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Are
you having problems keeping your prospect’s attention? Do you spend a lot of
time talking about what your product or service can do, but your customer just
doesn’t “get it”? Are you treated with hostility after your sales
presentations? If you said “yes” to any one of these questions, perhaps your
problem is that you are selling “features” instead of “benefits”.
Many years ago I worked for a hardware company that
developed and sold super-minicomputers along with a full suite of software. As
the Database Product Line Manager in the Marketing department, I frequently
worked with Sales reps doing presentations and demos. I also had the chance to
observe how people with all sorts of backgrounds and experiences functioned in
sales situations. One of the more seasoned reps, and a good friend of mine, used
to tease the newer reps who focused too much on product features instead of what
benefits the customer would see. His little taunt went something like this:
"When you discuss the hardware, don't just
tell the client about all the parts and pieces. Instead, explain what quarry
we got the sand from to make the silicon for our chips, how the silicon was
made, and how the chips are manufactured."
That was his way of saying -- “…don't bore the
poor prospect with all the features. All they care about is what it will do for
them – or what the benefits are.” So, Don't
Sell The Quarry. Sell the Benefits!!
This little parody has helped remind me over the years that
we should be selling and presenting solutions and benefits, not just features
and functions. It's amazing how often this is forgotten. I see it all the time.
During an initial sales call, do you find yourself presenting all the detailed
features of your favorite product, such as showing your prospect how to create
detailed processes instead discussing how a process can work to help streamline
their workflow? Or have you ever found yourself designing a new detailed custom
report when all they really cared about was how easy it was to modify your
product? Or my favorite, show the prospect how "easy" it is to create
a dynamic link to interface to another application. These are sure-fire ways of
putting your prospect to sleep – and losing the deal!
Any one of these examples has the potential of scaring the
client away because they won’t understand how it will benefit them. There's
plenty of time to show exactly how a product works along with all its power and
strengths. But not in a one or two hour meeting when you're trying to convince
the client that a) your product can solve their problems, b) your company is
solid and viable, and c) YOU are an experienced sales professional with many
years in the industry providing solutions to clients, just like them.
One of your primary goals during initial visits with
prospects should be to keep them thinking about why they should buy from you,
instead of why they shouldn't. The best way to do this is to avoid any
objections the prospect may have about you or your product/service. Getting
involved with detailed feature descriptions will almost always raise objections
and fears that your offering is too complex to use or customize. Another major
goal of your initial visit should be to find out as much as you can about what
problems your prospect is trying to solve. Once you understand where their pain
is, you can better direct the proper benefits in their direction instead of
showing them all the detailed features.
A good test to make sure you are on the right track is the
“So What” test. Every time you say something, imagine your customer saying
“So what!” In other words, you tell them something that you think is
important, but the customer says “So what. Why is that important to me”? If
you can’t answer that simple question, then what you told them is unlikely to
be important to them. Here’s an example. I say to you, “Our new underwater
basket weaving system uses molecular, bipolar logic which is faster than the
older framastat switch technology.” You say “So what!” Then I say, “This
system will allow you to double your production without raising your costs.”
You see, it’s the answer I gave you that is the benefit, not the initial
statement. Therefore, you should remember to go to the benefit part first.
Before you ask the question out loud, ask it to yourself and say, “So what.”
Then answer it out loud.
We tend to discuss features first because that’s what we
are usually more comfortable with. It is harder to discuss benefits because we
have to take that additional step to really understand what the benefits are of
a particular feature. Plus, we need to direct the benefits toward particular
prospect needs. Unless we focus on their specific needs and pains, then we can
be discussing benefits they don’t really need. The way to understand their
unique needs is to ask, then listen.
Let’s assume that a prospect is not worried about
production speed. They could not increase the capacity of their plants if they
wanted to. If you tell them that your product can double their production
because it’s faster, it will fall on deaf ears. However, let’s say you ask
them what their problems are and they tell you the production time takes too
long because of all the steps their current system requires. You can now tell
them that your new product can reduce some of the steps in their production
cycle, and thus reduce their production time. You now have their full attention.
Therefore, focus on their needs and pains and direct the benefits to them.
The entire sales cycle should take this into consideration.
It should also consider the human elements of buying. We sell to humans, not
corporations. When it comes right down to it, people buy for emotional reasons,
then justify the purchase later with facts and analytical information. So, be
sure to appeal to their emotional side when presenting benefits. An effective
method for doing this is to make sure you present the value to your customer.
It’s not as important what the product or service costs as it is to increase
the value to the customer. If the customer has a problem that you can solve,
then make sure you understand how much that problem is costing them in lost
revenue, decreasing customer base, increased costs, or similar business
concerns. Then, present your solution with how it can solve these specific
problems and the value they will realize. The cost will become less important if
the value is high.
Here are five Quick Tips to
remember when selling benefits and value to your customers.
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1. Emphasize the Benefits. If you present benefits that your
prospect isn't interested in, they won't be motivated to buy. So be sure to
know what your client is looking for and sell the right benefits.
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2. Put a Price Tag on the Benefits. Once you find out what your
prospect wants, find out what those benefits are worth to them. Will your
product/service save them time? Reduce labor costs? Increase profits? Show
them what problems it can solve and the goals it can help them meet. This
information is also useful after the installation in order to measure the
success of the project.
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3. Focus on Value, not Price. What's most important to the
customer is what they get for their money, not just how much it costs. For
customers who press you for discounts and deals, point out that this may
help them save money initially, but sacrifices in quality will cost more
money in the long run.
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4. Sell to People. Even though the prospect's company has a need
for the product, make sure you show how the decision maker(s) will
personally benefit from it. Then provide them with examples. I once told an
IT Manager that because of the modularity and flexibility of our product, he
can make customizations on his laptop at home and at night after he
spent quality time with his newborn baby, instead of spending late-night
hours at the office tethered to his desk. He really related to that benefit.
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5. Appeal to their Emotion. Paint an emotional picture of your
prospect using your product or service in their particular environment. Help
them to see how pleased they'll be that they won't need to create reports
any more, or that their people will be more efficient and be using their
time more wisely. Remember the last time you bought a car and the sales rep
had you sit in it. He might have kept referring to it as "Your"
car and how well "You" look sitting in it. This is a trivial
example, but nevertheless, it's true that we buy emotionally as well as
logically and analytically.
Selling is hard enough. We must remember not to make it
harder by overwhelming our prospects with features and details. We all do it,
but we must resist the temptation to show the client just how much we know.
There will be plenty of time to do that, once you get invited back. By then, you
could even take them on a tour of the quarry if you want.
Russ Lombardo
President
PEAK Sales Consulting
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