Don't Assume Your Prospect Understands The Features And Benefits Of What You're Selling

Just about any salesperson will agree that you have to know your products features in order to sell it.  You probably know all the particulars about how your product was put together, the details of it's construction, the type of finish.  If you sell and intangible, you're probably aware of all the aspects of the service you offer.  You also know how each of these features benefit the prospect.  In fact you know it so well you may tend to assume that the prospect  knows it too.  That's where so many sales people go wrong and it's where they lose sales.   Because prospects don't understand how these features would benefit them, and that's why they are losing so many sales.  If they did, they'd probably have bought  the product already.  The good features of your product or service must be visualized and presented in terms of specific benefits to each specific customer.  Until you make the prospect see what these benefits mean to them, they just don't have any punch.  How can a feature of you product or service help the prospect solve a problem, lead a better life, save time, or make a bigger profit?  These are the kinds of things prospects are interested in.  In order to talk about your products features in terms of customer benefits,  you need to know what they are. One way to get this information is to observe how your present customers use your products and to ask them what the main performance features are from their point of view.  Then when you talk to prospects you'll be able to point out how each feature will benefit them.  But don't talk about benefits indiscriminately.  Find out about each prospect's particular interests and needs first, then show how your product will meet them.  The more you know about your products potential benefits, and the more you know about the prospects needs, the better the chance you'll come up with something to interest them.  You'll be prepared to talk about any particular benefit they need.