How to Gain Product Knowledge
Master the promotion of your product’s USPs and benefits!
As a sales pro, you’re not just selling a product, you’re selling your company and everything that goes into manufacturing, managing, and dispersing what they offer. This is why it’s so critical to understand your organization from top to bottom so that potential buyers are never left with a question that you can’t answer.
Your team is relying on you to keep the lights on. Make sure you’re leaning on them to elevate your understanding of your products and processes. Here are some tips on gaining product knowledge to improve your conversions and better address your buyers’ needs:
Become your own customer
Walking in your customers’ shoes is much easier when you’ve genuinely been in their position. The best products solve a problem and if you can relate to the relief that your product provides, you’ll have a much easier time relaying that experience to potential customers.
Understand features AND benefits
Start internally in your search for your products' unique features and specifications. Meet with your product team to truly understand the nuts and bolts of what goes into making your product functional and irreplaceable. Nobody should understand your company’s products better than the team that engineers and manages them.
Having a strong understanding of how your product works are great for confidently answering customer questions, but sales happen when you’re able to convey the benefits your product provides. Customers won’t always have the knowledge or interest to truly grasp the statistical relevance, industry lingo, etc., that are included in your product’s features. That’s where highlighting the time that your customer will save or the peace of mind they will experience will have a more profound impact.
Know the process
Once a customer develops an interest in your product, their questions are going to become more specific and actionable.
They’re right there at the end of the customer journey and they just want to know how easy it will be to purchase, acquire, and set up the product in their home, office, car, bike, or elsewhere. Clearing up these last remaining uncertainties and making it that much easier to envision your product in their lives can clinch the sale.
Always make sure you know your company’s financing and purchasing options, what’s in stock, the installation process (if any), or any DIY best practices to make the customer feel informed and excited about their purchase.
Check with team leads and within internal documents to learn your company’s specific procedures for shipping, installation, warranties, etc.
Analyze your competitors
Competition you’ve never heard of is just a Google search away. You should always focus on uplifting your own product first, but learning what your competitors are doing can prevent blind spots in your sales pitch.
Perform a thorough competitive analysis to compile a list of alternative products and their pros and cons in relation to your product. This affords you the opportunity to develop counterpoints that demonstrate why your product is clearly the better choice.
Sales are never truly just one job. That said, exceptional product knowledge will allow you to be the Jack or Jill of all trades to make it work. Give yourself the tools and resources to usher your leads along every step of the customer journey and remember that you have a whole team of coworkers that want you to succeed!
Happy learning!