Sell me this pencil!
Were you ever being interviewed for a job when the interviewer said to you, “Sell
me this pencil?”
Whether this ever happened to you or not, what did or would you say?
Your first inclination might be to think about all the features and benefits the pencil
has to offer and respond with such things as,
“Well, this is a fine pencil. As you can see it’s a #2 which is the most
popular type of pencil used in post-industrial businesses today. And, it’s
sharp, which means you can draw very small pictures while maintaining
clarity. Also, look at this large eraser at the other end. This means you
can eradicate any mistakes you might make while writing or drawing. You
can’t do that with a pen (actually, you can with the newer erasable pens,
but who cares). And look at the bright yellow color. This pencil will match
nearly 80% of all the earth tone shirts you wear as it extends above the
rim of your pocket protector.”
Sounds like a whole lot of features, doesn’t it? It also sounds like a whole bunch of
useless information. None of these points actually address the customer’s
(interviewer’s) needs. Why not? Because you never stopped to ask him what his
needs were.
You got sucked into the trap that many sales people get caught in.
Often times a prospect will ask you to tell him or her about your product/service at
the beginning of your initial meeting. Many a sales person will jump at this offer,
thinking that this is, after all, why you are meeting, so the prospect can learn all
about your offerings. So when you are asked to tell your prospect about what you
have to offer, you are in heaven and start spewing product features all over the
prospect’s desk. This is not the best approach. Of all the features that your
products or services have to offer, exactly what percent actually fits the ultimate
needs of your customer? I don’t know the answer to this because it depends on
what you’re selling. But I do know it is well under 100%. Chances are it is under
50% of all the features that they really need or even care about. The amount
depends on the complexity of your offerings, but it is rarely anywhere near 100%.
Hence, your goal is to first find out what the prospect’s requirements are so that
you can match the right features to their specific needs.
In the case of the pencil, even a commodity product such as this can be targeted
to specific and individual needs.