Category: Sales & Marketing

Small Business Branding: There are aspects of our business life that are challenges. When I blog or when I design or consult, I often come across challenges that only research can address. I am currently investigating podcasts. I want the production to be more than me in front of a microphone discussing branding tips. What about production values? Background music? The intro? All of these concerns are what is known as pain points. In the course of accomplishing something, these are the little irritants along the journey.
When you develop your marketing materials, recognizing your target audience’s pain points and exploiting them, will resonate with that audience. Don’t bore them with simply a list of what you do and how well you do it, but answer the age old question from the mouth of your consumer: “What’s in it for me?” or “How can I profit from dealing with you?”
Let’s say that you’re a bright young management consultant. Your target audience’s pain points might be:
• Industry compliances
• Retaining quality employees
• Training sale staff
• Keeping a tight reign on payroll
• Cross-border issues
…just to name a few.
If you want to get their attention, address what you know to be the biggest pain point of them all. Use the pain point that feels as though you’re hitting their sore tooth with a small metal hammer. Their pain is your gain.

To go back to my pain, (podcasting) – whenever I came across information that addressed one of my pain points, it resonated with me and I investigated that service further. I ignored all others who tried to sell their services with brag notes or fancy slogans, I don’t have the time to figure them out. You might even use your own target’s pain points as the basis of your brand differentiator.
Look at pain point solutions that exist all around you: If you perspire, you use Ban roll-on – if your feet hurt, you use a Dr. Scholl gel insole – if your mortgage is to complicated, ING has the unmortgage. The wonderful thing is, your customer wants you to address their pain points. We all want relief.
In many ways if you don’t use pain points to sell, many customers probably wonder why you exist. Understand their pain and sell them the relief.
They’ll love you for it.

How To Sell The Pain [Small Business Branding]

Buiness Know-How by Tessa Stowe: Selling is all about the whys. There are some very important whys that you want answered and there are some very important whys your prospect wants answered. If you focus on these whys, selling will become a lot easier for you plus it will be easier for your prospects to buy from you.
So what are these whys and why are they so important?
When you are talking to a prospect the whys that you want answered are:
1. The real ‘reason why’ they want this problem solved or they want to obtain this outcome.
You want to find the ‘reason why’ because you need to discover the ultimate outcome they want. If you know the ultimate outcome they want, you will not only increase your chances of gaining a client but you will also probably make an even larger sale. Also, if you think about it, you need to know the ultimate outcome your prospect is looking for before you can propose the solution that is going to give them this ultimate outcome.
2. Why they want this ultimate outcome NOW.
You want to find out why they want this ultimate outcome now as you need to know if there is a compelling reason to take action now. If there is no compelling reason to take action now, chances are high that they will not make a decision now. If there is no compelling reason you will probably be wasting your time, money and resources in pursuing a sale that is not going to happen now.
So just as you have whys you want answered so too does your prospect. The whys your prospect wants answered are:
1. Why should I buy this product or service?
Your prospect wants to know what’s in it for me (WIIFM) if I buy your product or service? What problem does your product or service solve and what outcome is it going to deliver? What difference is your product or services going to make for me? Is there a justification for buying your product or service? Why is it important for me to buy your product or service now instead of later?
2. Why should I buy this product or service from you?
Once your prospect has made the decision that they want to buy a product or service like yours to solve a problem or achieve an outcome, they will probably also think they can buy this product or service from other companies as well. It is at this point they start asking themselves all sorts of questions about you. Are you capable of solving this problem and delivering the outcome? Will you do what you say you will do? Can I trust you? What risk am I exposing myself to if I buy from you? Will I get the outcome I want if I buy from you? Why should I buy from you instead of your competitors?
If you look at your sales conversations and all your steps in the sales process, they really are about finding out and answering these whys. In essence you want to find out why they want a problem solved now so you can know if they are really a prospect. In essence your prospect wants to know why they should even be interested in your products and services and if they are, why they should buy from you. Selling really is all about the whys.
Tessa Stowe teaches small business owners and recovering salespeople simple steps to turn conversations into clients without being sales-y or pushy. Her free monthly Sales Conversation newsletter is full of tips on how to sell your services by just being yourself. Sign up at http://www.salesconversation.com
Selling Is All About The Whys [Buiness Know-How]