People will pay money to have their problems solved. If you want to be successful selling your services to your target market, make sure you offer
solutions to their problems. If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend you do some thorough market research to find out exactly what kind of problems your target market has. This is both critical and fundamental to your sales success.
How do you find these problems? Here are a few suggestions:
1.
Brainstorm all the problems you think your target market has. Make a list and carry it with you. Keep adding to it as ideas come to you. Even include problems you think you can't solve. You will see why further down.
2.
Ask your current clients. Call or email them and have a conversation about this. People love to talk about their problems. You will be surprised at the response.
3.
Ask some people who decided not to do business with you. They will appreciate that you have taken the time to really understand their issues and will see that you are dedicated to your market research. It may surprise you but just doing this may convert some to clients (but please don�t think about that when you are asking them).
4.
Ask your ezine and newsletter readers. Do a survey. There are free resources for this, such as surveymonkey.com
5.
Ask your website visitors. Put a survey on your website and ask your visitors what their top 3 problems or challenges are. To encourage them to complete the survey, offer a free ebook or report.
6.
Hang out with your target market at their events. Join their associations. Go to their conferences, meetings and other programs. Sign up for their newsletters.
7.
Hang out with your target market on the Internet. Join target market groups on Yahoo or Google. Just do a search on groups in your target market; there are plenty of great groups out there.
8.
Discover the kinds of books your target market is buying and what problems the books are solving. Browse subjects on Amazon and look at the top sellers in your category. Go to Clickbank.com, the biggest seller of e-books, and see what topics are hot.
9.
Look at your successful competitors� websites. Read their web copy. Read their sales letters. Subscribe to their newsletters. What problems are they highlighting?
Once you have this list (the longer the better), categorize it into 2 lists: the problems you have the expertise to solve, and the ones you don�t.
For the problems you can solve, decide on the top 3 or 4. Look to see if others on your list are really just sub-categories of these main ones. They might be.
For the problems you can�t solve, think about forming alliances with people who can solve them. This could become another potential source of income!
Make sure the wording you use to describe the problems is the same as what is used by people in your target market. To connect with your target market, you will need to use their language, not yours, so phrase problems accordingly.
By doing this research, you will not only find out what problems your target market are having but you will start to think like your target market. You will start to understand them. People will buy from someone who understands their needs.
Doing this research definitely takes time but the rewards are potentially huge. My promise to you is that if you are clear about the problems you are solving for your target market, selling will become markedly easier for you.
By the way, this should be an ongoing process!
© Copyright 2005,Tessa Stowe, Sales Conversation Pty Ltd.
