One of the biggest mistakes that some businesses or sales people do is selling their products and services without highlighting the value of the outcome. They are good at promoting their product, it’s characteristics, it’s ingredients and the price but they don’t highlight the value of the outcome for their customer.
Now what do I mean about the value of the outcome? I am talking about the priceless experience your customer will have when they consume your product or service.
For example, Air new Zealand does a really great job at highlighting the value of the outcome. Simply stated, Air New Zealand is in the business of selling plane tickets and plane rides to other places around the world. However, if you go onto their website, you rarely see images of planes, instead they highlight the value of the outcome by using captivating images of tropical beaches in Samoa, the clear blue waters in Niue, bike riding and enjoying the glorious landscapes of some countries.
By highlighting the priceless experience, value will become the primary factor whereas price becomes secondary.
Here are my 2 simple tips for helping you highlight or increase the value of the outcome for any product or service you sell, which will ultimately help persuade your customers to buy.
1. TELL A STORY TO HELP THEM VISUALISE THE VALUE OF THE OUTCOME
Just like the Air New Zealand website, images are a powerful way to get people to imagine and measure the value of the outcome, but sometimes you will need to use your words to help people visualise that outcome. People are sensual beings and will believe something more if they can see it with their eyes or visualise with their minds. This is where verbal story telling comes in handy because story telling helps the customer visualise what you are saying, however you need to be strategic in what words you use to help paint the visuals for them.
One of the best ways to start story telling is to use the words like “imagine”. This is a powerful word because the word ‘imagine’ invites customers into another space, to be open minded, to give you permission in influencing what they see in their minds. Once you have the customer in this space of mind, tell a story that will help them see the great experience of using your product or service.
"the word 'imagine’ invites customers into another space, to be open minded, to give you permission in influencing what they see in their minds."
2. MAKE IT RELEVANT AND MAKE IT PERSONAL
When you highlight the value of the outcome, make sure it is realistic and something that will be appealing to that particular customer or audience. This means you may need to do a bit of research to understand your customer first and what their passions and interests are. You may use social media like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or even just typing their names in the Google search bar to see what comes up. In business, we do not call it stalking, we call it research. You may even have other sources or data to understand your customer’s behaviours and interests. With so much accessible information online you are bound to find something about what your customer’s are interested in, if not, ask someone who may know your customer better than you do.
What if you don’t have time to do your research, what if you just meet them right then and there?, In these cases, this is where asking good questions and listening is really important. Be careful in how you ask probing questions because you may give the wrong impression. You may want to prepare good questions in advance if situations like this come up because if you ask the wrong questions, you will get wrong answers.
Another tip is to use your eyes to scan their environment (e.g. room, office, work space), what they are wearing, or even the colour of their clothing because it can tell you a lot about them. For example, if they have a family portrait on their desk, you may want to first say and ask “What a beautiful photo, is this your family?”. This question may have them open up and share a lot about what matters most to them.
The idea is, once you have found something the customer is personally interested in or really cares about, the goal is to try leverage that personal interest by relating it to the experience of consuming your product or service. Not only will this make it both personal and relevant to the customer, but significantly increase your chances of persuading them to buy.
"the goal is to try leverage that personal interest by relating it to the experience of consuming your product or service."
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