So the other day I wrote a post about Small Business Marketing – A Call To Action and talked a little bit about WIFT (What's in it for them) but I thought this warranted a bit more notice than a one liner!!!
What Is In It For THEM
I talk to A LOT of small biz owners and they are VERY serious about their product or service. They can go on and on (and on) about how wonderful it is, all the features it has and why you HAVE TO BUY IT NOW! Just the other day at networking, we had a fellow who did his 30 second speech in 3 minutes, waxing eloquent about what he had to offer…sigh.
So, this is what you need to do, shut up and listen! When you have a prospect in front of you, ask them questions about what they are trying to accomplish. Ask what problem they think you can help them solve. Take notes. Ask more questions and listen some more. Write down more. Do this with at least 5 prospects. NOW you have your sales message!
Take those notes and write out your marketing message backward. DO NOT talk about all your bells and whistles, talk about how you can take all of that pain and make it go away!
WIFM Examples
Social media marketing – I KNOW my peeps do not have enough time to blog, tweet, friend, like and all the other stupid things that business owners have to do in the new age digital marketing. Our marketing message is about saving time and getting customers NOT about how we post 5X per week or how you are updated whenever there is a change in the social media sites.
Selling software – I worked as a hired gun speaker for a Realtor software company. When we went out to talk to the agents, the other presenters ALWAYS said the software the software did EXACTLY EVERYTHING they needed to do. While I loved the company and the software, OF COURSE the answer was not always that piece of software and you could see the doubt in some eyes.
Direct sales – this is a biggie for me! Some of the people selling nutritional products may have the answer to all my health prayers, but I have NO IDEA what the hell they are talking about. They use industry jargon and technical terms that I do not understand, blinding me to whatever the stuff really does. Dumb it down! If you have to talk about the science at all make it general and, better yet, tell your prospects how it will help them! It will help you lose weight, get nicer hair, live longer, get more sex, whatever the outcome is, NOT the science of it all.
Well, hopefully that helps…knowing the WIFT, what's in it for them of it all will help you get more sales and make you more money!!!
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Monday 22nd of July 2013
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Small Business Marketing – WIFT (What’s In It For THEM) | Here How To Get Internet Business Ideas
Sunday 10th of February 2013
[...] View the original article here [...]
Tara Jacobsen
Saturday 9th of June 2012
One of my favorite trainers says that too!!! I have to say, most of my problems in life are when I think I know the answer before I even ask the question...THANKS for reading Dan!
Dan Dunphy
Friday 8th of June 2012
Nicely put bootm line find the need? then fill it , My old mentor used to remind me we have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we talk.
Dan
Small Business Marketing – Predictions for the future! | Your Internet Business
Monday 4th of June 2012
[...] A COMPANY WEBSITE – This is in all caps because I think that the days of having a brochure company website that looks pretty but doesn’t DO anything for the user is over. NO ONE has the time to sit and read about your “strategic partnerships”, “stakeholder capital” or other boilerplate words that talk about what the company does, rather than what the company does FOR YOU! (check out last week’s WIFT post for more on providing what’s in it for them) [...]