Except for a very small percentage of technically minded men no one gives two shits what your product is. It has the newest motor, fastest processor, was made by two hundred year old monks living on the moon. No one cares, this means nothing to the average consumer. This means nothing to the consumer period. Advertising if it doesn’t bring back more money than you spend is an expense. And advertising that costs you money is a sure way to tell that your company or idea is about to go down the drain. Something that neither you nor I want.
I want you to be successful hence why I write. And one key to successfully marketing your product whatever that product may be is to not go on and on about you product. Stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the customer. After all they are the ones paying your paycheck. You may be very proud of the German engineering or the high quality of the product. And you should be, however that doesn’t mean your customers are giving to give two shits about it.
Not What Your Product Is, But What It Does
You already know that you must give value and helps others. That is the entire goal of business. Once you have that down you then need to demonstrate to your prospect exactly how your product is going to help them and be worth their money. You do that by showing the customer what your product is going to do for them. Let me repeat what your product is going to do for them. Not what it is, or how great it is, or how many experts use it but what exactly it is going to do for the consumer. Specifically in what way it is going to make the life of the consumer easier and/or more productive.
Remember people are focused on what your product can do for them. It use in their life. Will it make them prettier? Will it make them more powerful? Will it give them more time in their day? Whatever it is going to do show the customer. Tell them what their life is going to be like when they use your particular product. Tell them explicitly what the product is going to do for them, how is the product going to serve them. Not what it is, they could care less about that. But what it does, in particular what it does for them.
Benefits Vs. Features
A critical concept to understand in regards to sales is understanding the difference between benefits and features which is essentially what I was talking about above. A feature is something your product has or is. For example a feature of a brand new computer may be some advanced type of hardrive. Whereas a benefit is what that feature does for the consumer to make their life easier/better.
So instead of computer A has a new Gigatron (bear with me) processor making it 5x the speed of previous models instead put with computer A’s new Gigatron processor you can play top of the line games and download a movie at the same time with no delays. So hopefully that analogy helps you get the just of benefits versus features. People do not care about the features of a product what they care about is the benefits. What is does for them.
Focus On The Customer
You must always focus on the customer. Not on yourself, not even technically on your product, but on the customer. Your product is only useful insomuch as it can improve the lives of the customer. How is this product going to improve the life of the person who buys it? What is it going to do for them? And am I going to show that to them in the most effective way possible? You must show the customer how your product is going to help them. Use emotions and show don’t just talk.
Make them envision actually getting the benefit from the product. If its a product about retiring early make them feel that. Remember people purchase through emotions that they later justify with facts. People are not moved (meaning sold) through logic, reason, or facts but rather through emotions. Which later they use the logic, reasons, and facts to justify their purchase with.
Summary
Focus on the customer, they are the ones who put money in your wallet. They are the ones who decide whether you eat or not. Use benefits not features. Focus not on what your product is but what it does. What does it do for the consumer? How does it improve their lives? Show this to them. Use emotions and make them actually feel getting the benefits. Make them feel what your product is going to do for them.
Click here to read the rest of the sales 101 series.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.
-Charles Sledge
