Simplifying concepts and processes is an art form, one which pays huge dividends. By reducing or removing complexity, you create clarity and focus.
Almost no other field has so much nonsense and complexity associated with it as selling does.
There’s no real “trick” to it. We don’t need any voodoo or magic to sell our products and services. When you strip the sales process down to its core, it basically comes down to this simple 3 step formula:
The point of all your sales and marketing efforts should be to communicate these three points in the clearest and most compelling way possible to your chosen target market.
Many people never get past step 1 in their sales process. They try to shout the loudest about themselves and their product or service just like vendors in a crowded market:
“We’ve got tomatoes, we’ve got tomatoes,” “We’ve got the best tomatoes, we’ve got the best tomatoes,” “We’ve got the cheapest tomatoes, we’ve got the cheapest tomatoes.”
You get the idea.
Shouting loud to get attention is a strategy, but in a crowded market where everyone is shouting about their wares, it’s difficult and expensive to get noticed.
Telling people who you are and what you’ve got is the first step. But what your prospects want to know most is what it’s going to do for THEM.
Communicating this clearly and concisely is an art form and a vital step in the sales process.
Paint a picture of the result they’ll get from the product or service you offer and how it will take them from pain to pleasure.
It’s incredible the number of salespeople and marketers who stop at step two and never actually ask for the sale. Often they are uncomfortable about what feels like being pushy.
I certainly don’t advocate doing the hard sell but there’s a fundamental truth – people want to be led. And part of your role as a salesperson or trusted advisor is to provide that leadership.
A call to action provides your prospect with a logical final step and answers the question, “so what now?”
By omitting a call to action, you’re setting up an easy sale for your competitor after you’ve done the hard work of educating your prospect about what you offer and what it will do for them. Ouch.
Make sure your sales presentations and your marketing copy have a strong call to action.
Some people think marketing is a substitute for a good offer. And sure you can fool a few people with tricky marketing or sales puffery, but you’ll have mediocre success in the long run.
Properly structuring your offer is a critical success factor. This is often where most beginners fall over. They don’t structure their offer properly and then they don’t market to the right people.
They’re either selling the wrong stuff altogether, or they’re putting the right stuff in front of the wrong people, or the wrong stuff in front of the right people.
For an offer to work effectively, there needs to be a well thought out match between message and market.
Keeping this simple three-step process in mind will help you maximize the yield of your selling effort and identify any holes in your current sales or marketing material.
Happy selling!
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