.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Everyone talks about the importance of product knowledge. No one tells you how to use it to make a sale.

REALITY: Most companies train 90 percent product knowledge, 10 percent sales knowledge. Big mistake. The right mix is 20 percent product or service, 80 percent sales, personal development, attitude and presentation skills.

REALITY: Salespeople spend 80 percent of their time OR MORE trying to explain their product. How their button is different from the competition’s button. Why their product is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Even doing a product “demo.”

Salespeople and their bosses refer to this process as “educating the customer,” and stress it as a key to the selling process. What a joke.

CLUE ONE: Customers don’t want an education – especially yours.

Come on, Sparky. Can you picture some top brass over at your prospective customer’s place of business saying, “Boy I sure hope those people at Acme come over here and educate us. We’re pretty stupid.”

I have posed a series of questions and statements so that you can get the idea about the reality of your product (or service). The key is, and always has been, ask questions about it BEFORE you start talking about it.

1. What it is. A description. Totally boring because the prospect ALREADY KNOWS WHAT IT IS.

2. What it does. Another monologue. Totally boring because the prospect ALREADY KNOWS WHAT IT DOES.

3. How it’s used. Getting warmer, but still boring.

4. What’s the value of it? AHA! Now you’re getting the attention of the prospective buyer. Does it increase productivity? Is morale boosted as a result of it?

5. How do I profit from use? This is one of the most important nuances in the selling/buying process. The customers (unless they’re in purchasing) do NOT want to “save money.” The customers want to make a PROFIT.

6. What’s the expected outcome? BIG. Get them to visualize what the product will do for them after they have purchased it.

7. What’s the prospective customers’ opinion of it? I want to know and understand the customers’ point of view as much as I want them to understand mine.

8. How have the customers successfully used it? If you know the history, you can more readily predict the future.

9. What’s the customers’ perceived value of it? This takes dialogue. Create it, and you will have a huge competitive advantage. Value creates a buying atmosphere. Their perception of value is your reality of sale.

10. How have others used it? If you must talk about your product, talk about how others have used it, produced more from it or made a profit as a result of it.

10.5. What do others think of it? The best way to sell your product is to let others sell it for you. In VIDEO format, customer testimonials are the single most powerful sales tool on the planet. They provide the proof that you can only brag about.

I rarely recap, but this is an imperative for all salespeople to understand and execute as you seek to differentiate yourself from those who sell the same thing you do, and claim to be better.

Without video testimonials, you are alone in the selling process. With them, you will have one thing the competition won’t have – the order.

If you would like one more great idea about how to retain customers after they buy, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter the words VALUE MESSAGE in the GitBit box.