Too much of a good thing

Here are some things that sound better than they really are:
• All-you-can-eat restaurants
• A trip around the world
• Big box home improvement stores
• The industry’s most complete selection of products and services.

These offers ought to be irresistible. They’re just overflowing with value. But it’s not value that buyers particularly want or need: I’m trying to lose weight. I don’t have time for a long vacation. I just need this one particular washer to fix my faucet. And I’m not buying your complete selection. Today, right now, I’m just buying ONE thing.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a sales exec promote a full product line as a customer benefit. (Usually it goes by a more impressive-sounding name, like “total solutions.”) I don’t buy it. They just want to get more of the buyer’s business. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it’s not a benefit to the buyer.

The other reason sellers love the total solution: It’s easy. You don’t have to spend time figuring out exactly what the buyer needs. It’s all right there in the catalog. Just keep flipping and maybe you’ll see something you like.

That’s how many of your competitors are selling. And you can outsell them by taking the opposite approach: Find out the ONE thing your buyer needs or wants and zero in on that. Perhaps I can interest you in the following:
• A delicious low-calorie dinner that will help you stick to your weight loss plan
• A quick getaway over a three-day weekend
• That tiny faucet washer that’s impossible to find in a warehouse-sized home improvement center
• And a solution to that nagging problem at work that’s keeping you up at night.

photo credit: Wonderlane