What are you selling?

Before you say a word about your product, you have to know what you’re selling. If you don’t know, then keep digging.

What you’re not selling is your product. You’re not selling some cool feature your product has. You’re not selling the convenience of your product. You’re not selling how inexpensive it is, your not selling what you get commission on, so stop it!

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to figure out what you are selling.

You might be selling improved customer service and reduced churn. You might be selling more leads at a lower cost per lead. You might be selling a good time. You might be selling an increased chance at getting a better job. You might be selling more views. You might be selling more dates. You might be selling image. You might be selling more time with grandma.

There could be 50 different products behind each and everyone of these purchases, but in the end the product isn’t what the customer is buying. The product you sell is simply the vehicle to something else.

If you are selling your product, stop!  It’s not what you customers want.

Find out what your customers want. Then show them how your product can get them there. And even as you are doing that remember, they aren’t buying your product, so stay on task.

There once was a saying: “No one wants a drill, they want a hole.”

Good quote, but no one wants a hole either. They want new tree-house for their kids birthday, they want to finish a soapbox derby for their Cub Scout. They want to start their own carpentry business. They want to start refinishing furniture. They want to redo their home.

Each scenario requires a different sales strategy. So you better know what you are selling, because without it you aren’t going to sell a thing.