Sell What Your Customers Don’t Realise They Need
One of the most important things to realise in marketing is that people buy with their heart, even though they try to rationalise with their head.
Let’s try this exercise with you being the customer. Let’s say that you need a new laptop, so you walk into a store that has a range of laptops laid out in a row on the counters. What is the first thing you look at?
A. You read each label to see which has the latest chip technology
B. You move from one to the other testing out the speed at which they save a document
C. You move down the line looking at which one looks the best
For most of us, it would be C, right? Be honest!
I am quite certain that before you walked into that store, you rationally thought about what you needed, and may even have put a list together about the size of storage, the type of software you would be using, the fact that you wanted something reasonably light, and a laptop that was up to date and speedy.
Yet, confronted with a row of laptops, your first attraction was based on what it looked like.
So, the secret of marketing is to understand what your customers actually need, not what they say they want. What they say comes from the rational part of their brain, but you can attract them to your product with what their emotions say.
Watch this video lesson to see how to decipher what the customer really wants.
Instead of selling the features of your product, sell the benefits.
Better yet, sell the feelings that these benefits will give your customer.
So let’s go back to the exercise about the laptop. If I were serving you and watched you look over the laptops on display, I’d first ask you what you were looking for.
This gives you the chance to let your rational brain have a role and allows you to tell me about the size of storage, the speed that you need, and the fact that you needed something robust because you fly a lot and use it on board.
I’d then show you a number of laptops that fit the bill, telling you what the features were that met the requirements of your rational brain. So I’d suggest one with a large solid state 1 TB drive, and tell you that the manufacturer builds it upon an aluminium body for strength.
Now that I’ve allowed you to satisfy the rational brain, I steer you towards the latest, slim bodied, red aluminium model with black accents, and I’d suggest to you that these were designed to be whipped out and start quickly, just right for working on the plane. This allows you to envision yourself working with this sleek, shiny model impressing everyone sitting beside you.
The fact that it costs the most will no longer be a problem!
So, try it out.
Look at each of your products and list the benefits that each of their features brings to the table. Then think of the emotional needs that these benefits can meet for the customer.
Sell those needs and you’ll find you convert a lot faster.
If you want to learn about more marketing tools, go to teikoh.com and look at all the video training on marketing and sales. While you’re there, make sure you register to get these video lessons sent directly to you so that you can be fully equipped with the right systems and tools to grow your business.
Great explanation Teik, this post is motivating! Thank you.