Sales presentations are a very important part of the sales process. A simple definition of the sales presentation is
Sales presentation or sales pitch is a line of talk that attempts to persuade someone or something, with a planned sales presentation strategy of a product or service designed to initiate and close a sale of the product or service.
But one of the common mistakes most salespeople make during this sales presentation is to focus on highlighting their product features and benefits.
Features and benefits of the product or solution you are selling are important but it doesn’t enthuse most of the buyers. Why is that?
WHAT IS IN IT FOR ME?
Features and benefits are related to your solution and per se don’t answer the customer’s fundamental question “what is in it for me”?
Because of this, explaining only features and benefits only does not motivate him to take any action.
WHAT DO BUYERS SEEK?
If not features and benefits, let us try to understand what do buyers seek or what motivates a customer to take action.
As per Bob Stone, professor of direct marketing at Northwestern University, believes, “People respond to any given proposition for one of two reasons: to gain something they do not have or to avoid losing something they now possess.”
What we can see is, the buyers are seeking to know how your solution can help him address his pain or offer him some gain. In a way, the buyer seeks to know the experience your solution offers after he uses the solution.
MAP TO ULTIMATE RESULTS – THE VALUE PROPOSITION
The experience that the buyer seeks is also called value. The value is a total experience
This value is a combination of logical needs (features) and emotional needs (benefits).
It is something you must figure out by mapping the benefits to the ultimate results buyer seeks which is to gain something he is not having or avoid losing something he already possesses.
Instead, most sales executives describe benefits are actually an extension of the feature.
In B2B sales, different buyers seek different experiences. To know more on how to map user benefits to value, read the blog “selling features and benefits”
Conclusion
In the blog, we explained the USP. The Value Proposition is a much bigger concept and USP is part of a value proposition.
By connecting to value what the buyer seeks, you build trust and credibility with the buyer and your sales presentation will connect to the emotional hot buttons. From next time focus on value than highlighting features and benefits.
