The Most Effective Product Demonstration Process Ever!
Posted: June 13, 2011
As with most things in life, there are many ways to accomplish a single task. Wise business professionals are constantly on the lookout for better ways to make their points or present their products. Tom Hopkins introduces a proven-effective procedure for product presentations or demonstrations that will surely increase your success.
close the deal!
As with most things in life, there are many ways to accomplish a single task. Wise business professionals are constantly on the lookout for better ways to make their points or present their products. In our book, Sell It Today, Sell It Now, Pat Leiby and I teach a proven-effective procedure for product presentations or demonstrations that is sure to work for you. It is a critical part of the Sell It Today system that can turn you into a one-time closing champion.
Our procedure begins with preparation. Thinking about the client you will present to next, break down your product demonstration into segments highlighting each individual feature of your product or service that you know will benefit this client.
The second step is to present each of those features in the following manner, and only in the following manner.
First, you state the FACT. Then, you show the BENEFIT. Once the benefit is given, you must create URGENCY. And ask for FEEDBACK.
Facts and benefits create the sale. Urgency and feedback make it happen now. The first two, fact and benefit, are pretty easy if you are a professional who truly knows their product.
Urgency for each feature is something that the salesperson must create. It’s not there until you make it so. It’s not being pushy or trying to force your customer into a quick decision. Creating urgency requires some effort and creativity to assure that your potential client feels a genuine need to make a purchase now.
In my seminars, we create urgency by offering special investments on products that are only valid the day of the seminar. It’s the today-and-today-only method of developing urgency. Retail outlets use sales or offers where they indicate quantities are limited to create a sense of urgency in their shoppers. Investment counselors show charts and graphs of growth potential that is based on today’s market figures. If the clients want to earn those kinds of returns, they should start their program today. Think about what would be appropriate for your product.
The fourth step of asking for Feedback serves two purposes: 1) it provides a way to monitor your progress, and 2) helps you see if your potential client is ready for the next logical step.
To give you a better idea of how the process works, here are a couple of examples. Read them, study them and customize the system to work for your product and your customers.
Here’s an example for health products:
FACT: “This powerful juice contains 85 necessary nutrients for the human body.”
This fact can be proven. You probably have a detailed list of the contents from your company.
BENEFIT: “These nutrients will help your body recover from the daily stress it endures from pollutants, emotional anxiety, or from eating processed foods.”
To discover the appropriate benefit, just put yourself in your potential client’s situation and ask “what’s in it for me?” In this case, the potential clients are concerned about their health. After achieving trust and need, facts and benefits may do the selling, but urgency and feedback will do it now.
URGENCY: “Our research has proven that when taken daily, these nutrients will keep the body in a sound health state. However, it takes most people at least a week of taking it before they begin to feel and see the benefits. That being the case, it’s wise to get started on your program immediately—especially if you have a particular goal in mind for feeling better.” Without using any high pressure or being pushy, the salesperson has merely pointed out the significant advantage to making a purchase right now over procrastinating until later. Buying now is clearly in the customer’s best interest according to the customer’s own definition of need.
FEEDBACK: “Because we’re offering a special introductory program this month, how soon do you think you’ll want to begin?”
The answer is rather obvious, isn’t it? With these four steps, the potential client should realize that, too, and be prepared to move to the next step in the system, which would be to discuss the money aspects of the sale.
Use the preceding example to spur some thought as to how the process will work with your product or service. Creating urgency requires a little thought on your part, but it can be done. Asking for feedback is critical. If you don’t generate feedback, you may never discover any concerns your potential client has until it is too late to effectively address them.
When you get positive feedback throughout your presentation or demonstration, your close becomes much easier because your client would be contradicting himself by refusing to go ahead. Your potential client is not an opponent to be overcome, but a partner to be helped. Even negative feedback is valuable because it lets you know where they stand on a particular issue or feature.
Product demonstration is basic. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. It requires thought and planning. You have to do your homework, study, and practice the techniques. You also need to research your client’s real needs, wants, and concerns. Beyond that, you have to apply your own creative resources to put the entire system together in terms that provide the unique solution to your client’s unique situation.
When you use the system properly, it will astound you.
FACT + BENEFITS + URGENCY + FEEDBACK = SOLD TODAY, SOLD NOW
Repeat this mantra over and over, “I will never give a product demonstration again without presenting the features in this manner: State the facts, Show the benefits, Create urgency and ask for feedback.” It will make a world of difference in increasing the number of people you serve, improving your closing ratio, and allowing you to do it in less time. It’s a sales professional’s dream come true.
Biz Tip Source: Tom Hopkins