With every sales conversation that you have, there’s a key benefit that your prospect is looking for. This is the one thing that your potential customer must be convinced of before he’ll buy from you.
As such, your task is to discover exactly what this key benefit is, and then to show the prospect that he will undoubtedly enjoy this benefit once he owns your product or service.
Now, perhaps you’ve heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 Rule. The pattern underlying this principle was discovered by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, and it says that 80 percent of results, outputs, and effects flow from 20 percent of the effort, inputs, and causes.
And on a related note, as it applies to your sales efforts, many times a 90/10 ratio is in effect. In other words, as much as 90 percent of the purchasing decision will hang on just 10 percent of the actual features and benefits that the prospect looks forward to enjoying by using your product or service.
Your goal, then, is to find this critical 10 percent, that one ultimate benefit or result that’s more important to your prospect than all of the other benefits put together.
Once you’ve accomplished that, though, if you talk too much about the features and benefits that are in the bottom 90 percent of importance to your prospect, you may actually hurt your chances of earning the sale. You see, even if your product is the top-of-the-line option in the bottom 90 percent of reasons why the prospect would buy from you, they very likely will not persuade him to go ahead with your offer.
But, if you focus most of your presentation on the top 10 to 20 percent of benefits which your prospect desires the most, and help him realize that he will certainly get these benefits sooner and more easily by using your product or service instead of any other, then earning the sale becomes much easier for you.
And this brings us to a simple, yet powerful technique that’ll help you find this “hot button,” which is the ultimate benefit that your prospect desires from using your product or service.
So, how do you uncover the hot button?
Simply ask, especially when the prospect is hesitating, one of the following three questions:
- Bruce, if you were ever to own this product [variation: choose this service] at any time in the future, what would it do for you that would lead you to go ahead and make it yours at that time?
- Grant, what would you absolutely need to feel confident about in order to go ahead with this offer?
- Chris, if there was no cost involved and you could have this product or service for free, would you take it?
Now, with this third question, if your product has any value at all, the prospect will likely answer, “Well, sure. If it was free, I’d take it.” Then you ask, “And what would it do for you that would lead you to make it yours?”
Then remain silent.
You see, in asking any of the three questions, since you‘ve made it a hypothetical inquiry, the prospect will often answer freely, without holding anything back.
In other words, it’s almost as if the hot button will slip out of your potential customer’s mouth. And from here, it’s your responsibility to help him understand that he will unquestionably get the benefit that he longs for if he goes ahead with your offer.
Again, with every product or service that you offer, there’s a “hot button,” or a key benefit that it provides. If you’re speaking with a legitimate prospect for what you’re selling, there’s something about your offer that the person really wants to have and enjoy.
And if you can find out what this benefit is by asking insightful questions and listening carefully to the prospect’s response, while also assuring the prospect that he’ll definitely get it, then your chances of earning the sale improve dramatically.