I wrote a tweet today.
Interestingly, the tweet further generated much more enriching content inside my mind, which I think I should share with you today.
When our minds are working, we actively find ideas and everyday things that we do daily, and we feel we need to pen them down. This is one such article.
In the middle of a busy day, I have set a timer with 17minutes – which I have decided to focus only on my blog [the one I am planning to make regularly from now]. So all that being said, here we go.
Today’s blog is going to be around – How to Sell Anything and Everything?
This might be the question of many of us around here, at least all business owners. Thinking out of the box, the 2020 pandemic has brought in many entrepreneurs and innovators who came up with tons of products and expert services around us.
But with many more products around and buyers with limited or constrained buying capacity, product developers face lots of challenges. They are falling prey to inflation, not finding the right market, not positioning the product in the right way, or not penetrating the right audience.
All these being on one side, answering our fundamental question – So how do you sell anything?
Here is the Tweet that I have posted:
So basically, there is no Magic. It all starts with these five standpoints that help us go and push boundaries further.
Let us get into action.
Consider, you are heading a product-based business. What will be your priority?
Sell your product. Now, if we consider your product to be an essential product that satisfies necessity – then you very well know who your audience is, and your only task is to get it to the market and either gain a good branding or sell it to a retailer who has higher sales volume and visibility.
Now, consider – your business to be a Unique one. You have squeezed your brain to come up with a “Diamond out of Coal” product. Now – what is your plan?
You cannot place your product – ‘just like any other product’ nor can you sell to ‘just another retailer.’ It would be best if you had the right POSITIONING and the Right Audience to sell your product.
If you belong to the latter category, you will understand when I say, “Not everyone is your customer.”
In this case, the first step you need to follow is – “Find who your audience is!”
This is not an easy task, and you will for sure need several iterations before you land on the precise one. But what’s the best thing? You do not need a LEGIT perfect one while you get started.
Get Started and fine-tune it along your way.
At The Content Bot, we have a signature 10 step customer persona created out of specific and psychologically crafted questionnaires to fit our prospect’s needs. This customer persona is designed to understand every aspect of prospects before we can plan anything for them.
But if you want to DIY your way to creating your customer persona, there is a way for it.
Set your timer to 20mins, and brainstorm every question that falls in your mind around – Why would someone buy the product from you? You can put yourself into your customer’s shoes and create this.
Understand various aspects like why would they buy from you, what would have been their previous experiences, Are you the first of the kind retailer from whom your prospects are buying from, what would be their previous experiences, what would be their hobbies, what would they love/hate doing and so on.
Jot down every other damn question that comes to your mind.
Once you are done, either find answers to these questions by asking yourself or take this as a survey from people you think will fall under this personality.
For example, if you are selling an electric scooter that can go on 300km/hr, you better take this survey among the younger population under 18 to 25. Make sure to find someone who has the financial capability to afford your product. Many times, the people who are a part of your beta testing end up becoming your clients. So choose wisely.
Once you have a clear idea of Customer Persona,
The next thing is – create a buying situation. A buying situation is nothing but the circumstances under which a person would buy the product. This can be the compelling act that will drive a person to purchase the product, or a scene where the product would be needed, or a trigger that stimulates the prospect to crave for a particular product of yours.
If you are selling a Jerkin or a Rain bag, your stimuli can be drizzle or downpour. This way, understand that every product – no matter if it’s simple or complicated, would require buying situations and compelling reasons to go ahead.
Now, if you would come ahead and say, “so Saranya, listen, my product is not a necessity – it is a luxury or ‘want’ so how do I sell it?”
Okay, so hear me out. For a product as basic as an SUV to drive to a limousine, there is a class of people who have it in their “need” list. For a middle-class family, a Hatchback is a luxury. But for a person who earns 50L per week, Limousine is basic. For a kid, candy bars are things they would trade their lives with. But for an adult, it is just an ounce of extra sugar.
So the underlying point is, no matter what your product is – if you define and choose your customers right – any product becomes a NECESSITY.
Remember, LV often said, “We do not sell to the rich. We sell to the poor who wants to look rich.”
So, if you cannot sell, change why you sell and package the product differently. Remember – potato layers, when fried, become Lays and are sold for 10Rs, while baked potatoes are packaged in a round container and named pringles which are sold for 100Rs.
Beauty lies in Packaging.
Next is where – you have the critical step – Creating the Visual and a Compelling Copy.
If Selling ever has magic in it – then this is where you perform it!
Remember: Your product might save lives. Your product might be the reason why people survive. But if you do not tell it LOUD and CLEAR, they would die without using it.
The bottom line is – Shout to the top of your voice – WHY PEOPLE SHOULD USE YOUR PRODUCT!
By this, I do not mean you should stand up on top of your desk and create noise pollution – screaming about your product. What I meant is – Let people know.
It takes 2seconds to gather attention and 7 seconds to retain attention.
Use a compelling Visual or animation – that can catch your audience’s attention. Write a persuasive copy – that would hold and retain their attention.
This way, your assets should cover two primary things.
- How would life transform before and after the product?
- What is the level of highest Self Esteem that people would experience by using your product?
Gone are the days when your product stood for what it was good at. Nowadays, a product is sold only when customers ‘feel’ something for it. If you miss out on the “making them feel good” aspect, then you lose the game midway.
Make them feel proud; make them feel at their highest self. Even if it’s as small as a candle – make them think of the enriching scent of it. If your product is a mere dishwashing scrubber – create a story around it. Give your prospect a compelling reason – WHY should they use YOUR product? And give them a clear “Why” to justify the promptness of your brand to sort out the proper demand.
This is the only way you can penetrate the market and make an impression there.
More than anything, remember I made a separate post on this Decision making while buying mechanism.
It goes by,
The caption of this post holds a lot of value. If you would like this part to be further elaborated, I request you to go up to my Instagram and check it up.
Anyway, back to our business – when your prospect decides to buy a product – they decide with Emotions and justify it with Logic.
So give them that confidence. Give them that emotional reason to choose you. As a Marketing Strategist – when I ask my clients why they chose me over many others who had 30+ years of experience, they say, “I could feel a confidence and a positive vibe when I speak to you,” “Your words sounded confident enough, and it felt like you know what you are talking about”
Yes! Exactly. This is precisely what you should make them feel. Make your prospect feel this. Make them realize – you are a master in the art that you have chosen for yourself. Let your Brand or product represent itself in the market.
As a Founder/product specialist – your job is to prepare your product for that presentation.
Finally, if you have stayed till the end of this article, I understand how passionate you are about this subject. When you have positioned your product right and given the right voice to your product, the most important thing you should do now is to Sow the seed in the soil where it will sprout.
There is no use, buying a bag of beans and leaving it in the lobby. Position your product in the right market. Place it right before your prospects. This is when your prospects see the product and can relate to it. In this digital age, you have the power of social media at your disposal. Utilize it, Exploit it to the utmost level if your focus is on people who come for entertainment or to spend time, use Facebook/Instagram depending on your choice of age and lifestyle.
Also, keep in mind – do not use social media because you like and you are comfortable with that particular platform. You are not there to enjoy yourself. You are there to sell your product. So keep that in mind. You cannot find CEOs scrolling mindless TikTok videos. And you can never find an ambitionless person spending time on LinkedIn. This is why it becomes essential to understand the 10 step customer persona that will help you evaluate and create your customer persona with psychological and logical precision.
Engage on the platform where your prospects are most likely to spend their time and explore multiple options. This way, you can assure that your brand value and your product value will increase,
Since you are this far, I would invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn and Instagram. If you want to see refined content about Marketing and Business development, then connect with me on LinkedIn. If you would be more likely to learn from BTS of a Marketing Strategist aka CEO’s day – then check out my Instagram, where I post raw content from tweets; my days and almost every hour is Instagrammed btw.
I hope you liked the blog. Make sure to leave your feedback in the comments section. I am looking forward to seeing you on my Social Platform. Until then, Happy marketing!
