How to Sell Your Services in Any Market, According to Brian Colpak
No matter how good your product or service is, your company is doomed to fail if no one is willing to buy.
Brian Colpak believes that entrepreneurs can learn to successfully sell their services in any market if they follow these simple steps. Selling can seem like a complicated and daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be.
Know the Problem
Start by thinking of your business as a problem solver rather than products or services it offers. Everything you are selling will be solving a problem that customers have. The key is truly understanding what that problem is.
Each company will be solving a different problem. Sometimes, multiple products or services produced by one company could solve other problems.
No matter the case, you must first grasp what the problem is that you’re solving for your customers before you can effectively sell to them. This will help you convey the value of your product or service when you’re trying to sell.
Know the Target Audience
Once you’ve defined the problem, you need to identify the target audience. Ask yourself who is most likely to benefit from your product or service.
The answer to this question should be multi-faceted. In essence, you’ll be building a customer persona that includes things such as your customers’ age, gender, income, and education level, location, and family situation — among other characteristics.
The more specific you can be, the more effective you’ll be at selling to them. Defining your customer as a 50-year-old male isn’t very helpful, nor is saying they live in New York City. Both of those examples are too generic to draw any conclusions.
Know the Competitive Advantage
What separates your product or service from the competition? This is the question that every one of your potential customers will likely ask themselves before they make a purchase.
Their thought will be, why should I buy this product or service over another company’s similar product or service. You should have a clearly-defined answer to that question.
Your competitive advantage can be price. It can have a warranty. It can be the quality of the product or service, backed by years of experience in the field.
Effectively communicating your competitive advantage is key to selling consistently.
Create Messaging That Reflects This
Consistent messaging is essential when you’re selling. This messaging should speak directly to your target audience, explicitly explaining how your product or service will solve their problem and why it’s better than any product or service offered by your competitors.
This messaging should be used in marketing materials and integrated into pitches you give during presentations or cold calls.
Create a Well-Rounded Sales Plan
Brian Colpak says all entrepreneurs should create a well-rounded plan for how they will attract customers. This can include traditional and modern marketing techniques such as online content marketing, digital advertising, and print advertising.
Depending on your industry, product, or services, it should also integrate email marketing, inbound and outbound selling to current and prospective customers, and even cold calling.
By having a solid plan in place, you’ll be better equipped to sell your valuable products or services to customers in any market.
About Brian Colpak
Brian Colpak is a tech entrepreneur and the founder of Continental Global. After spending most of his career in managerial positions, he founded and led a company recognized as one of the top 100 fastest growing companies in Massachusetts before starting his current company. These days his main focus is on an upcoming project in Dubai.