Just knowing the
features and benefits about our products and services does not guarantee
sales. To sell our products and services we must be able to tell stories
and create pictures in the minds of our customers to excite their imagination.
A story can either be dull and uninteresting or it can come alive. To
put imagination into your sales story and increase your closing opportunities
answer the questions below.
Get out the list
of your product and service's persuasive features and benefits to your
customers. If you don't have a list make one. Next to each feature and
benefit put the answers to the questions below. (A feature is the characteristic
about your product or service and the benefit is the result)
- What's the most
dramatic statement I can make about this feature and benefit?
- What's the most
arresting visual presentation of this feature and benefit to set
a customer thinking about it?
- What's the most
searching question I can ask about this feature and benefit to
set a customer thinking about it?
- What are the
most interesting success story or sales examples I can give
to back up the claims I make for this feature and benefit?
- Which are my
best, most impressively written testimonials, the ones most likely
to get attention either because of the person giving the testimonial
or of what it says.
- What is the
most dramatic action I can perform to hold and impress my customer
while dealing with this feature or benefit?
- What is the
most compelling logic I can find in relating this feature and
benefit to others?
- What is the
most effective demonstration I can make of this feature and
benefit?
- What customer
participation can I devise, in this feature and benefit so that
my customer becomes part of the act?
- What practical
test can I suggest for proving the validity of my claim for this
feature and benefit?
To further increase
your opportunities and kick start some life into your business, ask
yourself, your staff and your customers these questions about your product
and services:
Can the products/services
be put to other uses? Can it be adapted? What else is like this? What
other ideas does this suggest? What could we copy? What could be modified?,
Given a new twist? Changed in color, meaning, sound, motion, odor, form,
and shape? Any other changes possible? Can it be magnified? What can
be added? More time? Greater Frequency? Stronger? Higher? Longer? Shorter?
What can we substitute? What else instead? Other ingredients? Rearrange?
Change the schedule? Reverse it? Combine it? Different Purposes?
Remember that you
only get one chance to make a good impression. By putting some "zip"
into your sales presentation you'll close more sales and see your business
skyrocket to the top!