Have you ever been the victim of an uneducated salesperson or business owner who pushes how awesome their company or product is, but not the benefits of their product or service? Yes, I have too. Here’s the deal. If you want to sell more in your small business, you need to figure out how to highlight the benefits of your product or service in the sales pitch.
Everyone listens to the same radio station WIIFM – “What’s in it for me”? People typically make buying decisions based on three things; is it cheaper, better or faster. To make your sale urgent to them, focus on a solution. Savvy business owners know how to leverage benefits and value to make a sale.
Here are some quick tips to highlight your benefits in your sales efforts.
Features vs. Benefits
Features describe how amazing a company thinks its products are. It talks about what the product does, how many different ways, if its bigger, faster, and cleaner than the competitor product. Often, customers really don’t care.
Benefits focus on solving a problem for the customer. When you put the customer at the center of the equation that’s when you win. They don’t care how much better you think your product is than the competition; they want to know how it will help them save time, money or effort. In other words, it focuses on solving their problem.
Know Your Customers Pain
Understanding your target customers pain is key to hitting the mark with your educational content, videos, and direct sales appeal. Stories sell.
Can you authentically connect with your target customer because you were once just like them? Figuring out how to talk to prospects in your marketing communications, landing pages, and email copy makes them know you understand their plight and that you care.
If you don’t know the problem that your customers have, that is a problem. You are not selling a product or service; you are selling a solution. If you sell brooms, your product doesn’t sweep by itself; it works best on hardwood floors. It helps customers keep their home clean. You need to get your customer to see themselves using your product to solve the problem.
Focus On Key Benefits
When you are excited about your business, you can go on-and-on about all of the benefits it provides customers. That’s good, but you better stick to your most valuable and key benefits, or you could lose people.
Focus on the top three of five benefits of your product/service that your target customer cares about the most.
How can you learn what they care about the most? Send prospects or customers a brief survey (no more than 5-7 questions) to help you gather data about what they really need. Consider these questions:
- What is your biggest challenge with XX?
- What would it be worth to you to fix this problem?
- How much would you be willing to pay for a solution?
- What resources have you been using already?
Leverage the Information
Now that you know more about the problems and your customer’s needs, you know how to approach them in your marketing efforts and develop your pricing strategy.
Start by educating your audience and demonstrating your expertise. You can do this through video (which converts better than any other type of content), blog posts, checklists, emails, and social media. Share your content everywhere. Engage a graphic designer to help you with artwork to diversify your posts and use social media scheduling software to share your marketing campaign. Here’s are some ideas you can use:
- Video Series: 2 min or less. For mobile 10-15 second videos are best.
- Blog Posts: 2-3 posts a week
- Checklists Free download offer on your website to build your email list
- Email Sales Funnel: Engage a professional copywriter to build a sales funnel to nurture your prospect customers who show interest in your solution.
- Social Media: Pick 1-2 platforms where you know your focus audience is active to focus your efforts.
The process doesn’t happen overnight. You will need to be patient. When you’re building a brand and selling your product or service, it takes time to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Develop relevant content consistently. Keep your content focused on your customer’s pain and the benefits that come with your solution and you will draw your target customer to you.
Happy hunting.
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