Customer Service

Feb 21 2012

Engage Your Customer – Write About Benefits

Think fast. In 10 seconds, you can make a list of the 5 major benefits you offer your customers?

I bet you said “Yes.” But are you sure you listed benefits? If you bear with me for another 10 seconds, I would like to test a theory about you.

Recap your answers – maybe even writing. Now a list of the top 5 things your business. In other words, what are your 5 core services? What are the 5 main features of your product?

If your first list looks anything like your second, chances are you’re confusing the characteristics of the benefits. As a result, it is likely that your marketing materials are not participating in his client. Customers do not want to know what you can do. They want to know what you can do for them.

Do not talk about the features, benefits interviews.

Do not be alarmed. You are not alone. Most business owners and marketing are so close to your product or service that has a lot of trouble distinguishing benefits of the features of your offer. Ask a web host “, what are the benefits of your service?” And you will probably hear something along the lines of, “we offer load-balanced server clusters.” But that is not a benefit … that’s what they do. The advantage is the uptime and performance.

In fact, many people believe that the features instead of benefits that can work in your favor – that the dramatic effect. If you can accurately identify your benefits, and convey the benefits of its market, it will be light years ahead of most of its competition. You will turn leads into sales, while still bogged down trying to promote features.

So if you ever sat down to write a sales letter and wondered how it will capture the attention of your reader, or have you ever been ‘in circles writing draft after draft of web copy without giving in White, now you know where it goes wrong.

The only question remaining is how you do it right? Advertising copywriters and website copywriters do it all the time – and most of the time, do the benefits. Profit is the editor of the holy grail. But if you are not an experienced writer, how to identify the benefits you offer your customers?

There are several ways to identify the benefits they offer. This article discusses just three:
1) Customer Research
2) Talk to your sales team
3) Make it easy for customers to get Buy-In

The method you choose depends on your time constraints, budget, and level of customer interaction.

1) Customer Research
The most obvious way to identify the benefits is to ask your existing customers. They are spending big money on your offer, so you can be sure they know what they’re getting benefit from it. (In many cases it may be useful to ask what benefits they would like to be getting from you too!) Unfortunately, like everyone else, your customers are busy people. In most cases, you will not get useful information by simply sending an email inquiry. You have to make it easier for them to respond, and you have to make it worthwhile. Think of the questionnaires and surveys for quantitative data and interviews and focus groups for qualitative data. These techniques are simple, but you still have to ensure that properly interpret the results. And always remember that they are the methods of self-report. People sometimes tell you what they think you want to hear. (That’s why we have the word your questions carefully -. Try not to ask leading questions) Of course, there are plenty of other research techniques around. Do a little homework and find the methods that best suit your business needs. But do not get carried away by the possibilities. All research data in the world is meaningless if we are not speaking the language of your customer.

2) Talk to your sales team
Unfortunately, not all businesses can afford to invest in market research. If your budget does not stretch enough, try talking to your sales staff. Are in the field every day, talking to customers. And because their livelihood depends on their success in attracting customers, the more likely it will be able to tell what your customers want to know. (A word of warning, though … Be careful not to make promises high. Unlike your sales team, written warranty does not create a relationship with your customers. Customers will not make allowances, so you can only stretch the truth now writing before your credibility suffers. Indeed, if it does push the limits, it is more likely to be held to your word!)

3) Make it easy for customers to get Buy-In
If you do not have the budget for research in depth customer and you have a sales team, a good tip is to imagine how your customer gets buy-in from your boss. Very often, decision-making is a person higher up the food chain live audience. Your audience will probably be the main actor – who will be the user of your product, or the recipient of the service. However, when they find an offer they like, there’s a good chance you will have to sell it to someone higher up the line. If you can make the sale easier, you have one foot in the door. Do not just appeal to the sensibilities of their audience directly. You also need to ask yourself what you need to know to convince the decision-making. If the decision maker is a CFO, think Return on Investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO). If the decision maker is a CIO or MIS, where performance, technological sustainability, availability, manageability and ease of integration. If the decision maker is a CEO, that responsibility, risk management and return on investment. And only use jargon to prove you know your stuff. Remember … jargon will probably have to who makes the final decision scratching their heads, without your checkbook.

There are many ways to identify many more benefits. This is only a very superficial snapshot of some techniques that you might like to try. At least they’ll have to think about the benefits.

At the end, the message is simple. Forget all the fancy talk about complicated revolutionary marketing principles. Forget the new age of hard sell advertising quick-fixes. Forget looking to so-called “experts” to find solutions. Just think about the benefits. And if you can do that with accuracy, the rest is just mechanics. Once you know what to write, simply put pen to paper. And that’s a whole other story!

By editor • Customer Service • 0 • Tags: Customer Care, Customer Service, Customer Services