Thursday, June 9, 2011

There’s a Simple Secret to Selling More Foals

And it’s one you can easily learn to apply on your own farm!
(Today's article was written for the mini-horse industry,  so substitute you kind of animals wherever it mentions horses--a reminder)

The “Secret” is sometimes called the first principle of marketing. Also referred to as the difference between features and benefits. Features are facts about you or your horses. They are hard-core accurate information. A feature might be the fact that you’ve been raising miniature horses for 20 years . A feature might be about show wins (facts). A feature is color or conformation or gait or personality (all facts). A benefit is why a fact would matter to your buyer! Facts engage the buyer’s head. Benefits pluck his heart strings! Benefits sell more foals!

So the secret to selling more foals is simply to change your focus from yourself and your horses (the facts) and make the customer the center of your marketing! How do you do that?

It takes changing how you think. We are all used to thinking and talking about ourselves. All humans are self-centered by nature. But for the most part, the potential customers out there don’t much care about you. He’s self-centered too. To reach him effectively, you need to appeal to his self interest! He only knows he wants to feel better in some way. Your marketing job is to tell him how he’ll get that better feeling when he owns your foal, when he gets mentored by you and your experience.

Selling with the benefits is the beginning of better marketing. To make it effective, you have to practice this new way of looking at your customers. Start by listing a few facts about the animal you currently have for sale. Then ask yourself why any of those facts matter to a potential buyer.

Feelings (benefits) that people might be looking for:
Enjoyment
Convenience
Admiration of peers
More marketable offspring (profit)
Companionship
Notoriety
Comfort
Security

One fact about your foal might have more than one benefit. It may appeal to different customers for different reasons. It pays to know who you’re talking to. If it’s a family who wants a miniature horse to pull a cart or a farm who wants to get into the show ring—your approach needs to be different for each. Just remember, each reader of your ads – on some level -- is saying to himself, “What’s in it for me?” Your initial exposure to him must catch his attention by answering that question for him!

“Quality Foal at such-n-such farm” is pretty ho-hum!

“Your pipeline to tri-color ribbons just arrived at such-n-such farm” tells a reader why he’d want to read more!

When you can speak to potential customers about why their lives get better by doing business with you, you’ll sell more foals!

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