Funny question. Every business sells something different. Whether it’s physical goods such as sweaters, cars, or pearl necklaces; or services such as SEO consulting, delivery services or insurance; or even ideas and creativity, such as coding or web design.
So, you should be selling profitable items or services that you know best. Pearls or cars or web design or insurance. Or thousands of other things.
Simple, right?
Well, not quite. Of course businesses will sell their customers goods delivered and services rendered. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What we’d like to highlight here is the deeper level of marketing and selling: what is the customer actually buying?
Is she buying a strand of oyster excretions, or is she buying those pearls for elegance and beauty? Is a luxury car just a heap of nicely welded metal, (sorry, you Lexus owners) or is it a message: “I, the owner, am special”? Do I want SEO to please Google, or because I want to attract visitors (and customers) to my site ? And is John Doe buying just a piece of paper called “insurance policy”? Isn’t he rather buying protection and peace of mind?
These examples should be enough to illustrate a vital point: customers buy benefits. And businesses are well advised to market and sell, first and foremost, the benefits that those goods or services offer. This is one of Marketing’s most important principles.
Of course, such marketing should be well presented, and above all, be honest and persuasive – and smart. More on that in one of our future posts.
Meanwhile, you are welcome to contact us with any questions, inquiries or comments about Benefit Selling (and anything else).
