client took features and benefits to the next step and decided to hold product and pizza nights for his staff. Once a month they would all get together to “play” with new products and as a group identify the key features and benefits they could promote to customers. Suddenly they went from being just another retailer to “those people who really know their stuff”. While their competitors were reeling off features from the product packaging, his team were using plain English benefits based explanations to wow their customers.
Their conversion rates doubled and average spend increased by 19%. Not bad for a business owner who didn’t know how to sell!
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