Dear Friend,
In my last update, I emphasized the importance
on your cart of suggesting potential uses of your
products to your customers.
Although it may be very obvious to you how
someone might use your products, it's not always
as obvious to prospective customers.
***
One way to share the potential uses or your product is to simply list them off.
It does this....
It does that...
And so on...
It's certainly one approach.
However, this approach can come off sounding extremely 'salesy'.
Remember the old slicer/dicers sold on TV?
'It slices, it dices, it makes MOUNDS of julienne fries....'
Very 'salesy.'
People have a tendency to resist any obvious efforts to sell to them.
One of the most effective ways to sell is to tell
STORIES about how people use your product.
When you tell a story, your customer identifies
with the characters in the story and forgets about
the buying decision.
And the stories will suggest uses for your products
that customers wouldn't think of by themselves.
***
For example...one holiday season, I sold an add-on
item on my heat pack cart called Earz.
These Earz kept your ears warm. They were like ear
muffs without the straps.
Because they were an add-on item, we didn't show
them to everyone. But here in frigid Minnesota it was
good add-on item.
This particular week, one of my college student
salespeople started selling these Earz like gangbusters.
He was selling as many as the rest of my staff
combined.
***
Finally I asked him what he was doing.
He told me he was used the same 30-second quick
script everyone else was using. But before asking
the customer to buy, he added a quick story.
After the mini-script, he would continue on...
'For example, I just pop these on my ears in the
morning on my way to class so that I can keep my
ears warm... without messing up my hair.'
'That way when I get to class, my hair's in place,
and I still look pretty for the girls!'
And then gave a sly smile....
I burst out laughing.
And so did most of his customers.
Instead of feeling the pressure as to whether to
buy, they were disarmed by his charming story.
The story painted a picture of how he used the
product. And made it easier for customers to
substitute their own use, in place of Brian's.
***
The potential for using stories in your sales
presentation is unlimited.
However, you don't need to tell a ton of stories.
Just one or two to get people to loosen up, and
think about how they can use the product.
***
Simple suggestion, rather than simply listing the
potential uses of your product, tell stories that
illustrates the potential uses.
These stories will help customers relax, and help
them more easily picture themselves using your
product.
And they'll be more likely to buy. Which is the
real benefit for you.
Best,
 Brady Flower
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