If you sell one idea, one package, one program, one service, one product….or even just a few offers, this will apply to you. If you sell 1,000 different items, it will not apply to you.
This is the single smartest thing I have ever implemented in my own selling. Nobody does it, and it will absolutely shoot your sales closing percentage through the roof.
Ready? Here is the two step process to perfectly match your offer to what the prospect is thinking they need. How to make your offer look like it was absolutely created to perfectly fit that buyer…personally.
This first step will be a little time consuming, a few hours, and therefore almost nobody will do it. But if you do…your sales will shoot through the roof. I know, because that’s what implementing this idea did for me.
I call it “The Three Lists”. I have no idea where I got this idea….but if you do it, it’s power will become brain dead obvious to you.
First, take a sheet of paper (it’s better to write it down than type it) and list every single feature your offer has. I mean each small individual feature. If you sell a lawn mower, don’t just say “Sharp blade”…write “Sharp steel blade”, and “curved steel” and “heat treated”….every single feature. Break it down. When I was selling a single vacuum cleaner in people’s homes, I listed about 120 features. I’m not kidding.
Now, take the second few sheets of paper…and for every feature you listed, write down a benefit to the customer. What does a sharp blade [I]mean[/I] to the customer? If you sell life insurance, what does each provision in the policy mean to the customer? How do they benefit? Some features will have multiple benefits. List them all. Write then all longhand….on paper. When I did this for that one vacuum cleaner I was selling, I think I got 300 benefits.
The third list is actually two lists, but they are very short. List all the reasons you can think of (from the customer’s point of view) that the customer should buy from [I]you[/I] specifically…and not another person selling the same thing. And now list all the reasons they should buy [I]today[/I] and not tomorrow. You may only get a few reasons on each of these last two lists, but it’s important.
Let’s pretend you are one of those rare people who have actually done what I suggested. What do you have now?…..
You now have a complete understanding of every possible reason someone should buy what you sell…from you…right now. You have those reasons from the customer’s point of view. And all those reasons have now been seared into your mind to be recalled whenever it benefits you.
Now….the second part of this? The part where the right features and benefits will be shown to the buyer, to perfectly match your offer to them?
It’s in the qualifying part…before the actual presentation. You ask all the questions you need to know to then match the benefits you choose with the prospect’s image of what they want.
For example, in my business of selling a vacuum cleaner, I ask the following questions;
1) Do you want to vacuum carpets only, or carpets and bare floors?
2) Do you prefer upright or canister models (and I ask if they know the difference)
3) Do you have pets that shed?
4) Allergies?
5) Carpeted steps?
6) What are you using now?
7) What about that vacuum do you want changed in the new one?
8) Is there a price range you need to stay within?
Of course, you can translate this idea to any business, these are just the questions I ask my customers.
Here’s something most people overlook…if they say “No” to a question, I just don’t bring it up again. “Do you have pets that shed?” And they say “No”…
I don’t ask why…I don’t mention pets again. Why? Because it doesn’t apply to them at all. Only talk about what applies to them.
Here is a short video where I talk about that more.
Let’s say that you have listed 50 features and 100 total benefits…How many do you mention? Only the ones that apply. For example, in my own selling, maybe only 5 features really apply to that buyer. So I talk about the five features and (let’s say) 10 benefits they give the buyer.
To the buyer, your offer now perfectly matches their image of exactly what they want.
What about all the other features? They are free….bonuses….but I don’t talk about them, unless asked.
Now, if you actually have a different offer that more closely matches what the buyer has told you…show that product…because it will be a more obvious match.
This method only works if the benefits they see from you are worth more than the money you are charging. In other words, if I’m only showing them 5 features out of a possible 50…those 5 features have to be worth much more to the customer than the price I’m charging. You have to play fair. And these ideas only work, if you are offering a great value.
What keeps the prospect from now shopping? They have found something the perfectly matches what they were looking for. And this is where asking all those qualifying questions comes in…
By asking qualifying questions, you show that you are really trying to match them with what they need, rather than just what you want to sell.
This is why doctors almost never hear “I’m going to shop around”. They ask questions, show concern, exhibit expertise, and make a recommendation. And that’s what you are doing here.
