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Add You - Selling with Tailored Benefits
Often I am ask by marketing students to compare different types of advertising a marketing. Once, I was ask a Case Study Question; Which is better Direct Mail Marketing or a Bigger Sign on your business? Well, I said I will answer your question if you give me more details.Such as where would I be sending these direct mail pieces? Was my business on a major thoroughfare? Where did my customer base currently come from? What is my target market? What type of signage is out there now and what is the sign made out of?Well the student who asked the question gave up and withdrew they question so I began to carefully construct a creative scenario. Okay, my business is a car wash on the busiest street in town and 80% of my customers come from a 10-mile radius, which spans 20,000 people in two zip codes plus one more zip code of PO Boxes.My current sign is wood and decaying, the new city sign ordinance implemented last year due to lobbying by the Chamber of Commerce allows for
She added, looking at my facial reaction. Clever girl as she was looking for some form of interest in my face.
“And, as might know, our traveller’s cheques have a refund feature so that you could have them replaced really quickly if you lost them…or they were stolen.”
She said with a low pitched voice. She looked at me…I looked at her. She looked at her computer and added…
“And I see Mr Archer, you rarely call into the branch. Our traveller’s cheques can be ordered on line, so you can buy them alongside your nor
IntroductionStructuring techniques help overcome limitations of human problem solving. Effective structuring analysis techniques logically organize the elements of a problem to help us analyze each element separately, systematically and sufficiently. In this article you will learn one of the most powerful problem solving tool to solve real-world problems. It is called as Problem Restatement.Problem statement that defines a problem must take causes of a problem into account. It must distinguish between problem and symptoms of the problem. The quality of the solution depends on the quality of the problem definition. This is due to the fact that analysis of a problem leads us in a certain direction towards a particular solution. Therefore defining a problem in terms of its symptoms will lead to a poor solution to the actual problem.So it is important that we understand the difference between causes of a problem and symptoms of a problem. A problem statement that takes i
Anyone who has been involved in selling, or has read a book on selling will know about benefit selling. It is as old as Rock ‘n Roll, first being taught in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. We need to move with the times and into the 21st Century. Here we must still benefit sell but now we must really concentrate on making those benefits fit the customer just like a tailored suit.
When do we do this?
This is the important bit actually…not the selling of benefits as most salespeople can do that side.
Three things must happen first and by the way, these three things can happen over a 2 minute conversation or a 2 hour interview. We can only benefit sell:
1. Once we’ve relaxed the customer
2. Once we know exactly what our customer’s needs and wants are.
3. Once we know what kind of person they are
The other day I had to call into my bank to pay in a cheque. I very rarely call in to the branch these days as I usually use their internet site and the cash machines. There I was at the counter expecting a very quick transaction and I would be out of there.
The cashier took my paying in book and cheque and got on with the transaction. As she got on with it, she looked up at me and smiled.
“Do you know this lovely weather is getting all my customers talking about their holiday? Have you got yours booked?”
“Yes we have – we’re going to France again this year…and looking forward to it to.”
“May I ask Mr Archer…(looking for my non verbal agreement)…how do you take your spending money with you?”
“We use the French cash machines…they’re very convenient.”
“They are, aren’t they, and especially as we have such an enormous network of machines to use. I’m glad you use them. Have you experienced any problems or downsides?”
“Not really – sometimes the machine is a drive away and you do have to plan to pick up the cash. Oh and also you tend to carry around large amounts of cash.”
“Oh I see. Can I ask…what else worries you about taking money abroad? “Uhm…Being cut short I suppose, if you lose your wallet – that really would be a nightmare.”
“Have you considered our Travellers Cheques?” she asked, “Ours can be used in shops, supermarkets, restaurants without the need to cash them in. For you, Mr Archer, that would mean you wouldn’t have to make a special journey into town to use a cash machine.”
She added, looking at my facial reaction. Clever girl as she was looking for some form of interest in my face.
“And, as might know, our traveller’s cheques have a refund feature so that you could have them replaced really quickly if you lost them…or they were stolen.”
She said with a low pitched voice. She looked at me…I looked at her. She looked at her computer and added…
“And I see Mr Archer, you rarely call into the branch. Our traveller’s cheques can be ordered on line, so you can buy them alongside your norm
The way in which you behave as a manager and the approach you take will have a marked effect on your ultimate success or failure.Having a range of approaches and styles of behaviour gives you more flexibility. It increases your options – and your chances of success.Natural StylesMost managers have a natural style of influence which they prefer to use whenever possible. More flexible managers also keep in reserve a fall back style, used when the preferred style doesn’t achieve the desired results.However, there are at least eight identifiable styles of influence – not including aggression, manipulation or force!Because you are influencing a wide range of people, proficiency in a wider range of styles will ensure more success. Step outside the comfort zone of your natural style and enjoy greater success by practising new ways of influencing.However, do think carefully which influencing style has the greatest chance of succeeding. Varying you
When do we do this?
This is the important bit actually…not the selling of benefits as most salespeople can do that side.
Three things must happen first and by the way, these three things can happen over a 2 minute conversation or a 2 hour interview. We can only benefit sell:
1. Once we’ve relaxed the customer
2. Once we know exactly what our customer’s needs and wants are.
3. Once we know what kind of person they are
The other day I had to call into my bank to pay in a cheque. I very rarely call in to the branch these days as I usually use their internet site and the cash machines. There I was at the counter expecting a very quick transaction and I would be out of there.
The cashier took my paying in book and cheque and got on with the transaction. As she got on with it, she looked up at me and smiled.
“Do you know this lovely weather is getting all my customers talking about their holiday? Have you got yours booked?”
“Yes we have – we’re going to France again this year…and looking forward to it to.”
“May I ask Mr Archer…(looking for my non verbal agreement)…how do you take your spending money with you?”
“We use the French cash machines…they’re very convenient.”
“They are, aren’t they, and especially as we have such an enormous network of machines to use. I’m glad you use them. Have you experienced any problems or downsides?”
“Not really – sometimes the machine is a drive away and you do have to plan to pick up the cash. Oh and also you tend to carry around large amounts of cash.”
“Oh I see. Can I ask…what else worries you about taking money abroad? “Uhm…Being cut short I suppose, if you lose your wallet – that really would be a nightmare.”
“Have you considered our Travellers Cheques?” she asked, “Ours can be used in shops, supermarkets, restaurants without the need to cash them in. For you, Mr Archer, that would mean you wouldn’t have to make a special journey into town to use a cash machine.”
She added, looking at my facial reaction. Clever girl as she was looking for some form of interest in my face.
“And, as might know, our traveller’s cheques have a refund feature so that you could have them replaced really quickly if you lost them…or they were stolen.”
She said with a low pitched voice. She looked at me…I looked at her. She looked at her computer and added…
“And I see Mr Archer, you rarely call into the branch. Our traveller’s cheques can be ordered on line, so you can buy them alongside your nor
If you operate in a market where there are one or two prominent players - perhaps many times larger than you are - it's very easy to get into the mindset that all you can do is chip away around the edges rather than take them on head-on. The natural assumption is that if you do take them on head-on either they will simply wipe you out with predatory pricing or the like or that you need massive amounts of finance to be effective to do so. It’s then very easy to convince yourself that it's simply too risky and a lot safer to stay as you are.Well it's not true! – the secret is to not only be bold but also innovative and, as Michel Robert put it in his book “Strategy Pure & Simple", force the competitors to play in your sandbox rather than playing in the theirs.To illustrate the point let’s have a look at three European companies that have each grown from nothing to major players in industries where there where massive, dominant successful competitors such that they now have
The cashier took my paying in book and cheque and got on with the transaction. As she got on with it, she looked up at me and smiled.
“Do you know this lovely weather is getting all my customers talking about their holiday? Have you got yours booked?”
“Yes we have – we’re going to France again this year…and looking forward to it to.”
“May I ask Mr Archer…(looking for my non verbal agreement)…how do you take your spending money with you?”
“We use the French cash machines…they’re very convenient.”
“They are, aren’t they, and especially as we have such an enormous network of machines to use. I’m glad you use them. Have you experienced any problems or downsides?”
“Not really – sometimes the machine is a drive away and you do have to plan to pick up the cash. Oh and also you tend to carry around large amounts of cash.”
“Oh I see. Can I ask…what else worries you about taking money abroad? “Uhm…Being cut short I suppose, if you lose your wallet – that really would be a nightmare.”
“Have you considered our Travellers Cheques?” she asked, “Ours can be used in shops, supermarkets, restaurants without the need to cash them in. For you, Mr Archer, that would mean you wouldn’t have to make a special journey into town to use a cash machine.”
She added, looking at my facial reaction. Clever girl as she was looking for some form of interest in my face.
“And, as might know, our traveller’s cheques have a refund feature so that you could have them replaced really quickly if you lost them…or they were stolen.”
She said with a low pitched voice. She looked at me…I looked at her. She looked at her computer and added…
“And I see Mr Archer, you rarely call into the branch. Our traveller’s cheques can be ordered on line, so you can buy them alongside your nor
After all of the late nights concepting, all of the arguing with your Art Director and your Associate Creative Directors, your Creative Directors and all of the account people and the media people and the head of the agency, and the fellas who vacuum the conference rooms late at night, the great news is you sold a television commercial!The bad news is... it reeks. And you know it.But chin up...because while you may have sold a piece of you know what...you don't have to deliver it that way...at least not without a fight.Listen, clients could care less about creative integrity...if the commercial gets the phones to ring and the cash registers to open...that's the way it is.And yet your job and your entire career hinge on whether or not your work is judged to be creatively 'good.' In effect, as an ad agency creative, you have to serve the clients, AND your agency. (No one said this would be easy. And it's not.)It's a delicate act. And you'll have to know w
“They are, aren’t they, and especially as we have such an enormous network of machines to use. I’m glad you use them. Have you experienced any problems or downsides?”
“Not really – sometimes the machine is a drive away and you do have to plan to pick up the cash. Oh and also you tend to carry around large amounts of cash.”
“Oh I see. Can I ask…what else worries you about taking money abroad? “Uhm…Being cut short I suppose, if you lose your wallet – that really would be a nightmare.”
“Have you considered our Travellers Cheques?” she asked, “Ours can be used in shops, supermarkets, restaurants without the need to cash them in. For you, Mr Archer, that would mean you wouldn’t have to make a special journey into town to use a cash machine.”
She added, looking at my facial reaction. Clever girl as she was looking for some form of interest in my face.
“And, as might know, our traveller’s cheques have a refund feature so that you could have them replaced really quickly if you lost them…or they were stolen.”
She said with a low pitched voice. She looked at me…I looked at her. She looked at her computer and added…
“And I see Mr Archer, you rarely call into the branch. Our traveller’s cheques can be ordered on line, so you can buy them alongside your nor
What is FHAFHA or Federal Housing Administration is a branch of HUD or Housing and Urban Development that works through local mortgage lending agencies to give Federal mortgage and loan insurance for those who wish to own a home or do home improvement projects.It is a government-own corporation that was established under the National Housing Act of 1934 to promote better housing standards and conditions.FHA aids first-time buyers and those who would probably not be able to pay the required down payment for conventional loans through insuring mortgage to private lenders. It also ensures loans for buying mobile or manufactured homes.It also assists in providing low-cost houses for rent through insuring loans land developers and builders who make or improve apartments and other multifamily housing developments.Generally, FHA aims to make available sufficient home financing system by providing insurance mortgages and to make the mortgage market as stable as
She added, looking at my facial reaction. Clever girl as she was looking for some form of interest in my face.
“And, as might know, our traveller’s cheques have a refund feature so that you could have them replaced really quickly if you lost them…or they were stolen.”
She said with a low pitched voice. She looked at me…I looked at her. She looked at her computer and added…
“And I see Mr Archer, you rarely call into the branch. Our traveller’s cheques can be ordered on line, so you can buy them alongside your normal on-line banking. That would be easy for you wouldn’t it?”
She was good this cashier, even a testing close at the end. And what she said made sense and it appealed to me. “Yes I will; thank you for bringing it to my attention.”
The cashier did the three things and the last one, knowing the kind of person I was, she observed from the computer records, so the last benefit was tailored to suit the kind of person I was. All very clever, so let’s find out a little more of what she did
How to Sell Product Benefits
The trick here is to keep it simple and short, especially where the customer can’t give you much time. So you can order the cheques using the website Many people use the acronym FAB, which always reminds me of that 1970’s ice lolly.
• Feature
• Advantage
• Benefit
First find a feature of your product which is something that it does. Think of anything right now around you. The computer lets you play songs, for example. The light above you shines out a 100 watt beam. The mobile phone takes calls from all over the world.
These are just features, things your product does. If it had packaging, then it would “tell you what it does on the tin”.
Remember our cashier – she spoke about travellers cheques being used in shops, having a refund policy and being able to be bought on line. Next we need to think of an advantage of this feature and some features have several advantages. The computer’s ability to store songs means you can save space by not storing CDs, you can listen to all your music at anytime whilst working, you can buy more songs on the internet…and so on. Now this is where some salespeople go adrift with benefit selling. They get carried away and excited about the good things around their products. And they know them off by heart and they rattle them out with gusto, given the opportunity.
Now I store all my CDs on my computer, like many others of you. But I still keep my CD collection stored in my house and I never buy music downloads, preferring to buy my own CDs and rip them onto the computer. So only 1 out of those 3 advantages appealed to me. It’s this shotgun gun approach that is so dangerous. Blasting out a mass of pellets so one or two might hit the pheasant is very time consuming.
Rather find one advantage that you know would appeal.
Which brings us onto benefits. The oldest US West Coast radio station…WIIFM…broadcasting just to you. It’s rather a clich? now but still relevant. WIIFM – what’s in it for me.
Think of what the customer really wants and how this advantage will work for the
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