If you’re in marketing or sales, you may have taken this test. It’s a really good test. 

For some, it’s exciting. For others, it’s nerve-racking. 

This test is made up of a single object and a single statement. 

The statement is, “Sell me this pen.” 

The object is, well… a basic pen.

Of course, you can respond to this statement anyhow. But an anyhow response isn’t going to compel your audience to buy the pen. So it takes a skillful and knowledgeable marketer or salesperson to convince someone to purchase.

How you answer the question reveals how well you know the principles of effective sales and marketing. A skillful person will do and not do certain things. We invite you to keep reading to learn two principles to elevate your sales.

Features vs. Benefits

 

One of the most common mistakes you can make comes from believing that talking about features will compel your prospect to buy. In reality, talking about benefits causes them to throw their wallets at you. Not literally throw their wallets. You know what we mean.

To quote Alex Cattoni, “A feature is something that your product has or is.” 

To stick with the theme of pens, features would be things like it has erasable ink, it has a self-closing cap, and it’s made of steel. 

To quote Ms. Cattoni again, “… benefits describe the outcome that a user will (hopefully) experience by using your product or service.” 

To play off the features we stated above, instead of saying it has erasable ink, you’d say, enjoy the beauty of ink without the permanence. Instead of saying it’s made of steel, you’d say, if you work a physical job, it won’t break under heavy pressure. And instead of saying it has a self-closing cap, you’d say, clip it to your pockets and never worry about stains appearing.

Meaningful Products

 

A popular British magazine published an article on pens used by some of history’s greatest writers. One of the sections was about Winston Churchill – the Prime Minister who helped defeat Hitler – and his favorite writing tool. When Churchill was in the trenches as a soldier during World War One, he wrote to his wife Clementine, saying, “Send me a new Onoto pen. I have stupidly lost mine.”

In the same article, we learned Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond novels, used a cheap ol’ BIC pen. John Steinbeck, the author of Of Mice and Men, wrote his novels with Palomino Blackwing Pencils (we know they’re not pens, forgive us). 

If you’ve ever shopped for office or art supplies, you’ve probably come across Fleming’s and Steinbeck’s preferred models. And if you’re a fan of these fellas, like we are, the next time you go shopping, you’ll purchase these over other brands. 

Why? 

Because these common writing tools now have meaning; meaning because of their history or heritage. People certainly prefer products that have meaning. We mean, why else would anyone wear crocs? Are they really that cool? It’s got to be a middle-school nostalgia thing. Right?

Want to grow your business and increase your sales? Contact Big Deal Marketing today by clicking here.