Selling Intangible Products and Services

When it comes to sales, the act of selling, and being called a sales person, it’s hard enough! I know you’re saying to yourself that you know how hard it is to sell an insurance policy, or to sell a piece of software the client will never actually touch in his or her hands. But seriously, what does it take? This article is a skim view on the art of selling intangible items and services. I’ll try to keep it short and sweet so I don’t lose my friends with short attention spans.

The most important thing to remember about intangible items is that the customer will never actually have the product on their hands. Hence the name intangible. Aside from the obvious, the client or customer will never feel the sense of purchase, meaning they won’t get that feeling of gratification you get when you buy a sandwich at your local sub shop.

As a sales person, your job is to make that client/customer get that same feeling. There are alot of ways of getting around to doing that, but the simplest one is to simply paint a picture in their minds. The same way a poet does with their writings, you can do with your words. For example, I was in the process of signing a $35,000 yearly premium life insurance application with a client and his wife. Now, realize that they are about to pay me a $33,000ish commission for telling them how good whole life insurance is and what it’s going to do for their family. Don’t get me wrong, I look nice too. But that’s alot of money, regardless of how rich you are.

Now as a sales person, I had to think of a way of telling my clients that the money being paid is going to be used for their benefit and their benefit only. They don’t care to know I’ll go buy a $2,000 flat screen TV the second they sign those papers. The only thing they want to know is how much value they’ll be getting out of their money. [LESSON] A good lesson I learned when I was younger is that the only way you’ll make money is by adding value, to whomever, add value and you’ll make money. [/LESSON] Value! Value! Value! They understood that the life insurance policy they just paid for is going to protect their family for life, grow faster than the stock market (don’t quote me), they car borrow against it, etc etc etc.

So value, show them value and they will buy. TM SalesVeteran.com =]