Everybody’s Gotta Sell

No matter where you are in your business cycle, in order to be successful, you gotta Sell. Selling is the connection between all your production and all your customers.

You Gotta Sell.

I didn’t want to sell when I first opened my business. I wanted to rely on the established customer base from the previous owners, and I wanted to rely on our reputation as providers of great and dependable service.

Unfortunately for me, in addition to our established customer base, we had a continuous stream of new customers. Every day, someone new arrived and needed to be “sold”.

Now, people don’t like to be “sold”, but they do like to be convinced that their decisions are correct. It became easier and easier to point out the benefits for doing business with us.

Notice I did not say to point out the PRICE of our services, but the BENEFITS.

Now, the price is mighty important. But if your price is the only thing going for you, then you’d better prepare your exit strategy.

Features Don’t Sell

It is common for a sales-guy to spew out a list of Features of the product. Specs, Colors, Sizes, and the like make up the Feature-set of your product.

But Features don’t Sell.

Features are just noise for the customer until each one is connected to the “why” for them to own. Having a Stainless-Steel Thing-a-floppy doesn’t make the customer swoon until you detail how this Stainless-Steel “Feature” will extend the life of your widget.

THAT’s a Benefit, and Benefits Sell.

Reinforce the Benefits

Selling becomes easy when you can highlight and reinforce the Benefits of doing business with you, or the Benefits of owning your widget, or the Benefits of subscribing to your service. It is Benefits that become part of your Value to the customer. Without more Value than Cost in the customer’s eyes – No-Sale.

So, to be effective, you need to find and highlight every benefit you can think of for your product, service, or business. Benefits come from Features.

Sit – Think – Write…

Once you have your list of Features, work it over in some sort of Priority order. If you could only say one thing about your product or service, what would it be?

Then, for every Feature on your list, think of 2 or 3 or 4 Benefits, or WHY’s the customer should consider this Feature as a Good Thing. It is not the What’s that sell, but the Shy’s.

Now, You’re Selling

With your list of Features and Benefits, you can sell without any formal Sales Training. Any of your employees can sell, too, just by referring to your list. Selling is Easy when you can highlight the Benefits.

In fact, you might even find it fun to work on these lists. You might even discover where your product or service is weak or not competitive, and can adjust to become the Best in your market.

The Best always has the advantage.

What are some of your Successful Selling Tips?

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