Increase Your Sales With 'The Big Benefit'

copyright 2004 Bob Leduc

People buy products or services from you because they expect to gain a benefit. The benefit is more valuable to them than the money they spend to get it. You can use that benefit 3 different ways to increase the results produced by your marketing efforts.

1. Immediately state the benefit to draw the prospect into your promotional message.
2. Dramatize the feeling of enjoying the benefit to intensify your prospect's interest.
3. Stimulate your prospect to start enjoying the benefit NOW by taking immediate action to get it.

Apply all 3 of these when you develop any promotional material -- including the content of your website.

1. State the Benefit Immediately

...to draw the prospect into your promotional message. State the benefit in the headline of your ad, the first sentence of your sales letter or in a title at the top of your webpage. Use it as the opening of your audio or audio-video promotions. It immediately captures your prospect's attention and provides a compelling reason to continue reading or listening.

For example, I recently saw this headline at the top of a webpage: "Increase Your Online Profits 40% Now". The website offered businesses the service of accepting credit card payments online.

2. Dramatize the Feeling of Enjoying The Benefit

...to intensify your prospect's interest. Use a word picture to help your prospect visualize the feeling of enjoying the benefit you offer. Here are 3 examples you can use as models for developing your own word picture:

"Know all your bills are paid as you and your family leave on a 2 week vacation." (a financial planner)

"The pleasing aroma of this new shampoo reminds you of driving through the country after a fresh spring rain." (shampoo offered by a network marketing distributor)

"It's Monday morning. As you get up, all your neighbors are already on the freeway trying to get to work on time. You have breakfast with your family and decide how to spend the day while your customers place their orders at your new automated website." (An Internet business opportunity)

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3. Stimulate Your Prospect to Start Enjoying the Benefit Now

...by taking immediate action to get it. Three of the ways you can persuade immediate action are:

• Make an offer with a short time deadline. (discount, bonus, etc.)
• Provide several easy, fast ways to buy. The more the better. (online, phone, fax, etc.)
• Guarantee fast delivery. This is easy if you can deliver your product or service online. Otherwise, offer to ship your product immediately or start providing the service immediately after your customer orders it.

Is It A Benefit?

Be sure you're promoting the biggest benefit your customers get from your product or service -- not a feature of it. A feature is what your product or service is. A benefit is what your product or service does for your customers.

For example, an anti-virus software program may include weekly online updates. That's a feature. The benefit is -- a new computer virus will never destroy any data on my computer. That's the result a buyer wants. People never buy something to get a feature. They always buy to get the benefit produced by the feature.

Works For a Small Ad Too

Including all 3 methods of promoting a benefit in a small ad can be challenging because of the limited space available. Here's an example of how one business did it with only 18 words.

"Take more profit from your business and enjoy less stress! Find out how - before your competition does."

Customers buy your product or service to gain the benefit it offers. Determine what that benefit is. Then use it 3 different ways in all your marketing materials and promotions. You'll be surprised by how it increases your sales and profits.

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Bob Leduc is a Sales Consultant with 30 years experience in generating low-cost leads. He recently wrote a manual for small business owners, "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With Simple Postcards", and several other publications to help small businesses grow and prosper. For more info: mailto:BobLeduc@aol.com