How to Sell a Product or Service in 3 Easy Steps

So Here’s How To Sell A Product The Easier Way!

We’ve all seen The Wolf of Wall Street clip where Leo says, “Sell me this pen.”

A lot of people in that situation would start describing the pen, why it’s great, how it has longer-lasting ink, how it costs less than other pens on the market…

…but the response given in the movie was, “Write your name down on that napkin for me.”

To which Leo replied, “I can’t, I don’t have a pen.”

Supply and demand. 

We talk a lot on this blog about the marketing funnel and how you need to build a relationship with consumers before you ask them to make a purchase. 

But what about when they are in the bottom of your funnel? How do you ask for the sale? How do you close?

We’re going to show you why that scene from The Wolf of Wall Street makes sense.

As well as how to apply the principles from it to your business and how to sell a product or service no matter what the industry is. 

So for a lot of small business owners, they understand the idea that it takes time to build rapport with an audience.

And that you have to build brand-consumer trust before you can expect them to buy from you and so on. 

But there is often a sense of urgency going on at the same time in that you need to make money.

Your business needs to generate some sales if it’s going to continue. 

So in this post, we’re going to cut straight to that moment in the marketing funnel where it’s time to sell your product or service.

And get into how to go about that effectively. 

Because a lot of times, business owners have laid the foundation, they’ve wooed their customers through the marketing funnel…

…but then get to the bottom of it where it’s time to get the sale, and don’t get it.

So if that’s where you’re at or you’ve had trouble getting over that hump in the past, read this post till the end…

…because we’re sharing 3 important steps you can take today and learn how to sell a product or service.

3 Easy Steps On How To Sell A Product Or Service

Step 1: Make a list of these three things.
Step 2: Create a video that preemptively addresses all of these things.
Step 3: Advertise the video.

Step 1: Make a list of these three things.

This includes all the objections someone could have to buying your product or service, the pain points they may be struggling with…

…and/or the goal they want to achieve that would lead them to want the solution you provide.

Make 3 columns, objections, pain points, and goals from your customer’s point of view and write them down.

Now, transparently at this point in the marketing funnel, you should already have made a list of your customer’s pain points and goals earlier on.

Like, before you even launched your marketing campaign.

So if you haven’t done that yet, it could be that your foundation is off and that’s why you’re not getting sales now. 

So if you need help determining what your audience’s goals and pain points are as they relate to your product or service…

…you can check out our post on target marketing example next.

Writing down objections to your product may be something you haven’t done yet though.

So it’s important to really put yourself in your customer’s shoes and understand what may be causing them not to purchase.

As you’re making your list, you may find that your objections split into two categories: technical and subjective. 

a. Technical objections

These could be things like:

• your checkout process isn’t working,
• your website is confusing to navigate, or
• maybe your page is taking too long to load making people bounce.

These are all things that can be fixed immediately with some edits to your website.

b. Subjective objections

The other category of objections, however, are things you need to address in your content and ads. These are things like:

• skepticism,
• misunderstandings,
• put-offs, or
• things your audience specifically doesn’t like about your product or service.

If you do a quick Google search, you’ll find that these are the top 7 most common objections to sales. 

1. Price
2. Complacency
3. Fear of change
4. Trust
5. Family connections and promises
6. External input
7. Timing

So take these and apply them to your business when making your list of objections.

And you should really try to nail down what specifically is preventing people from purchasing from you.

Once you have all of this information written down, let’s move on to the next step on how to sell your product or service.

Step 2: Create a video that preemptively addresses all of these things. 

So let’s unpack that. 

First of all, note that we did not say create a blog, or a graphic, or a post – we specifically said create a video.

That is because video is what’s working no matter if you’re B2C or B2B and no matter what platform you’re advertising on. 

There is a lot of research out there to back that up and we’ve got several posts covering that research that explain why and how video works so well…

…so we’re not going to rehash all of that info again in this post. 

But when talking about how to sell a product or service, you just need to know that video is the medium you want to use. 

If you’re not using video, then there’s already room for improvement.

And if you’re thinking, “I don’t have professional video equipment!”

You don’t need it. If you have a smartphone, you can make an effective video. 

Some studies have shown that less-than-polished videos outperform studio videos anyway! 

That’s because people are more receptive to transparency than perfection these days.

We actually have a tutorial here on how to design short Facebook video ads, so if you’re interested in learning that, be sure to read it next.

Now let’s talk about what your video needs to include.

We mentioned that it should “preemptively address” all of the objections and pain points in the list you just made. 

So what does that look like?

Let’s look at this ad we saw scrolling down our home feed on Instagram. There are no words or narration in the video, no subtitles. 

It’s just a video of the product in action- a cleaning tool that gets hair up out of anything, carpet, stairs, shirts, etc. 

And then at the end of the video, it hits you with a sale discount and a CTA to shop now with a link to the site.

If you’re a wife and homeowner with 1 dog, this ad would have a huge potential of catching your attention as someone who likes to keep a clean home. 

Imagine parents or multi-generational households seeing this ad or people with shedding pets or a lot of roommates, etc.

This ad can resonate with so many people, and we’ll tell you why.

It’s because it addresses so many pain points, goals, and objections of the target audience in one video. 

If you have carpet at home, we’re sure, you saw that video and thought, “Oh wow, this could help me get hair out of the carpet that my vacuum is missing.”

Or maybe you have an awkward, bulky vacuum at home that isn’t really compatible with stairs, to begin with.

And the small shape of this tool is what appeals to you.

Or maybe you find yourself constantly having to lint-roll your clothes because your existing lint-roller doesn’t really work. 

This video is tackling all of those pain points and any skepticism upfront just by showing you how the product works.

And then if the price is an objection, they tackle that at the end with a 60% off discount.

It also projects the goal a lot of people have of wanting to keep their home and clothing looking nice and clean.

The before and afters of the rug, shirt, and stairs accomplish this.

The other important factor to keep in mind here that makes this work is the “wow factor.”

In today’s world, people don’t want to be told, they want to be shown.

Now some of you reading may be thinking, “We’re a service-based business, I don’t have a product to demo like this.”

Or even if you are product-based, maybe you’re thinking, “An infomercial-y video isn’t really on-brand for us.”

That’s okay, we’re not saying everybody needs to go out and make a video like OxiClean…

…although those commercials were super successful so it’s not a bad idea.

But depending on the nature of your business, you need to sit with the list you’ve made.

And then really think about how you can address the pain points your audience has, as well as any objections they’d have to purchase from you in one video. 

And when you’re conceptualizing this, try to create a video that would still make sense with the sound off or at least one that can be subtitled:

1. because “92% of consumers view videos with the sound off,” and
2. people lose attention quickly. 

A lot of times, they don’t have the desire or time to listen to a lengthy explanation.

So if you want to master how to sell a product, your video needs to have that wow factor to grab their attention.

And then, quickly show them how you can solve their problem and overcome any objections they have. 

And if you’re like, “how do you just think of a wow factor out of thin air?!” look at your list!

The pain points your audience has will tell you what they care about- aka what will stop them and get their attention mid-scroll.

So to give a service-based business example, this could be a car wash showing the absolute dirtiest of cars coming out the other side clean as a whistle. 

Or a staffing agency showing how they took a 3-employee company to a 30-employee company in x amount of time with a sustainable growth model. 

No matter what your business is, you can take the list of pain points, goals, and objections you made for them.

And then create a video to paint your product or service in a light that will make your audience stop and care.

Now the last thing you can sprinkle in the video you create is called FUGI. 

This is a sales acronym that stands for Fear of Loss, Urgency, Greed Factor, and Indifference. 

These are things that historically tend to make people purchase. 

If you noticed at the end of that cleaning tool video, they say the sale was for a “very limited time” and to “shop now”, there’s your fear of loss and urgency. 

Fear of loss could also be worded as “limited stock” or something that makes the person feel that they will miss out on the deal if they don’t act now. 

Greed factor is typically translated by showing lots of people using the product or service. They see everybody else using it, so they want to use it too. 

We’ve also seen FUJI spelled with a J where this one stands for Jones effect.

This “refers to the need we have to keep up with our peers, and get closer to those we perceive as our superiors.”

Either way, it’s the same general principle of showing social proof…

…or saying how many customers you’ve helped to date and so on that make people want to work with you.

And indifference is sometimes hard to translate digitally.

But it’s the attitude of “it’s up to you to purchase or not because we’re already helping a ton of other people.” 

You don’t want to push a desperate, salesy attitude onto the customer because that’s a quick way to make them not purchase or visit your site ever again.

So to quickly recap this step because we know it was a lot, making a video based on the list you made in step 1 is the most important part.

But then after you’ve come up with the concept, go back and sprinkle FUGI where appropriate for an extra punch. 

Step 3: Advertise the video.

Choose the platform your specific target audience spends the most time on and advertise your video there. 

If you don’t know what platform that is for you, you can read our post on the best social media platforms for business and that’ll help you decide. 

The goal here is to put your video in front of your target audience by the masses. The more the reach and the lower the cost, the better. 

Depending on what your goal is, you’ll be able to track exactly how many sales come from your video ad.

And that’s it! That is the 3-step method to on how to sell a product or service.

If you need more help with promoting your products, check out our eCommerce marketing services today. We would love to hear from you!

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