What's your sales message?

When a client asks you, "why should I buy your _________"?
Whatever you say next is what I call your sales message.

Mine is….

Q. "Why should I buy your _________"?
A. I’m not sure IF you should.
The way I work is I’d like to understand YOUR situation so that I can determine if what I offer provides you a solution that we both feel comfortable with, ok?

If they say yes then they’ve bought me and my intent and that’s the best first step I could take.

What do you guys use?

Originally Posted by Snowman When a client asks you, "why should I buy your _________"? Whatever you say next is what I call your sales message. Mine is…. Q. "Why should I buy your _________"? A. I’m not sure IF you should. The way I work is I’d like to understand YOUR situation so that I can determine if what I offer provides you a solution that we both feel comfortable with, ok? If they say yes then they’ve bought me and my intent and that’s the best first step I could take. What do you guys use?

I don't get asked that question. When people ask me what I do I say, "I help people buy or sell manufactured homes".

Do you think the Sales Message is the same as your Value proposition? If someone asked me, what are 3 reasons i should buy from your company, I considered that my Value Proposition.

Susan

I think your sales message should be what you truly believe your product does for people. The questions in the buyers mind is: why should I buy from you? Why should I listen to what you have to say? What's in it for me?

Once you can answer these 3 questions, you have your sales message. Even though the customer will not ask you these questions most of the time, they are thinking it in their minds.

The best way to deliver your sales message is to identify and illustrate the problems of what you are selling solve, and communicate them to the prospect.

You can do this with marketing as well as face to face selling. Always ask questions of your prospect, and explore what their needs are. When you know what your customers want, you can deliver it to them. Don't try to sell them something they don't want. The secret of successful selling is knowing what your customers want, educating them on how they can benefit, and educating them on how to buy.

Customers need to know how they will FEEL once they have your product, and you can show them how others have felt, and allow them to understand ulimately how they will feel once they have your products.

People want to buy, but they don't always like to be sold.

Focusing on the customer, and their needs and wants, is the way to go in my experience.

Snowman

Really good question. My take on it is that customers (in the industry I work in anyway, which is automotive) find it hard to work out how they're going to decide between the 3 or 4 products that they've shortlisted to look at.
So what they're actually asking for is some thoughts on what's important and what can they compare.

Originally Posted by Timwelch I think your sales message should be what you truly believe your product does for people. The questions in the buyers mind is: why should I buy from you? Why should I listen to what you have to say? What's in it for me? Once you can answer these 3 questions, you have your sales message. Even though the customer will not ask you these questions most of the time, they are thinking it in their minds.

Good thoughts, and I agree. I think that the second two questions are actually more important than "why should I buy from you?" People can tell when something is sincere... and sufficient answers to those second and third questions will end up being very important.

Originally Posted by Timwelch I think your sales message should be what you truly believe your product does for people. The questions in the buyers mind is: why should I buy from you? Why should I listen to what you have to say? What's in it for me? ...Focusing on the customer, and their needs and wants, is the way to go in my experience.

For many customers, their needs and wants are often decided by emotions.

When I owned a specialty themed gift store in a mall, I trained my employees to realize that if someone walked into the store, the interest in the product was a given. It was their job to step that interest up to an emotional desire, and then to close by making it an immediate "need". In all great honesty all we really sold was permission to act on an already established desire.

Looking at pre-owned manufactured homes, there is a given desire to make the sales process as quick and easy as possible for both the buyer and seller.

I'll base my sales message on fulfilling that desire. I'll take what is often preceived as an time-consuming (thus expensive), emotional headache, and turn it into a time-saving, extremely cost-effective, headache-free experience. Again, all I'll really be selling is permission to act on an already established desire.

Pam

Do you guys think this is the same as a value statement?

I think they are different , my sales message is the WAY I do something and a value statement is WHY you should do it with me isn’t it?

Snowman

Isn't a sales message an offer and a value statement a claim?

Originally Posted by Snowman When a client asks you, "why should I buy your _________"? Whatever you say next is what I call your sales message. Mine is…. Q. "Why should I buy your _________"? A. I’m not sure IF you should. The way I work is I’d like to understand YOUR situation so that I can determine if what I offer provides you a solution that we both feel comfortable with, ok?

Originally Posted by Snowman Do you guys think this is the same as a value statement? I think they are different , my sales message is the WAY I do something and a value statement is WHY you should do it with me isn’t it? Snowman

Snowman,

Your sales message is what I like to refer to as a "foot-in the door" message. (I feel that "IF" statement creates subconscious emotional desire.) If you've done your homework, you've already determined that the potential customer would benefit from your product.

It doesn't matter whether the customer should buy from you or anyone else if the product isn't something they need or want. Although I do understand that pre-qualifying for the salesman, sometimes happens before the customer realizes they want or need a specific product depending on the industry.

After you get your foot in the door, and ask appropriate questions to determine both logical needs and emotional wants, then you can properly adjust a value statement to reflect those needs/wants.

Pam