So you have one of the best products on the market and a website with lots of traffic, but you don’t have any sales and no-one is enquiring. What’s gone wrong? One of the more common reasons for this is that your copy is not right: you are selling the product, not the solution.
It is pretty much the first thing you need to learn as a salesperson – and every business owner is a salesperson.
From The Customer’s Point Of View
Most customers don’t just buy a product – they do research or buy solutions. Think about selling cars. Most customers don’t care about the latest engine development when they buy a car – they are looking for a car that will get them from A to B on the least gas. They want to know that they aren’t going to spend a fortune running the car and that it suits their lifestyle.
Another example would be software. Think about social media automation software. Generally speaking, the marketing around such products isn’t about the algorithms or programming which power the product. Instead, it is concentrated on the benefits to the customers; namely that the products will save their customers time.
Differentiate Your Message
Research has demonstrated that the average consumer sees approximately 250 marketing messages per day; this includes television, online and in print, a lot of information for anyone to take in. If all the information they see is about product specifications, then it would be no surprise if consumers confuse one product from another.
Another consideration is that people make purchases because they can’t build or supply the item themselves. In most cases, they don’t know about the specifications or how the product is built. Therefore, stating that a car has ten cylinders, or 8 cylinders might not mean anything to your customers.
However, customers do understand how a challenge is affecting them. They know they are struggling to commute to work on public transport, or social media is taking up too much time. They are looking for solutions to resolve their issues, so will be more receptive to messages geared towards solving these problems.
Educate Rather Than Promote
Another important step in selling solutions rather than products is the idea of education. You need to start informing your audience about industry news and solutions that can help them pass particular pain points. This helps to build trust between you and your audience.
You can educate people in many ways, both online and offline. If you don’t have a business blog, start one as soon as possible. It helps with both your website SEO and building trust.
You can also setup events and public speaking opportunities. These are great if you want to build a local business.
To know what challenges your audience are affected by, look at your sales software. What search terms are directing them to your website? What search terms are they using on your website? What content have they read the most? This can tell you what pain points your customers are struggling with.
Give Value To Your Solution
Finally, your solution should have an assigned value. A promise to a customer is like a contract, and they are going to be more trusting of a business that promises to reduce costs by a certain amount or improve customer retention by so much, and then fulfils it. This valuation gives context to your product and demonstrates how it will help the customer and spur them into action.
Conclusion
Selling your product specifications is not going to achieve much. Customers don’t want products; they want solutions. So concentrate on why your customers are looking to make a purchase and convert your sales materials and scripts based on those attributes.
What are the benefits of your business’ products? Do you use them in your content?
Let us know in the comments below.
