Last week I explained how selling features will kill you every time. This was part 6 of my series 8 Ways to Increase Your Price, which is aimed at helping you boost your sales motivation and maximize your price.
(In case you missed the other points as well, you can revisit what it means to believe in what you sell, increase your pipeline, just say “no‘, never enter into a discussion about price and accept that you can’t close every sale).
Here is number 7:
7. Know at least 3 key benefits the customer wants.
It’s only a benefit when the customer says it’s a benefit. Let the customer share with you what they need and desire. When you know at least 3 benefits, you confidently can respond to whatever the customer asks you.
The more you know what the customer is looking for in terms of their benefits, the higher the probability you will be able to close the sale.
The reason I like three is because this gives the salesperson enough flexibility in how to position the proposal with the customer. Many times salespeople will attempt to close the sale as soon as the customer has shared a single need they have. The problem with this is many times the first need the customer throws out is not always their most critical need. Many times it just happens to be the one they’re thinking about right then or the one they feel would be safe to share with the salesperson.
Digging in deep with the customer and getting them to share at least three benefits allows you to likely uncover a significant need that another salesperson may not have been able to uncover.
This is why I say that sometimes we can close too quickly. If we jump to close before we’ve uncovered enough benefits, we likely will leave a significant amount of profit on the table.
When it comes time to close the sale, it is important to key in on the most significant need. However, by having several others, you have a perfect follow-up should the customer not agree to buy/invest on the first one. When the salesperson has multiple benefits, there is also a level of confidence that goes along with it allowing the salesperson to be more confident when they communicate the price.
The final reason why I like three is it gives excellent information to follow-up on after the sale — either as a way of reinforcing the initial sale or starting to plant the seeds for the next sale.
So, you tell me — can you name three benefits your customer actually wants? If not, that’s your challenge (if you want to maximize profit, that is).
Copyright 2011, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
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