Customers Buy Benefits

How to get – and keep – your customer’s attention with benefits.

Why should I care? What’s in it for me? On the surface, those two questions sound very selfish. However, in sales, the answers to those two questions are the key to getting and maintaining your customer’s attention. Today’s fast-paced environment in your hospitals and clinics requires that you get to the point as quickly as possible. Your competition requires that you create a sustainable competitive advantage that sets you apart.

Your sales approach can be that advantage, and a few small changes at critical points in your sales presentations will assist you in acquiring your customer’s attention at the onset,
and maintaining that attention as
you delve into the details.

Starting the conversation

In previous columns, I’ve stressed the importance of a solid decision goal to open your business conversation. I’ve also pointed out the three criteria that go into that process:

• Confidence
• Invitation to Neutral
• For Decision

It’s critical that your confident statement contains a benefit that’s important to the specific customer. Heartworm prevention is always a great topic to demonstrate how to incorporate this suggestion into your regular interactions with your practices.

If your client values compliance, your confident statement could be “Many of my hospitals similar to yours have seen a significant rise in compliance rates by adding preventatives to their wellness regimen.”

If your client would like to reduce their inventory, your confident statement could be, “You will see a dramatic decrease in inventory dollars by concentrating on one brand plus a backup.”

If your client is trying to grow their practice, your confident statement could be, “My clients have experienced a 50% growth in heartworm revenue by implementing an automated reminder system for their customers.”

In each case, you are confidently addressing something the client values, and I’m positive you will get their undivided attention because you told them why they should care.

Then what?

To maximize the impact of the follow-on conversation, it’s important to continue to emphasize the benefits to that decision-maker. Again, let me give you some easily adapted examples using preventatives.

• HeartGard® Plus is a real beef chewable (feature) preventative (function) that dogs love to take (benefit).
• Advantage Multi is a special formulated (feature) preventative (function) that will benefit your forgetful clients (benefit).
• ProHeart 12 is a once-yearly dose (feature) of preventative (function) that eliminates the need for monthly client compliance (benefit).

The only reason you mention features and functions is to set up the benefits. Nobody buys features and functions – they buy the benefits, i.e., what they will have as a result of this decision.

These examples of confident statements within a decision goal as well as the feature, function, benefit examples provide you with easy-to-adapt templates that you can use and apply to your company, products, and services.

And as a result, you will have created your own sustainable competitive advantage by selling the benefits. Which, if you’re paying close attention, described the feature, function, and benefit of this column. Sell the benefits.

Photo credit: istockphoto.com/Chainarong Prasertthai