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Part 4.3 - Knowledge Power: Product Knowledge

In the previous 2 newsletters we mentioned the 3 types of knowledge that professional salespeople must have if they are ever to reach their potential for themselves and for their organizations they sell for. At the risk of repeating myself one last time, they are:

1. Product knowledge
2. People persuasion skills
3. Self knowledge management.

Finally today we will scrutinize the important role that product knowledge (P.K.) plays in selling. We will look at the key elements required to become proficient in P.K. to ensure that you build confidence and credibility in the eyes of your customers.

The value of product knowledge
The number one reason P.K is favoured by salespeople, sales mangers and customers alike is because when one is proficient and conversant in the knowledge of the services and products you sell, this builds credibility and your customer’s confidence in you and your organization.

Your knowledge of the product and its applications, as well as being well versed on the industry as a whole including your competitor’s products, their advantages and disadvantages, and the value added services your company offers also helps to differentiate you and your organization from your competitors.

Next to building credibility and customer confidence in you and your organization, one’s self confidence as a salesperson is often interwoven with having an in-depth understanding of your subject. The more we know, the more certainty we feel and the more we speak with conviction and the more convincing we often become.

The problem with product knowledge
So whilst it’s easy to understand the value of P.K., problems arise when salespeople hang their hat on it. In other words, they believe that their knowledge of the product is the key element and often the only thing that counts when making a sale. Yes, it is important to know your organization's pricing structure or all the available models and services they provide. It is also immensely valuable for you to understand the product distribution and delivery process and even the products uses and applications. It may even be appropriate and helpful for you to be aware of the product's history and special manufacturing processes. Not to mention knowledge of your competitors and your company's warranty and repair information.

However, and here’s the rub re: P.K., all this knowledge will not necessarily determine whether or not you will make the sale. The key to using P.K. as a tool rather than a club is to understand its applications and the variety of problems that your product/service solves. In other words, the features and even the benefits of your product or service are worthless until you understand how to apply them as solutions to the customer’s problems. You must understand how your organization's pricing structure, services, distribution and delivery process, special manufacturing processes and warranty and repair program help solve a key problem that your customer is facing.

Making product knowledge relevant
Before you can apply even the best solutions for your customer, you must understand exactly which of their issues they need to solve. There are two types of P.K:

• Point of Entry info – This is the information, the features and the benefits that your product/service is expected to have. This is most likely to be the information that the prospective buyer already knows... it is what’s required to even be in the game.

• Point of Difference info - This is the information, the features and the benefits that sets your product/service apart from all the rest. This is the stuff that your prospective buyer will be willing to pay for. Here your role is to convert the qualitative aspects of the product/service into qualitative value, as perceived by the prospective buyer.

So a simple example of this is... A pair of AA batteries:

Point of Entry info – To power up a remote control for the Nintendo Wii gaming console. The expectation is that with average use, 10 hrs per week they should last 2.5 weeks.

Point of Difference info – the ABCXYZ AA battery has been specifically designed for gaming remote controls and will last, with average use, 10 hrs per week, 5 weeks. This means that one will only need to replace the batteries once per month as opposed to roughly twice. As a parent, then you only need to include AA batteries on your monthly shopping list. Using the ABCXYZ AA battery will save the average gamer $2.80 per month even though they cost an additional $3.00 upfront.

 

When it comes to selling in a B2B environment you must be able to answer specifically how your service or product ...

• makes the customer money

• saves the customer money

• reduces their risk

• helps them to optimize and get more from their current method.

Once you have identified which of the above issues your customer is looking to improve, you must be able to calculate the dollar benefit that your solution will offer. Even a rough “back of the envelope dollar calculation” will put you ahead of your competition. “Show them the money!” Demonstrate clearly how they will “profit from the use of your product/service”, after all the chances are great that your prospect most likely has to make the sale to someone/s else and if they cannot validate their decision with dollars, the chances are great that your potential sale will flounder and eventually die!

 

When it comes to selling to the consumer market your solution will need to appeal to one of the following key drivers... (As pointed out by marketer extraordinaire, Roy Garn)

• Self preservation

• Romance

• Money

• Recognition

Or you can identify with the famous five emotional drivers, according to Elmer Wheeler who coined the phrase “sell the sizzle, not the steak!”

• Importance – People’s need to feel superior.

• Appreciation - To quote marketer Joe Vitale, “people leave their jobs and their spouses to find this hot button elsewhere.”

• Approval - The need to be liked by others.

• Ease – people are generally lazy and want things quick and easy.

• Success – What does success mean to the individual? That’s what they want!

Remember this when next you’re about to sprout off about your product/ service: your P.K. is to help your prospective customer untie the knot which they are in. They will more than likely already have some understanding of what your product broadly does; therefore your role is to fill in the gaps. The only way you can know which gaps to fill is by asking them about their needs and requirements first! You do this before you jump in and begin to demonstrate all your company's wonderful products and services.

 

In conclusion

The purpose of P.K. is to help the customer solve a particular problem or to help them accomplish a particular objective. Only once you know exactly what their problem or goal is can you even attempt to provide them with a possible solution. To find out how you can avoid delivering a premature presentation about your products/services, before you’ve been able to clearly identify a prospect's needs, read a previous newsletter which addresses this exact issue.

 

 

A Little Bit Extra...

How come newbies sell with only limited knowledge?
How is it that newbies, with very limited P.K. can go out and make sales? Only this last week I heard from one of my clients who has a brand new territory manager, who has only been on board for 4 weeks and yet has already opened up 3 new accounts as well as making some significant sales from existing customers.”Beginners luck” I hear you say! Maybe....or maybe not.

 

The 4 levels of learning
The Conscious Competence Ladder (A learning model that is attributed to many different possible originators) explains the process and stages of learning a new skill, behaviour, ability or technique. This simple model also helps to explain why new people often tend to kick goals so soon out of the induction box. In this learning model, the learner or trainee begins at step 1, the base of the ladder. Level 1 is called the 'unconscious incompetence' phase. Learning ends when a learner reaches the 4th Level known as the 'unconscious competence’ level. To get to the top rung of the learning ladder, the learner will need to pass through the middle levels - 'conscious incompetence' and 'conscious competence'.

At level 1, the unconscious incompetence stage of the learning ladder, “you don't know that you don't know”! In other words at this level as a beginner you are blissfully ignorant. In most instances you have a complete lack of knowledge and skills on the subject in question. In addition, you are most likely even unaware of this lack of skill. The good news is that your confidence often far exceeds your abilities. When my son first sat in the driver’s seat, busting to drive his brand new manual (stick-shift) motor car, he needed no motivation. What he lacked was skill. It was only after repeated stalls and gear grinding that he came to the realisation that in fact he was incompetent. He had now reached the second level of learning, 'conscious incompetence'.

Now let’s think about the newbie. In the majority of cases they are fired up and excited and can’t wait to get out and sell. At this point of unconscious incompetence, they don’t know all the customer objections and concerns. They are not yet jaded by the product/service or the company’s ability to back up their promises. They “don't even know that they don't even know what they are doing!” Hence it’s their energy and enthusiasm that carries them through many of those early sales successes.

Unfortunately for so many salespeople, this honeymoon phase doesn’t last for too long and before you know it they hit the second level of their learning, 'conscious incompetence'. Now they have become aware that they don’t know what they are doing!

 At the 'conscious incompetence' level they discover that there is much knowledge and skill they need to learn. The newbie observes others and discovers how much more competent they are than themselves. Unfortunately for most of the newbies this 'conscious incompetence' realisation of their limited ability manifests itself in a lack of confidence, and with a faltering in confidence comes a slowdown in sales production! Often promising sales careers end at this point. However if the individual is suitably motivated to push through the discomfort of being consciously incompetent they will eventually reach the next learning level called ‘Conscious Competence’

At this level of ‘conscious competence’ the learner has acquired the new skills and knowledge. They will put your learning into practice and the more they do, the greater their level of confidence. They can now begin the task of refining their new skills and knowledge. At this level the learner is still concentrating on their performance, but with continuous practice and ongoing use, the more experience they get, the more things start to become automatic.

When things become completely automatic, the learner has now reached the 4th level of learning, the 'unconscious competence' level. At the level of unconscious competence one's new skills have become habitual. Here, the learner operates on auto pilot and easily performs without any conscious effort. It is at this point where the learner reaches their peak of confidence and ability, until the company launches a new product line and the learning process begins all over again.

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