Most small business owners we help aren’t getting the sale or even maximizing the sale because they sell wrong. Rather than focusing on the advantages of their products over the competition or the benefits to their customer for buying this product or service, they focus on the features of their products and services. For example, we have archival framing. We have the latest technology available! We build salt water swimming pools! That’s nice, but what’s in it for me as a customer? And why are you any better than the guy down the street who also sells salt water pools? Tune in to this week’s Small Business Marketing Ideas podcast to learn how to sell your products and services better.
The features are what you sell – photographic services, organic socks, haircuts, hand knit scarves, teeth whitening. These features just get you in the game. At a very high level they tell a consumer if you sell what they are looking to buy. They don’t get you the sale. Yet this is where most business owners focus their sales efforts and they shouldn’t. The features should be emphasized the least when you’re talking to your customers, whether it be in person or on your website, in emails, in advertisements or direct mail.
So what do you say then? That’s where the advantages and benefits come in.
The advantages are what put you ahead of the competition. It’s how you explain why your organic socks are better than regular socks you can buy anywhere. It’s why your haircuts are superior to Supercuts’ haircuts. Clearly communicated advantages help your customers make a decision. You need to tout these clearly and often.
Finally, the benefits take it a step further and help you close the sale. When you talk about the benefits in your sales messages, you need to focus only your clients. Tell them what’s in it for them. You get heirloom quality artwork that you can pass on for generations to come so your grandkids’ grandkids understand what their great great grandma’s family looked like years ago.
In this week’s episode of the Small Business Marketing Ideas podcast, Sarah and I talk about how you should use features, advantages and benefits (what we like to call FAB statements) to increase your sales. Tune in now and be sure to subscribe (it’s free) so that each time a new episode is released, it automatically appears in your itunes!
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