Benefits of conceptual selling

Selling a product or service is an engaging process. It is easier to demonstrate the features and functionality. It may also be easier to point out the shortcomings of the competitors’ offerings. But in this cut-throat competitive environment, value and concept selling is the flavour of the season. Especially when you sell professional services. Since it is not a tangible product, its attributes are not directly visible to the buyer. You cannot get a customer to ‘touch and feel’ a service.

That makes selling an idea tougher. Intangible services such as data and communication migration, consulting services, E-Commerce, software, managed services etc. cannot be ‘checked out’ or ‘taken for a test drive’. Here, trust and credibility play a pivotal role towards a deal closure.

So, how do you establish a connection between your product / service and the customer?

Welcome the concept of conceptual selling. Instead of specifically selling a product or service, conceptual selling refers to the prospect’s concept of a product or service and relating it to solve the consumer’s problems.

Key benefits of conceptual selling:

• Increases sales and conversions
• Shortens the span of sales cycles
• Builds and maintains customer relationships
• Increases the average deal size
• Builds a larger customer base, through word of mouth publicity
• Increases productivity of the sales team and boosts morale

Major stepping stones to successful conceptual selling:

• Listening: Understand the consumers’ problems. Use engaging and interactive content on your website and social media pages to gauge the mindset of people. Get your sales teams to prospect well and do proper research. Do not be in a hurry to pitch.

• Make it personal: People shop to make their lives easier and better. Communicate well how your offering can help solve their problems. People like to buy from and be associated with people they like and trust. Use reliable, relevant, useful and innovative content for your social media pages to display your knowledge of the industry. This will instill trust in your brand. Let people share your content on their social media pages. Make it a personal journey for them.

• Keep it simple: In this dynamic world, we all have our own share of complexities to deal with. So, be simple to reach out to more people and connect with them. Your message must be simple and clear.

• Track progress: Be very transparent throughout the sales cycle. Let your clients know everything about the solution (s) that you are offering them. Inform them about nuances involved in the services being offered to them. Educate them about the freebies that they will be getting and how to utilize them well.

• Amplify the trivia: Little things matter. Highlight small differentiators between your and the competitors’ offerings. Speak about how the little things will make a difference in their lives and make them easier. Make them comfortable with the minute details, so that the bigger picture becomes a part of their lives. Use relevant and fresh content to convey your messages, wherever required.

• Articulate returns and profit: After all, its all about the money. An idea needs moolah to develop and implement. Whiteboards, presentations, roadmaps, plans and strategies are all great ways to brainstorm ideas, conceptualize and visualize them. But, the major and common motivator for all stakeholders is money. Articulate the effect on the balance sheets, profits and ROI. Your pitch should include how your client is going to save money by using your solution (s). That will make it easier for them to sell it to their management as well as relevant internal cross-functional teams.

• Sell comfort: People shell money to buy peace of mind. Your solution should illustrate how it will make your client’s’ lives safer, better, easier and more comfortable. People have a long list of worries on their lists – families, homes, loans, other finances, health, lifestyle, professional lives etc. Your aim should be to strike off a few items from this list.

Final Verdict

In reality, it is actually about being a good storyteller. Narrate stories of how your product / service helped others and how well it can assist your present client. You can only make them visualize when you have visualized the entire scenario yourself, i.e. – your solution implemented at the customers’ site.

Make backup contingency plans in case of failures. If you articulate the entire concept to solve the customers’ issues and provide a financial safety net, your service will become more of a necessity than an option for them. That is a job well done.