Most small business owners I work with are extremely knowledgeable about what they sell. Down to the nitty gritty details, they know their products and services inside and out… but they just can’t seem to step out of their own shoes when it comes to selling from the customer’s point of view and influencing consumer behavior.
There’s an abrupt disconnect between what we’re (the seller) thinking and saying and what the buyer is hearing and interpreting. And when the miscommunication tips too far, the lost sale turns away, shaking his head, muttering, “these guys haven’t got a clue. There’s no way in hell I’m buying from them.” And we’re left wondering, what more do I need to do to close the sale? Was I misinterpreting consumer buying behavior?
The Answer Is Hiding From You In Plain Sight
Purchasing decisions aren’t based on logic. Even the most meticulous, detail-oriented, rational person defaults to emotion when buying everything from a pack of gum at the gas station, to word processing software for his small business. It’s innate and absolute. The decision to buy is arrived at when the seller successfully satisfies the buyer’s emotional needs.
Appealing to emotion is so simple, yet often difficult to put into practice because it begs an answer to the biggest question of all: why do customers buy from me? What is it about my products and services that really, truly appeal to the buyer?
I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “it’s the sizzle you’re selling, not the steak.” And it’s not the drill the customer is buying, it’s the hole the drill makes. It’s the less tangible attributes, or perceived attributes, of a product that people buy into. Not the cut and dry logic. That’s why brand marketing is so extremely important. Because branding strikes a deeper chord with people.
So, How Can You Apply This To Your Business
Develop a list of features and benefits for each of your products and services, similar to a company SWOT Analysis, but product and service specific. Features are more of the core logic-oriented selling points… which is probably where most of your focus has already been. Features are things like product color, shelf life, technical specifications and size or weight. In the case of services, features are things like experience, services offered and your processes.
Benefits, on the other hand, are the emotional needs fulfilled by your products and services. They fall into the following six categories: desire, fear, comfort, security, pride and satisfaction. Most often, different features of the same product or service will have their own emotional benefits.
Let’s use the aforementioned pack of gum as an example. A feature of the gum might be that it includes a chemical to help whiten your teeth while you chew. The emotional benefit of having whiter teeth would be desire—the desire to look good, to have a beautiful smile, and ultimately for the person to be more attractive and accepted. So in essence, a simple pack of gum that can help whiten your teeth is now, in the eyes of the consumer, a vehicle for upward social mobility, a better career, a better mate and a better life.
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? But, again, emotion, not logic, is the subconscious influence on how and why we buy things. And the same also applies to services and business-to-business selling. Use emotional selling in your marketing and small business branding.
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