One of the Internet “gurus” I follow once summed up marketing in three sentences:
Here’s what I got…Here’s what it will do for you…Here’s what I want you to do next…
It struck me that this simple—if grammatically incorrect—triplet is at the core of everything I coach professionals and their sales teams to do in their efforts to attract clients.
1) Here’s what I got… Once we’ve talked about choosing a clear target market for your services, my next question is, “What services or products are you selling?” This is as simple as: a brand new car!
2) Here’s what it will do for you… This is where you talk about the Features of your offering, and two types of results: Advantages and Benefits. Advantages are a description of what’s better about your “what”, which could yield positive results for anyone who bought what you were selling:
This brand new car is equipped with an Acme Soundaround fifteen-hundred jigawatt stereo, which gives the clearest, most beautiful sound you’ve ever heard.
Professionals who don’t sell their services very well tend to stop with mention of Advantages.
Benefits, on the other hand, are the ultimate results that a particular client might be looking for. A Benefit looks something like this:
Having that beautiful, clear music will give you what I know you are looking for in your brand new car: a sanctuary from the stresses of the road. It will soothe you, so that you’re at your absolute best when you arrive at that big appointment, even after battling a brutal rush hour.
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But another person might want that clear sound because he needs to follow the guitar riff of his favorite musician while he drives to his next audition. The only way to know what clients consider Benefits is through thoughtful, caring questions about what they need and why that need is important to them. The best professional sales are made not from talking about Advantages, but from finding out about Benefits.
3) Here’s what I want you to do next… This is your “Call to Action”—what the guys in the loud plaid jackets call “the close”. Contrary to what they might tell you, the way you word your Call to Action is just not that important if you’ve helped your prospective client understand, through your questions, that he or she really needs the Benefits of what you’re offering. All you have to do now is explain what they would need to do next:
If you want the brand new car, it’s yours! We’ll just have to get started on the paperwork.
Here’s what I got… A proven system for attracting the kind of clients you want without increasing your workload. Here’s what it will do for you… You’ll soon stop struggling to grow your practice or business, and you’ll get to enjoy your work the way you did when you first started. Here’s what I want you to do next… Reach out to me for a free consultation if these Benefits appeal to you, and we’ll find out if we want to work together.
Just remember that Advantages are for anyone, but you’ll never know the Benefits unless you keep REACHING…
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