“How To Make Your Product The One Product Your Customer Wants To Buy”

It’s called “Specificity”. Your customer sees your product as the one specific to their needs and wants.

When you have a large selection to choose from, you can make the argument that you really are giving the customer the one (out of possible thousands) solution to their problem.

But what if your selection is limited?

(I’m going to assume here that several different products or models really will work for the customer. If they need a hammer, don’t use this to sell a screwdriver)

One of the reasons we sell so many vacuum cleaners in our store is that we ask a series of questions before we show a vacuum cleaner.

These questions serve several purposes;

To let the customer know that we care that we are showing the right product for them

To set ourselves up as experts in the area that we are serving them.

To increase the customer’s price expectancy.

To eliminate the thought that they should go shopping after they see us (how many of us go shopping after a doctor prescribes medicine? Nobody)

To find out what they will respond to in the sales process.

Enough?

I came across this idea reading a book (back in 1980, I think) by Tom Hopkins. It’s Title is “How To Master The Art Of Selling”.

Tom told of a card trick where you know the card, and you get the other person to pick your card. (pick your product. Get it?)

The very short version is a series of questions like;

“Pick black or red”.

They pick “red”

If you card is a red suite, then no problem..if your card is black, you say “And what does that leave?”

They say “Red”.

In every choice, if they are right, you just say “OK” ...if they are wrong, you just say …”and that leaves the___”. So in the other person’s mind...they are never wrong.

Then you narrow down the choices to number cards vs face cards, high vs low, and odd vs even. Eventually you get to your card. And the other person thinks they picked it. Magic.

It took me years to figure out how to use this idea in selling. Here’s how;

I ask questions about their situation. Here is a sample of the questions I ask (remember, I sell vacuum cleaners. You can adapt this idea to any product.)

“Were you thinking about uprights or a canister?

Are attachments important to you?

Do you have pets? Do they shed?

Do you have carpeted steps?

Anyone in your home have allergies?

Do you have mostly carpet or mostly bare floors?

What are you using right now?

What do you want different in your next vacuum?

Is there a certain price range you have to stay in?”

By the way, gang, this qualifies as another $1,000 idea.

Let’’s go through each one. You’ll see why in a minute……….

Were you thinking about uprights or a canister? I honestly don’t care. I just want to know what section of the store to take them.

Are attachments important to you?

Again, just gathering information. If attachments aren’t important, I may gloss over that part of the demonstration.

Do you have pets? Do they shed?

If they say “yes”, I’ll mention how each part of the vacuum cleaner is used to get up pet hair. If they don’t have pets...I won’t mention it again. You can change the application of the features too.

Do you have carpeted steps?

If they do, I’ll show them how to vacuum their steps easily and quickly. f they don’t have steps...I won’t bring this benefit up again.

Anyone in your home have allergies?

If they do, I’ll show all the filtration, and how it will help get rid of particles in the air. If nobody has allergies, I’ll quickly mention the filtration, but not go into great detail.

Do you have mostly carpet or mostly bare floors?

Again. I just want to know what I should show them. If it’s all bare floors, I’ll show a machine that has a “bare floor vacuuming” feature. If it’s all carpet, I won’’t mention the bare floors benefits again.

What are you using right now?

Is it a $49 vacuum? A $1,200 vacuum? Lightweight? A gift? These things may come in handy later.

What do you want different in your next vacuum?

If they say “I hate a heavy vacuum. What do you have that’s lightweight?” Don’t you want to know that?

Is there a certain price range you have to stay in?”

Some dealers don’t like to ask about price. I see their point of view. I ask, because I want to get an idea of what they think “a lot of money” is.

Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes for a minute. Someone just asked them lots of questions. That person must be trying to find the right product, right? Now they are not selling, their advising.

Now during my actual product demonstration, I make sure I remember everything the prospect told me, and I make sure I cover everything that applies to them…….and gloss over (or just don’t mention) everything that does not apply to them.

Remember the magic card trick? That’s what we’re doing here.

And at the end of the product presentation, they feel that the product is the single best idea for them….and they can’t imagine going anywhere else.

And isn’t that what we all want?

This even works if you only have one product to choose from. When I was selling in prospect’s homes...I only had one vacuum cleaner. It had to fit their needs & wants. So you can use this technique on just one product, also. You just need to ask questions that determine which features to show, and which application of those features. (instead of which product).