Workbook for “How You Make the Sale”


Business Development Workbook

(From Frank McNair’s “How You Make the Sale”)

  1. Understanding How You Can Serve Your Customer:
  1. What is the product, program, or service you’re selling?

______

  1. What are the top three most common questions people have when they consider purchasing your product, program, or service?

1.______

2.______

3.______

  1. What are the primary risks if a customer makes a buying mistake with the product, program, or service that you provide? (list three)

1.______

2.______

3.______

  1. How often (in a five-year period) does the average customer make the purchase you will help him or her with?

______

  1. How can you provide a service to the customer and add value to the sale by answering the customer’s questions, minimizing the customer’s risk, and keep him or her informed about new developments in your product category?

______

  1. Understanding the Process Your Customer Goes Through When Deciding to Buy Your Product from You:
  1. Does your product address primarily real problems? What are the real problems consumers seek to address when they buy your product? (List as many as you can think of!)

______

  1. Does your product address any perceived problems – that is, problems that may be associated with image, self-understanding, or some intangible issue? (Again, list as many as you can think of!)

______

  1. What other products are available, that address the real and perceived problems, your product is designed to address? (List your three most-relevant competitors.)

______

  1. What are the six most common purchase criteria (in addition to price) that buyers use in deciding which product in your market to buy? List them.

______

  1. What other sources offer products that solve the same customer problems that your product solves? (Question C. above deals with competitive products; this question talks about competitors – the outlets that sell the product.) List three.

______

  1. Understanding the “Hot Buttons” and “Landmines” That Apply to Your Product:
  1. What three things excite you most about the product you sell? Why are you excited about these three things? (Talk to your colleagues – what things excite them about the product? Pay special attention to the things your colleagues cite that you’ve overlooked! Why are they excited about these things? How can you plug into the excitement when you talk to prospective customers?) List your hot buttons below.

1.______

2.______

3.______

  1. Now engage some customers or prospective customers – why do they get excited about your product? (These are the people who are willing to give you their money to get your product – the things they think are important are, indeed, quite important.) Since these hot buttons are at least twice as important as your or those of your colleagues, list six of them below.

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

6.______

  1. Identify two landmines that you think could cause a sale to jump the track. (Remember that it’s harder to recognize landmines than hot buttons.) Ask your colleagues about landmines they have experienced. List two of theirs as well.

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

  1. Now move on to asking your customers about landmines. However, asking directly will probably not yield the true answers that you’re looking for. Try an indirect approach. Something like, “What about this product or solution that doesn’t pass the sniff test? What about this raises your skepticism, or makes your bullshit meter go over into the red?” These are critical – if the sale jumps the track here you’re out of luck. Enter four customer landmines below.

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

  1. Understanding What “You Do” When You Meet and Greet Your Customers:
  1. When you meet and greet a customer, what is your number one objective? ______
  1. What do you do to help yourself accomplish this key objective? ______
  1. After reading this chapter (5), how will you handle the meet and greet differently? ______
  1. What mistakes do you see others make when they meet and greet their customers? ______
  1. What is the worst thing that a salesperson has ever done when meeting and greeting you in a sales interaction? ______
  1. What is the single most important thing you learned in this chapter (5)? ______
  1. How are you going to use what you’ve learned? ______
  1. Understanding the Things You Need to Know to Solve Your Customer’s Problems:
  1. What things do you need to know to solve your customer’s problems? There must be dozens – list eight key items below.

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

6.______

7.______

8.______

  1. We often need different information to make the sale than we need to solve the problem. In the markets you service, what information must you have to make the sale? Again, there must be dozens – list eight key items below.

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

6.______

7.______

8.______

  1. Sadly, most customers don’t just walk into our lives and blurt out all the information we need to solve their problems and make the sale. We must carefully craft questions that help us discover the information. Below, craft five questions that will help you uncover the information you need to solve the customer’s problem, and an additional five questions that will help you make the sale.

Five Questions to Solve the Customer’s Problem.

1.______

2.______

3.______

4.______

5.______

Five Questions to Help Make the Sale.

  1. ______
  2. ______
  3. ______
  4. ______
  5. ______
  1. Understanding the Features of Your Product:

Part 1: Feature Chart

The feature chart below is designed to help you fully understand the notion of features and benefits as they apply to the product, program, or service you sell. Complete the chart by column: that is, go down each column and complete it fully before you move to the next column.

In Column 1, list the six most important features of the product, program, or service you sell.

In Column 2, identify the support you have for each feature. That is, how can you prove that the assertion made by the feature is true? Your prospective buyer needs to know that you are telling the truth when you present the feature you have detailed in Column 1.

In Column 3, detail why the feature should matter to your typical customer – What is it about this feature that applies to your customer’s situation?

Feature’s Chart

FeatureSupportWhy it Matters

for Feature*to the Customer**

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

* A feature with no support is called an unsupported assertion and holds little value in the selling world.

** If it doesn’t matter to the customer, it doesn’t matter, period.

Part 2: Benefit Chart

The benefit chart is designed to help you wrap your mind around the benefits (the reasons to care) for your customer associated with the product features you have just identified. Complete the chart by column: that is, go down each column and complete it fully before you move to the next column.

In Column 1, list the six most important features of the product, program, or service you sell.

In Column 2, identify the benefits (up to three) associated with each feature you have noted.

In Column 3, detail why the feature should matter to you typical customer – What is it about this feature that applies to this customer’s situation?

Benefit’s Chart

FeatureBenefit AccruingWhy Benefit Solves from Feature* Customer Problem*

1. 1.

2.

3.

2.1.

2.

3.

3.1.

2.

3.

4.1.

2.

3.

5.1.

2.

3.

6.1.

2.

3.

* A feature with no associated benefit for this customer is a waste of time. Don’t talk about it.

* If it doesn’t matter to the customer, it doesn’t matter, period.

  1. Understanding How to Bridge From Features to Benefits:

A key component of making the case is the ability to bridge from a feature of your product to the associated benefit – the reason to care that helps solve the customer’s problem. In every case, you are bridging from the particular feature to one of the Universal Benefits. The question we are answering for the customer is WSIGAF? (Why should I give a flip about this feature? How does this feature provide a benefit that solves the problem that brought me into the marketplace?) Below is a model that you can use to successfully bridge a feature to a benefit:

  1. Remind the Customer of the Problem that brought them into the market in the first place. “You mentioned that XYZ was a major concern for you.”
  2. State the Relevant Feature that will solve their problem. “This product has (state feature or features that address the problem)…
  3. Use a Bridge Phase that will lead the customer from the feature of your product to the benefit that solves their problem. “What this means to you is…”
  4. Lay the Benefit out in plain view so the customer will not have to leap to the benefit on their own. This means that you finish the sentence begun in Step 3. “What this means to you is that you will have fewer hassles/save more money/etc.”
  5. Support the Benefit so that it is not an unsupported assertion. “I have (provide examples) that prove this is not just my opinion, it’s a fact!”

Examples of bridging features to benefits: Fill in the blanks below with examples from your product, program, or service.

Feature 1: One feature of this product is ____(state benefit)____ This feature yields ____(state benefit)____ , which can be especially helpful in helping you address ____(state problem)____ .

Feature 2: You mentioned that you have been having a problem with ____(state problem)____ , and that you were particularly interested in ____(state benefit)____ . This product has ____(state feature)____ , which will deliver the ____(state benefit)____ you were interested in, and help you address ____(state problem)____ .

Feature 3: You mentioned that you have been having a problem with ____(state problem)____ . This product has ____(state feature)____ , which will deliver the ____(state benefit)____ you were interested in, and help you address ____(state problem)____ .

Feature 4: You mentioned that ____(state benefit)____ is especially important to you. We can offer you ____(restate benefit) because our product/service/program has ____(state feature)____ . And this ____(restate feature)____ will yield ____(state benefit)____, which will help you solve ____(state problem)____ that you say is so important to you.

  1. Understanding How to Handle Objections:

Take a few minutes and reflect on the product or service you sell, then answer these questions about dealing with objections.

1.What are the most common objections you hear in the selling you do? List three to five of them in the space below. ______

2.How do you most commonly respond when you hear an objection? Does your common response work for you? Why did you answer as you did? ______

3.What cause the objections to arise in the selling you do? What have you found that works to help prevent or deal with objections as they arise? ______

4.What probing questions work best in your experience? List three of them below. ______

5.What has been your experience dealing with phony objections? What works best for you in dealing with this special challenge? ______

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