Page 296 - Duct Tape Marketing

280 Part V: Winning and Keeping Customers

Selling redefined

Forget terms like high-pressure, low-pressure, hard-sell, or soft-sell. For that
matter, forget about selling and concentrate on helping your prospect to buy.

Your role in the process is to know and believe in your offering, to persuasively
communicate the value your product provides, to lead the prospect through
the decision, and to facilitate a satisfying transaction.

Preparing for the task

Selling is the art of matching product benefits with customer needs or desires.
Before you start, be ready with the following information:

ߜ Know your product. Imagine every question a prospect might ask and
arm yourself with answers, linking each product fact to a customer ben-
efit. Remember, people don’t buy features. They buy benefits or, better
yet, the personal outcomes that benefits deliver (see Table 8-1 in
Chapter 8).

ߜ Know how to explain your offering in a sentence. Condense everything
you know into a brief explanation that will grab interest and cause the
prospect to think, “Hmm, this will benefit me.” Don’t resort to jargon.
Think of the difference between We offer aesthetic laser services and We
restore the look of youth and health using the most advanced laser, med-
ical, and therapeutic treatments.

ߜ Know your prospect. Visit Web sites, read company brochures, talk to
mutual associates, and do any research necessary to arrive armed with
prospect knowledge, including who in the organization has the authority
to say yes to your proposal.

ߜ Know what message your prospect is ready to receive. Especially if
yours is a new or unusual offering, you may need to help the prospect
see the need before asking for the order. (In the 1960s, Wisk detergent
built a success story by establishing Ring around the collar as a personal
embarrassment before suggesting the purchase of liquid soap as the
solution.)

Or maybe your prospect is aware of the need but doesn’t see your offer-
ing as the best solution, in which case you’ll want to present your advan-
tages before asking for the buying decision. Or perhaps the prospect
requires information to share with those who will influence the decision.
Or maybe some incentive is necessary to spur action. Determine your
prospect’s mindset and tailor your presentation accordingly.

ߜ Know your sales presentation goal. Sometimes your goal will be to make
the sale and launch a celebration. More often, your aim will be an incre-
mental step — to prompt the prospect to request a proposal, to schedule