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Here's What I Got...

Written by: Sandy Schussel

Article Overview: The best professional sales are made not from talking about Advantages, but from talking about Benefits.

Here's What I Got...

One of the internet marketing "gurus" I follow recently summed up internet marketing in three sentences:

Here's what I got...
Here's what it will do for you...
Here's what I want you to do next...

It struck me that this simple--if grammatically incorrect--triplet is at the core of everything I coach professionals and their sales teams on in their effort to attract clients. Let me explain:

Here's what I got. Once we've talked about choosing a clear target market for their services, the next question is, "What services or products are you selling?" These are the Features of your offering.

This car is equipped with an Acme Soundaround fifteen-hundred jigawatt stereo.

Here's what it will do for you. This is where you talk about two types of results you can get from the Features: Advantages and Benefits. Advantages are the results anyone might get. Professionals who don't sell their services well stop with these. Benefits are the ultimate results that this particular client is looking for. An Advantage looks something like this:

If you buy this car with this sound system, you can expect the clearest, most beautiful sound you've ever heard.

But one person might want that clear sound because he wants to follow the guitar riff of his favorite guitarist while he drives. Another might want it because he is irritated by noise all day and needs something soothing in his car. These are Benefits. The best professional sales are made not from talking about Advantages, but from talking about Benefits:

Having that beautiful, clear music will give you what you told me you were looking for in your new car. It will soothe you, so that you're at your absolute best when you arrive at each appointment.

The only way to know what clients consider Benefits is through thoughtful, caring questions about what they need and why that need is important to them.

Here's what I want you to do. This is the call to action; what the guys in the loud plaid jackets call "the close." Contrary to what they might tell you, the way you word your call to action is just not that important if you've helped your prospective client understand, through your questions, that he or she really needs the Benefits of what you're offering. You just have to tell them what they need to do next:

Would you like to get started with the paperwork?

Use this triplet when you're thinking about your practice or business and ask your prospective clients lots of questions. Then, show them the Advantages and the Benefits of the important Features.

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Article Tags: acme, appointment, beautiful sound, coach, contrary, guitar riff, guitarist, internet marketing, marketing gurus, music, new car, plaid jackets, professional sales, sentences, target market, triplet



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