[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By David Marshall – CEO of chatmarshal.com, outsourced website live chat services

This article will show you how to increase your sales by using a simple test to ensure that you are targeting the right people, with the right product, at the right time.

The 5 Why’s

I had heard of the 5 why’s in business to help work out process or production problems. Quite simply, the 5 Why’s is an iterative interrogative technique used to explore the cause-and-effect relationships underlying a particular problem. The primary goal of the technique is to determine the root cause of a defect or problem by repeating the question “Why?”. Each answer forms the basis of the next question.

This got me thinking about business start-ups and businesses launching new products and services. How can such businesses analyse where the low hanging fruit can be found or why a product isn’t selling or isn’t selling fast enough?

Large businesses have research departments and big budgets for this sort of thing, but most smaller businesses have to rely solely on gut feel. I am sure many businesses have gone broke on gut feel…

Why your prospect doesn’t buy

There are many reasons why people don’t buy a product or service, but PRIORITY is really the big one I focus on. They won’t buy your product or service because it’s not a priority for them – or at least a perceived priority. This may be due to you speaking to the wrong person, or because your service/product is really not needed in their business.

Here is a really silly example but please play along with me. Imagine you designed a fax machine that doubled as a laptop stand (it saves space and looks amazing), but there are no sales coming in. You love fax machines and the technology and simplicity is dear in your heart.

But here is the challenge: No one needs a fax machine! It is not instrumental to the success of their businesses. However, Internet and Email IS! You cannot operate a business without some sort of email service and internet connectivity, making these services a priority.

By following my method, you could have saved a lot of time and money in R&D and perhaps developed an internet router that has an email storage, backup server, fax to email and mini printer all in one, fitting neatly under your laptop for better ergonomic use.

But a fax machine on its own is not a good product, no matter how well designed.

Introducing the PETT=S process

Below is the process I came up with that can be used on any product or service. I call it “Love your PETT=S”.

By simply changing the language I used, I started to see my products in a different light. Instead of saying “I have this great outsourced live chat service and anyone with a website would love to have my live chat and use my service.” –  I changed the statement into a question: “I have this great outsourced live chat service SO WHY WOULDN’T anyone with a website love to have my live chat and use my service?”.

Rather than pondering the reasons why people will buy from me, I asked instead, “why would a person not want to do business with my company?”

I then broke it down into four sections and put a rating against each, as you will see in the table below.

Product, Expense, Target and Trust, ultimately resulting in a Sale. Hence the acronym PETT=S.

Below is the methodology as well as a table you can use for your own products and services.

Product

Put yourself in the position of the prospect. Ask yourself these questions:

• What’s in it for me if I bought this product?
• would it enhance my business and generate a return?
• On a scale of 0 to 5, how important is your product to the prospect?

If their business could not operate without it give yourself a 5. If you give yourself 3 or less then you are targeting the wrong people or your product is not needed.

In my live chat business for instance, I realised that not everyone needed live chat. I thought that any business that has a website would want a live chat service, full managed and operated 24 hours per day. I was wrong! I misjudged businesses that only had a website as an electronic brochure. They didn’t get traffic and it wasn’t a priority for them. So there was no need for me to target low traffic website owners.

Expense

The price of a product or service must always be justified against the need for the product. Expense can be in the form of either money or time. If the product is cost-effective but takes up the consumer’s time, the time expense may still be too high.

Imagine you sell software that is amazing, will help the prospect and is a low-cost solution. The problem may come in the changeover from their existing system and new training for every staff member. In other words, it is such a big project that the benefit needs to be huge. Your focus should be on making the implementation and changeover easy and seamless.

Ask yourself, on a scale of 0 to 5, how does your price compare to competitors’ value given or the benefit vs. cost perception?

Again, my live chat product was inexpensive but not everyone needed it.

Correct targeting will solve the two questions above. Let’s imagine that no matter what you are selling there is a target

Target

Consider the age-old marketing question: Are you targeting the right people?

Once your product and price have been analysed, the next question is: Do the people you are calling on have a need for your offering in the first place? In my methodology Target and Product questions are linked together. There’s no point trying to sell hamburgers to vegetarians for instance, or a car service plan to someone who takes the bus.

You need to target businesses that need your product or service at 4 or 5 on your scale, and who see the exchange at 4 or 5.

After reviewing your product and price and having defined your target, you will move on to trust.

Trust

With all the noise and clutter out there and fly-by-night companies, trust is now more important than ever. If you have managed to convince a prospect that they need your product, a good buyer would immediately research the market to see if they can get the same product from a supplier they already trust. It is vital that your campaign includes marketing if it is to build trust for your brand, product or yourself.

Once you have done the hard work of getting the buy-in of your company or product, it is vitally important that your target only wants it from you. Here is an example: Let’s imagine you sell financial services and you have developed a great savings plan for any parent with a new born child. It is a savings plan that allows you to contribute a small amount of money for 17 years and then at the end you get a massive lump sum to send your child to any university they want, fully funded.

Imagine your prospects are blown away by this. But after researching, they find that their current broker has something similar so they just decide to do the same with their current supplier, as its far less paperwork.

You need to convince the prospect that your product cannot be matched and is well worth the paperwork. The big question is: Why would they buy from you and not a competitor?

Sale

The final piece of the puzzle is the S for SALE. My theory goes that if you can get 5 out of 5 for every aspect of the PETT model, then every single meeting will end in a sale. Your prospect needs your product, can afford it and trusts you 100%.

Below is the table I use on every product I sell. Have a look at how the entire process comes together:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][wpsm_comparison_table id=”1″ class=””][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]If ChatMarshal could target the right people (Not just companies) and score 5 out of 5 for every prospect we approached then every meeting would result in a sale.

Conclusion

When embarking on a new project make sure to do the homework. The PETT=S approach is a very powerful way to make sure you are not wasting your time and resources, but that you are in fact developing a valuable solution that will provide the type of results you are hoping for.

Click the button below to download the template above that you can use for future projects, and do not hesitate to make contact if you have any questions or comments.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]