Sell The Sizzle: What you can learn from hamburger commercials?
When you’re a business owner with a service to sell, often you’ll get asked this million dollar question from a prospect:
“What exactly does this service cover? What will I get?”
It may be tempting to give a straightforward list of exactly what you’ll do when you provide your professional service. But here’s the interesting part – they don’t really want to know all that. What they want to know is whether you’re going to deliver the result they’ve been hoping for.
Like when your car is making a noise and you bring it in for servicing. They may go into detail of this or that widget that they’ll replace or repair, but what you really want to know is – “after I pay you, will the noise go away and the car will drive smoothly and quietly again?”
For a bookkeeper, instead of describing how you’ll reconfigure the chart of accounts and reconcile the last few months of transactions so you can run a clean P&L …. You can say what we want to hear – “I’m going to clean up your records so we have a clear picture of where you are in your business”. Yes, thank you!
For a health coach, instead of telling me how you’ll analyze my macro-nutrients and movement habits, you can tell me that you’ll design a plan so I’ll feel more energized.
Consider TV commercials. At precisely 9 pm, the commercials for Popeye’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Dove Chocolate, and Reese’s Pieces will start flooding the airwaves. Why? Because 9 pm is the time we typically start becoming hungry again. So when the commercial pops on for a fast food burger, do they show you some dude squashing a hunk of meat on a cook-top and then stuffing it onto a bun with some mushy lettuce thrown on top? Nope. They show a juicy burger with the appropriate amount of glistening fat drizzling down, steaming hot and ready for consumption. You look at that thing, and even when you didn’t think you were hungry, now you ARE!
It’s an art form and something you can do as well.
Bookkeeper: Imagine going through your business day without event thinking about whether your accounts are balanced – we take care of your books and provide you with a clear picture of your finances without your having to lift a finger.
Health coach: Just open your custom designed health profile and know exactly what each day’s meals and fitness activities should be.
Professional organizer: your family will know where everything is, without having to ask you or waste time searching.
Paint a picture of what your prospect’s situation will be after you’ve delivered your service. The result – the transformation – that’s all we really want!
We don’t have to exaggerate at all – just consider what your client REALLY needs, wants and deserves. What’s their struggle and what will life be like after you remove that challenge? Then paint a picture and they’ll be ready to say yes.