… That helps my headaches.
At least, that’s how a happy client might describe Myra’s services to a friend – she’s a holistic health practitioner. Trouble is – “a zappy thing that helps my headaches” – is not very helpful to Myra.
What if, after working on her clients, Myra said, “When you tell others about me, I’d love for you to say I help women with persistent head and neck pain to relieve it without the use of liver-damaging medications.”
Whew, much better. Why exactly? Well, there are a few reasons.
First, it brings the attention of her patients to the value they’ve just received. They’ll think to themselves, “Wow, she’s right! I haven’t had to take anything out of my medicine cabinet in quite a while.”
Second, Myra turns each client into a referral machine – someone evangelizing about the benefits of Myra’s services.
Being specific about benefits is crucial for so many reasons:
- Benefits arenot obvious!
- People may not value the same things about a service
- It’s affirming for the buyer to read the benefits and discover, “Oh yes, those ARE the things I love about this!”
- When you collect testimonials, you’ll find clients use same words to describe the benefits – without being prompted
- Happy buyers share their love of the service more frequently and effusively when they can describe them easily – because you’ve done it for them. :)
Some of my clients find it difficult to identify and articulate the benefits of what they’re selling. Turns out, it isn’t obvious after all, especially for service businesses.
One way I identify benefits is by looking at what someone will be able to do, be or have after working with us.
Myra’s clients will be able to get back to their busy lives, pain-free. They will be more present for their work, life, friends and family. They’ll have freedom to pursue activities without worrying about getting interrupted by pain.
Sometimes, when I unpack the benefits they deliver, my clients will gasp and look at me as if I’ve done a magic trick.
(You probably see the same thing when your clients experience the benefits of what you do.)
But I’ve just asked a few simple questions. When you answer them, the benefits are … yes, I’ll say it: obvious!
Discover the right questions during my free training: How to Get Perfect Clients to Say “OMG, I Need to Work with You!”
In this training workshop you’ll discover:
- EXACTLY what to say to have perfect clients reaching for your card in seconds
- The 4 WORST ways to talk about what you do that drive away clients and drive DOWN your prices!
- The ingenious, time-saving tool that practically writes your website, presentations and marketing materials for you
- How to go from self-intro to “OMG, I need to work with you!” with messages that explain your full value without any icky selling
