Circle of Influence

When we're talking to people it's important that we can provide them what they need to be confident. To do this, we often we talk features and benefits. To be frankly honest, not many people know how to talk benefits effectively. But is talking about features and benefits enough? How do you really make that sink in?

 I'd suggest there is another option. I first heard about it from a good friend Daniel Baton from ‘Beyond the Ceiling’ and he called it the ‘Circle of Influence’. It adds two missing pieces that I think make a big difference to sales.  

You start with the feature then you talk about the benefit, but then you need to add proof because there is that part of all humans that wants to know what we’re saying is true. The last part that you add is relevance. Now we know what it does, we know why it's a benefit, you proven it can do what you say it does and now you've also shown that it's something we need and want. That completes the Circle of Influence.

Let’s use learning more about sales techniques as an example. The feature is how to influence people. The benefit is that if you can do that then people will come on board with you far more often. The proof is that we found that the last ten people who have tried this, have had great success. They’ve come back and reported that clients questioned less, raised less objections. The relevance is that learning sales techniques has increased these ten people’s sales and it will increase your sales too.

The feature, the benefit, the proof, and the relevance.

 You might tell a client that "this particular model comes in seven different colours. That means that it will blend beautifully with your surroundings. While it's being functional and effective for you, it's also very discreet and it's not something that your customers and people will see. We found that our other clients have really appreciated that because it's just blended in beautifully with their theming and branding. We know that you just spend a lot of money on your branding, and you just redesigned all your shops, so naturally being able to pick from seven colours is great for you."

 The feature, the benefit, the proof, and the relevance.

If you work with that Circle of Influence you will find that your customers come on board much more readily.

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