So What! Why Should I Buy From You?

by Mace Horoff

You’re excited! Your company has just given you a product or service to sell that
every one of your customers needs. Medical sales people wait months, or even years
for these products or services to be released. This should be a slam-dunk, or as
many product managers like to tell the field sales force, “We have given you a license
to kill!” Before you start “gunning for bear,” make sure you consider your prospect’s
perspective first.

Remember, in the medical sales world, the little voice in your prospect’s head is
probably asking two questions. The first, of course, is WIIFM (what’s in it for me) or
WIIFMP (what’s in it for my patient). The next question is, “Why should I buy from
you?”

Sales people walk around trying to sell their products the same way that their
competitors sell, and then become upset when their prospects treat that product or
service as a commodity. What are you doing to make it less of a commodity and more
of a unique solution to one of your prospect’s problems?

Here is a simple test for when you are practicing your sales presentations (you do
practice your sales presentations before actually giving them, right?). Every time you
make a statement about your product or service in your sales presentation, give it the
“so what” test. The “so what” test is simple. Just ask yourself, can the prospect, when
he or she is comparing your offering to what he or she already has, say “so what?”
“So what” implies that what they are using already has that feature, or every company’s
product has that feature, or should have that feature.

Another way to look at the test, is to be able to nullify the “so what” if they should say
it. Let’s say that your product comes in 8 different sizes. So what! Everybody who
makes your product makes at least 8 different sizes. But what if you make 8 different
sizes and each of these sizes are completely interchangeable with the other
components in your product line – something your competitors cannot state. You now
have a way to pass the so what test!

What it comes down to quite simply, is what reasons are you giving your prospect to
buy from you? If you can present your product in a way that positions it as unique,
then you have a shot at a sale. But if the customer perceives it as just a “me too”
product, then you are probably just wasting both your time and his. Try the “so what”
test the next time you prepare a presentation. Chances are, you will create a more
compelling argument for why your prospects should buy from you.