This post was originally going to be called 5 Sales Mistakes You Can Stop Making Right Now and the 2 Things You Can Start Doing Instead. It was getting really long so I decided to break it up into 5 seperate posts. These topics come up all the time when I’m working with clients.
Mistake Number 1 – It’s Not About You
Well meaning but misguided sales people think that selling is about their product or service or company. It’s not now and it never was. It’s about the customer. Always.
No one really cares how long you’ve been in business or the company mission statement. People are not interested in your degrees or certifications either. The only thing they want to know is what you can do for them. It’s so important,I’m going to say it again.
What can you do for your customers?
How can you help?
What problem does your product or service solve?
What issue can you improve?
How can you save them money, time or other resources?
All of your sales conversations (or emails, letters, messages) should be centered around these topics. Yes, explaining how your products or services work may be important, but ONLY if you can link it to why your client should care.
Tell me why I should do business with you – based on how I will benefit.
Here are a few examples:
Our surround sound systems come with gold plated cables. Well, that’s nice but it is a feature – an attribute of the product. The benefit is enjoying crystal clear sound – movie theatre quality at home.
Our life coaches are certified and have over 7 years of experience. We follow a 5 step system with metrics for evaluation. The benefit is a guaranteed way to insure results and an easy to use process. Years of experience is helpful but only if you can tie it to why it matters to the client.
We only use the finest ingredients and no preservatives. Again, this is a feature. The benefit (why you should care) is healthful food that tastes great.
Rx: Write down the 4 or 5 major benefits of your product or service, then convert them into benefit statements.
This is hard for lots of people. We are so used to talking about features (the what, the how) and it’s more important to make sure the WHY is clear.
The primary reason anyone buys anything is because it makes them feel better. How does your product or service get to that point? I’d love to hear the benefits you come up with for your business.
