Don’t Talk About the Technology! Elevate your sales by focusing on the transformative experiences your product delivers, instead of overwhelming with the nuts and bolts.
There I was, embarking on a quest for a spiffy new laptop, to give my weary five-year-old MacBook Pro a well-deserved retirement. The goal was to boost productivity and lighten the load in my briefcase. How hard could that be?
Instead, Apple showered me with a lexicon that felt more like a software engineer’s midnight musings: M2 processors with zippy cores, dazzling Liquid Retina XDR displays, lightning-fast unified memory, and a graphics haven with high-bandwidth memory integration. Head spinning yet?
I’ve been in the tech industry for a long time and have a solid grasp of all of this, yet I felt like I was caught in a twister of tech lingo. My buyer’s enthusiasm dipped like a rollercoaster off its track.
Yikes! All I wanted was a solution to my problem. As a business advisor who travels a bunch, the keys are practical usability tailored for the way I work and present.
Apple wasn’t making it easy to choose which model was best for me. I’m a major fan of all things Apple, yet it seemed like they had missed the mark this time.
Don’t let your sales story unfold like this!
Outcomes Over Features: You’re probably thinking, tossing around tech terms like lightning-speed processors and retina-ready displays sounds like a winning play. But what if it’s more like trying to sell a fish with a diving helmet? Customers are looking for the catch – not the bait. Imagine offering an experience that aligns with their desires, gently guiding them towards the product that fits their tale. That’s selling dreams. Results and solutions to problems matter even to the most tech savvy buyer.
Skip the Techie Talk: Flood a customer with gigabytes and gigahertz and watch their eyes glaze over like a donut dunked in sugar. But spark an emotional connection, and you’ve got a story that sticks. No one wants a lecture on electromagnetic hocus-pocus; they want a promise of seamless, dependable energy to power their lives. Toss in a little education on why the recommendation makes sense for them and they’re hooked.
Technical Know-How with a Human Touch: Sure, you can dig into the nitty-gritty when needed, but it’s about reading the crowd. Even if you have a product complex enough to make a quantum physicist blink, save the deep dive for those who require the details. Your mission is to be an advisor, understanding the customer’s world and then consulting – be it the CEO with an eagle-eye for ROI or the director of IT.
Let’s be honest, our focus on features and functions can blindside us, but the heart of the sale is not a techie’s checklist; it’s a solution storyline.
And that’s our holy grail: to sell not just a product, but to help people achieve their goals.
Remember, your product is not just a bundle of features; it’s a catalyst for transformation. Your customers don’t just want to know what’s under the hood; they want to envisage the adventures they’ll embark on.
Now think back – when was the last time a product not just caught your eye, but captured your imagination? Hold that thought; that’s exactly what your customers want to feel with every sale.
Ready to transform your sales approach? Your customers will remember and come back for more.
Let’s Go!
Ron