Sales TipsYour Prospect Wants Benefits But Which Ones
Sales TipsYour Prospect Wants Benefits But Which Ones
So how do you know which benefits to sell? Answer that question and you can concentrate on the only thing(s) that matter to your prospect. Actually, YOU can't answer that question. Only your prospect can. That means that you must develop the appropriate questions to find the answer. It also means that you cannot take the first answer that you get at face value. Often it takes several questions to get the true answer.
You can't be afraid to ask questions. If you don't, you'll have no idea what your customer wants and without knowing what your customer wants, you cannot help them buy.
Imagine for a moment that you are in the business of helping clients with their tax preparation. You have the opportunity to meet with a busy business owner who gives you "15 minutes" to convince him that he should be your client. Do you go in and lead off with how long your firm has been in business, how many clients you have, how many years of experience that your partners have, etc.?
If that's your plan, you will lose your prospect's attention within minutes. Their eyes will glaze over, they'll soon be thinking about what they must get done as soon as you leave, all the while listening with one ear and nodding at the appropriate time.
Now, we are going to make an assumption here. Based upon the fact that this business owner stipulated that he would give you "15 minutes," we are assuming that you have verified to the best of your ability in your initial interaction with him/her that they are a high D type personality.
So instead of beginning with small talk, which you would with other personality types, you get right into it. But instead of launching into the features or benefits of doing business with your firm, you find out which of those features or benefits are important to your prospect? What if you lead with a question instead? What if you asked, "Mr. Prospect, thank you for seeing me today and congratulations on your decision to entertain new ways of improving your business. May I ask what is the most important thing to you when it comes to your tax preparation?"
Now you know where to begin. As I stated earlier, you'll need more questioning to determine WHY it is most important. Then you can begin to understand his motivation and structure your presentation to highlight how your firm and your service satisfy his why. But for now, you have his/her attention, you have him/her talking rather than you selling and only good can come from that.
Sales TipsYour Prospect Wants Benefits But Which Ones - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Beverly's Website.
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You know the difference between features and benefits. So for purposes of this article, we won't go into the difference. You also know that benefits sell better than features. So wouldn't it be great if we knew which benefits mattered to our prospects? Which ones were the most important? Why? Because you need to lead your prospects to the end result rather than allowing them to travel that road alone. Alone they may take one or more detours delaying their arrival, or worse, they may never get there at all.
So how do you know which benefits to sell? Answer that question and you can concentrate on the only thing(s) that matter to your prospect. Actually, YOU can't answer that question. Only your prospect can. That means that you must develop the appropriate questions to find the answer. It also means that you cannot take the first answer that you get at face value. Often it takes several questions to get the true answer.
You can't be afraid to ask questions. If you don't, you'll have no idea what your customer wants and without knowing what your customer wants, you cannot help them buy.
Imagine for a moment that you are in the business of helping clients with their tax preparation. You have the opportunity to meet with a busy business owner who gives you "15 minutes" to convince him that he should be your client. Do you go in and lead off with how long your firm has been in business, how many clients you have, how many years of experience that your partners have, etc.?
If that's your plan, you will lose your prospect's attention within minutes. Their eyes will glaze over, they'll soon be thinking about what they must get done as soon as you leave, all the while listening with one ear and nodding at the appropriate time.
Now, we are going to make an assumption here. Based upon the fact that this business owner stipulated that he would give you "15 minutes," we are assuming that you have verified to the best of your ability in your initial interaction with him/her that they are a high D type personality.
So instead of beginning with small talk, which you would with other personality types, you get right into it. But instead of launching into the features or benefits of doing business with your firm, you find out which of those features or benefits are important to your prospect? What if you lead with a question instead? What if you asked, "Mr. Prospect, thank you for seeing me today and congratulations on your decision to entertain new ways of improving your business. May I ask what is the most important thing to you when it comes to your tax preparation?"
Now you know where to begin. As I stated earlier, you'll need more questioning to determine WHY it is most important. Then you can begin to understand his motivation and structure your presentation to highlight how your firm and your service satisfy his why. But for now, you have his/her attention, you have him/her talking rather than you selling and only good can come from that.
Sales TipsYour Prospect Wants Benefits But Which Ones - To learn more about this author, visit Greg Beverly's Website.
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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