Benefit Communications – The Key to Showing Off Your Value
When it comes to prospecting and promoting, there’s alot of ways to get your message out. But how do you convey your key messages – what makes you truly unique – in a way that stops traffic? The science of telling a prospect what you do in a way that gets their attention – this is called Benefit Communications.
My Marketing Chat radio segment guest, Bob Madonna of McCoy Enterprises, explained how important it is to be able to explain what it is we do – and do it in a way that engages others. Many of us rattle off our list of “benefits” – without even stopping to consider if our benefits our seen as such through the eyes of our prospective customers. A good exercise for focusing on your benefits is “RIM” – which stands for Reduce, Improve and Maintain. He suggests that you describe your product/service using RIM, and watch how it changes your offering. It switches your focus to think more about them – not you. Which goes onto his next reminder of “What’s In It For Me?” – a phrase that is a helpful reminder to keep our message customer-centric.
So the next time you pick up the phone to call a prospect, remember that the minute before you called, they were busy doing something else – and your call is more likely than not to be viewed as an interruption, not a welcome break. No worries! Here’s a few suggestions:
1. Be polite
2. Be prepared – know who you’re calling and what their needs are. Think ahead to what their objections might be.
3. Keep it simple – talk about your benefits in a way that we can all understand
4. Keep it light, be engaging and interesting
5. Think about this: why you? Why not someone else?
In general, it’s important to be well-versed, and comfortable talking about what you do. Take advantage of opportunities where you can hone your skills – meetings, speaking opportunities, newsletters, and functions. The more comfortable you are, the more at ease others will be in listening.
To listen to this segment in its entirety, go to: Marketing Chat with Nancy Sipera, 3/5/13.
Source: McCoy Enterprises
