Previously we have discussed that we should discover what it is that our prospects actually need before we attempt to market what we have to them. If they have no need for whatever we have, they should not purchase our product or service no matter how great the deal is that we make them, unless they plan to give it away as a gift. Trying to force it on them is a disservice to them and will backfire on us.
We often get caught up in the list
of great features that our product or service has. We know that these features
are so wonderful that everyone will love them and will want them. Not everyone
will feel this way, in spite of what we believe. Everyone may not need
everything that our offering will do or how it does it.
Our prospect may ask, after we
list the outstanding features that our offering has, “So, what’s in it for me?” We
should have already asked this same question before we start marketing to
anyone. We should have put ourselves in the place of the prospect and looked at
our product or service from their viewpoint.
Does the prospect have a need for
our offering; does it provide a solution to that need? What is the benefit of
our offering to the prospect? Will it save the prospect time, effort, or money?
Will it save them manpower that can be utilized elsewhere or not expended at
all? Can it make their day better, easier, or shorter? Does it prevent a loss,
or does it open up a new path of revenue?
If our product or service cannot make their day better, they
do not need it. If our offering has no benefit for the prospect, there is no
need for it in their eyes. We must make them see a benefit to having what we
are marketing to them. We must make them see that what we have for them will
make them money, make their life easier, or make them glad that they purchased
from us.
There must be a benefit for the prospect from buying from us.
If there is not, they have wasted their money and will dislike us so much that
they will tell everyone else to refrain from buying from us, perhaps from being
our networking partner. Do we need that reputation? Is that a benefit for us? I
think not.
Maybe they cannot see their own need and how our offering
can solve that need. Perhaps they think that the money spent with us will not
be recouped through savings in time, effort, and manpower. We must make them
see this gain and make them understand that it all comes down to a plus for
them. That plus must overshadow the expenditure that they made with us.
Everyday we are bombarded by the news of the latest gadgets
all of which have ever-increasing price tags. Do we need them or can we get
along without them? What are the benefits, and what do those benefits mean for
us? We must ask ourselves those questions about our own products or services
before we try to market.
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