Several years ago, I was conducting an interview with a salesperson at a client company to learn more about how they were messaging their product. This man, we’ll call him Sean, did not want to be talking to me. Most of my questions were met with a short, snarky response.
Me: What are the top three features of your product?
Sean: I don’t sell on features.
Me: That’s great! What we prefer, actually. But if you had to list your top features, what would they be?
Sean became less prickly as the interview went on, but not three minutes after telling me he didn’t sell on features, he made the following statement. “If someone doesn’t value data, I can’t sell to them.”
What did I say? “Oh, why not?” What did I want to say? “Oh, Sean, Sean, SEAN! Nobody values data. They may value what the data can help them uncover, e.g., where they are losing money. They may value how the data makes them feel, e.g., safe, because they know harmful chemicals aren’t in the environment. But data, just plain data—that’s not a value. (And before you say, but maybe Sean was selling to data scientists who really do value data? A. No, they don’t, and B. Sean was selling to schools.)
SHOULD YOU TALK ABOUT FEATURES?
We talk about the curse of knowledge a LOT at Maestro. It describes the fact that, once we know something, we can’t imagine what it’s like to not know it. Sean thought people valued data because his brain had already made the connections to all the things data could help him and his clients with. Classic curse of knowledge.
A feature is a characteristic or attribute of a product or service. Our product collects data. That’s a feature. Oh, but it collects so much data! Still a feature. Please listen to me carefully. Nobody cares about your features.
Should you talk about features? No. In order to uncover what people really care about, imagine somebody asking (ideally with the caustic disdain of a teenager), “So, what?”
SHOULD YOU TALK ABOUT BENEFITS?
This product can collect so much data. “So, what?” Oh, well, it can tell you the exact temperature of your freezers. Ah, now this is starting to sound like something I might be interested in.
A benefit is a positive outcome for the customer. Our product can tell you the exact temperature of your freezers. That’s a weak benefit. Sometimes you have to go through several “so, whats?” to get to the actual benefit. Our product collects data. So, what? It can tell you the exact temperature of your freezers. So, what? It will alert you when you need to move your ice cream to another freezer before it goes bad. That is something that could be impacting a prospective client.
Should you talk about benefits? Maybe. But even benefits don’t get us to what people really care about. How do we get to that? Keep asking the magic question. “So, what?”
SHOULD YOU TALK ABOUT VALUE
“So, what that I know when to move the ice cream?” The ice cream won’t go bad, so you don’t lose money from not being able to sell it. Money is something we value, both making it and not losing it.
Value is a motivation or an emotional gain. It is often personal. Health, money, family, reputation—that’s what we mean by value.
Should we talk about value? Yes, but…
Wait, what? I thought we were supposed to sell on value! It’s true. You do need to connect your products or services to value, but what if I told you there are a few things that are even better to talk to your prospects about?
SHOULD YOU TALK ABOUT PROBLEMS?
Value is a tricky thing. I can say that my product will save you time, which sounds great, but it’s also vague, and the same thing all my competitors are saying. Most people coming to you aren’t saying, “I need something that will save me time,” or “I need something that will make me money.” Instead, they are coming to you with something much more specific—a problem or pain.
The problem they have is the exact opposite of the benefit or value (or both). They are stressed that a freezer in their grocery store will break, and they’ll lose all of the ice cream (and ice-cream profit) inside before they realize it.
These people aren’t out looking for just anything that can improve their bottom line. Instead, they’re looking to solve the problem that they don’t know when their freezers have failed until it’s too late. They don’t value data; they value profit. But even more, they are thinking about this specific problem they have and how it can be solved. You’re selling a solution.
Should you talk about problems? Yes. You should focus on their problem when you talk to prospects. But how can you convince them that you have a real solution to their problem?
SHOULD YOU TELL STORIES?
We are all cavemen deep down. We have our gadgets, but for nearly 99% of human evolutionary history, we lived as small-band hunter-gatherers. Much of our behavior and many of our biases developed to help us live that hunter-gatherer existence. It’s not going away any time soon. Our brains have been evolutionarily primed for stories because storytelling was a critical mechanism for survival, knowledge sharing, and social bonding.
So, what, Rachel? Storytelling is a human feature. So. What? The benefit of telling stories over plain facts is that people remember them better, and they naturally put themselves into the story (almost like they are experiencing it for themselves). Stories also elicit fewer objections than the same information in non-story form. So, what? Stories help you sell more.
Instead of starting with value, even instead of starting with problems, start with a story. Share what happened with another organization, similar to that of your prospect, that had the same issue your prospect is currently experiencing. In your narrative, be sure to talk about how that pain was being experienced day to day. Describe not only what solution you provided, but also how it was implemented. What did it look like as the client in your story adopted your solution? Who was involved? And finally, what does their day-to-day work look like now that they have your solution? What can they do that they couldn’t before? Share the details of the people who felt the pain and what it’s like for them now that their problem has been solved.
Should you tell stories? Hell, yes.
Want to hear a story of how we helped a client get their go-to-market strategy in order, increase their conversion rate, and go through a successful exit? Reach out to mastery@maestrogroup.co.