Selling Software: The 5 P's Of Persuasion

Sales is a largely intuitive process, but using a framework can make a salesperson more successful

. Of the many methods devised for selling, one of the simplest and most reliable to follow is the 5 P's of persuasion. This method is more commonly used by copywriters (and known as the 4 P's), but it is also easily adapted to personal selling. There is also a very useful fifth P that should be added to that mix (pain).

Promise - Begin by making a big promise. Not an outlandish promise, but a wonderful promise that is guaranteed to grab the attention of anyone who is a realistic prospect. If someone is not a realistic prospect, ignore them. The purpose of the promise is to get attention. It should be framed in terms of a problem that will be solved for them, or a benefit that will be gained, for example, "Reduce your customer support costs by 30%, the easy way."

Pain - As is often said, people decide emotionally and justify rationally. The purpose of bringing in pain is to evoke the negative emotional feelings the prospect currently has that your product will cure. There are few motivators as powerful as the prospect of ending pain. Remind the prospect of their current pain, for example, "What's worse than an angry customer? A backlog of angry customers."

Picture - Paint the picture of how life will be better when the promise has been fulfilled. The purpose of painting the picture is to bring more life to the promise to reveal its full value. Don't assume your prospects will be able to imagine all the ways that life will be better - you need to help them. Paint the picture by evoking visual and emotional benefits, for example, "Imagine printing a list of thank you notes from customers you supported - and then giving it to your boss!"

Proof - If you've done a reasonable job of going through the previous P's, the prospect should be getting interested by now. The natural progression of a person's thinking when they hear of something good is that they will start to wonder if it's for real. The purpose of proof is to answer that for them by proving you can indeed deliver on your promise. There is nothing more effective for doing this than customer testimonials - with full names, titles and company names. If at all possible get these. The next most effective forms of proof are certifications of different kinds - the more specific to the problem the better. Certification in a particular technology, or certification as a business partner of a prominent company are good. Another form of proof for individuals is to be a published author or speaker. A different form of proof is to reveal information about your product that proves it fulfills your promise - this is one of the roles of demos or screenshots.

usP - Unique selling proposition. By this point, once you've gone through the other P's, and the prospect is now reasonably convinced you can deliver your promise, the next question in their mind is whether you are the best solution available to them. The purpose of explaining your USP is to answer that for them by explaining what makes you and your solution unique, why that's important, and why they need look no further. A part of your USP might be, "Our customer support software was developed after consultation with psychologists about optimizing the feelings of customers needing support." You are trying to give them some rational reasons to support their emotional desire to buy from you.

Sometimes as sales people we can get in a rut, or we can be without a rudder when approaching a new prospect. Using these 5 P's will always give you a reliable approach that creates a smooth process to closing more sales.

by: Steve Kilner

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