A guy bought a new refrigerator for his house. To get rid of his old refrigerator he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: “Free to good home. You want it, you take it.” For three days the refrigerator sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too untrusting of this deal. It looked too good to be true. No one saw the value he was offering. So he changed the sign to read: “Fridge for sale $50.” That night someone stole it.
Our customers want three things: great products, great service and low price. We cannot give them all three and make the profits we want and need. To lower the selling price you must lower either the quality of jewelry you sell or the service you give. And of course when you lower your quality and/or your service the profitable customers go to your competition.
In the Houston Astrodome one thousand salespeople were lined up against the west wall. Directly across the Dome on the east wall were lined up one thousand customers. Then, every ten seconds, they walked toward each other until they were half the previous distance apart. A mathematician, a physicist, and a successful businessperson were asked, “When will the salespeople and the customers meet?”
The mathematician said: “Never. There will always be a minute space between them.”
The physicist said: “In an infinite amount of time.”
The businessperson said: “When the customers perceive there is value when buying from the salesperson.”
All you have to do to increase the perceived value of your jewelry and services is help the customer discover the benefits you provide. Not features, but the BENEFITS.
Features are your products and services and the components of which they are made. The BENEFITS are what the customer gets from the features.
This is where you can really out-sell your competition. It is estimated that over eighty percent of salespeople in all professions sell features not BENEFITS. Do not be one of them.
The easiest way to sell BENEFITS is to give the customer the feature and then tell them the BENEFIT.
Here is the test that shows you if you are selling BENEFITS or features. If the customer can say, “So what?” or “What’s in it for me?” you are not selling BENEFITS.
When I was seven or eight years old an encyclopedia salesperson knocked on our door. When my mother answered the door, with me standing beside her, the salesperson said, “Want to buy encyclopedias?” He was selling features. She said, “No.” A few weeks later an encyclopedia sales professional knocked on our door. When my mother answered the door, with me standing beside her, the sales professional said, “Ma’am, would you like your son to be at the top of his class in school? Would you like him to maybe earn a scholarship to college?” He was selling BENEFITS of owning the encyclopedias. Mom bought the encyclopedias.
Your customers will buy your products and services, at the prices you ask, when you show them the value, in the form of benefits, they will receive.
Bob Janet – Sales consultant/trainer, speaker, author of “Join The Profit Club” combines 40 plus years as owner/operator of professional, retail, manufacturing and service businesses with his unique teaching and storytelling ability to motivate, educate and inspire business professionals of all levels and all industries for increased sales & profits. Contact Bob at 704-882-6100, or e-mail Bob@BobJanet.com.
