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General Sales
Last Updated: Aug 15th, 2005 - 16:11:08
The problem with product knowledge is that it gets in the way of effective selling when you misuse it. How can you misuse product knowledge? Let us count the ways:
You misuse product knowledge when you ramble on about features that a prospect could care less about. Remember, while it's important to know all you can about your product or service, you must present it selectively. Everything you present that connects with a prospect's hot buttons raises the value of your product but everything you present that is not important to the prospect raises the price.
You misuse product knowledge when you present features but don't convert the features to benefits. Remember: people buy benefits! They buy safety, not anti-lock breaks; they buy comfort and convenience, not an eight way power seat; they buy dependability and peace of mind, not a stainless steel exhaust system. By selling benefits you have a chance to create mental pictures in your customer's mind that helps move them toward the sale:
For example, watch how this salesperson takes an ordinarily boring feature presentation for a remote entry system and sells the benefits of convenience and safety, while creating positive mental images in the prospect's mind:
Mr. Prospect, the Camry has a remote entry system. What this means is that you click this button right here and the doors are unlocked and waiting for you when you're ready to enter it—which will really come in handy on rainy days or those times when you're loaded down with packages won't it? And you said your wife will be driving the car a lot won't she? Then you'll both enjoy peace of mind when the car is parked in a parking lot after dark and you don't want to waste time fumbling for your keys. I know her safety is important to you isn't it?
You misuse product knowledge when you skip the human element of your presentation, building rapport and establishing common ground, in your haste to rush right in to the technical part of the sales process.
You misuse product knowledge when you use it to knock your competitor's product or service rather than making professional, logical comparisons that so clearly show your product's superiority that you don't have to stoop to beating up the competition.
You misuse product knowledge when you forget that most prospects still buy people first. All the product knowledge in the world won't bail you out of a situation where the customer doesn't like, trust or believe you. After all, in most businesses there exists a walking, talking product knowledge dictionary that sells little or nothing because he or she is violating the points presented in this article.
About The Author: Peak performance author, columnist, trainer, speaker and radio show host for sales, management and leadership, Dave Anderson walks the talk as a leader. He has led some of the most successful retail automotive dealership in the country—the most recent dealer group he led had over $300,000,000 in annual sales—and now gives 150 presentations, workshops and speeches annually on sales and leadership development around the globe.
Dave is author of over 50 training programs on sales, management and leadership including the books, Selling Above The Crowd: 365 Strategies For Sales Excellence and No Nonsense Leadership: Real World Strategies To Maximize Personal & Corporate Potential. Dave authors a monthly leadership column for Dealer magazine, publishes a monthly leadership newsletter and hosts the weekly radio talk show, Dave Anderson’s Learn To Lead Hour. His books, cassettes, videos, newsletter, column, web articles and live presentations pull no punches and provide real world strategies for peak performance in business and in life.
Dave is a member of the National Speaker’s Association and is a featured speaker at conventions worldwide.
Dave is president of the Dave Anderson’s Learn To Lead and LearnToLead.com, a cutting edge web site providing hundreds of free training resources to thousands of subscribers in over 30 countries.
Contact Information:
The Dave Anderson Corporation
P.O. Box 1119
Los Altos CA 94024
Phone: 800-519-8224
www.learntolead.com
dave@learntolead.com
© Copyright 2003 by SalesVault.com
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