Spot The Difference.

Have you ever seen one of those puzzles like the one below, where you have to find the differences between two almost identical pictures?

For people looking to buy a product or service, trying to figure out who to buy from or what to buy can sometimes feel like a "spot the difference" puzzle... only less fun.

Of course, savvy sellers try and make it easier for potential customers ("prospects"), by providing a list of features of their product or service, which usually compares well to the competition who don't have all the same juicy features.

I call this selling the difference.

The problem is, unless the seller has a high degree of authority and trust with their prospects, the feature list can look a lot like sales hype.

As well as this, prospects might not fully understand why a feature is of benefit to them... so an "amazing feature" might be amazing to the seller, but not to the prospective buyer.

Plus, with lots of different options and pricing structures, from individual sellers and also the competition, this can lead to confusion... which can result in prospects delaying their buying decision, or putting it off altogether.

This is where preselling can help in a big way.

We can help our prospects to decide, in advance, what's important to them... so they can make decisions much more easily.

First, let's rewind a bit, and talk about the overall concept of DIFFERENCE.

The bottom line is this:

All other things being equal, it's easier to stand out from the crowd of competing products and services, when you have something unique, different or distinctive.

This doesn't automatically mean it's easier to sell, but you can leverage this difference to grab the attention of your prospects, and to presell the difference.

Let's look at a few simple examples of how, based on information-based products, and also services.

Information-Based Products

For information-based products (such as books, courses and coaching), the ideal situation is to build the difference into your product from the start, by basing it on a Big Idea. Here's a few quick examples:

• The 4-Hour Workweek
• Deep Work
• Mind-Lines: Lines For Changing Minds
• Presell Content: Content That Helps You Sell Without Selling.

The first three are book titles, and the fourth is a concept I came up with. Each of them are based on Big Ideas.

When you can invent a new or distinctive concept, you effectively create your own niche... and anyone who tries to copy what you do is already a latecomer.

If this isn't possible, the next best thing is to come up with at least one point of difference that would make your offering stand out from the crowd, in a way that is beneficial to your prospects.

Services

When you're providing services that appear to be similar to others, standing out from the crowd might seem a little harder. You can still do it relatively easily, as long as there ARE differences in what you offer, compared to the average service provider.

In my Presell System course on preselling, I created a campaign for Sarah Baxter, an imaginary content writer who owned a writing brand called Sarah's Scribbles.

Sarah is a great writer, but struggles to get new clients. She charges more than the typical content writer, but since she doesn't know how to communicate this value well, potential clients are usually put off by her prices.

Sarah's greatest skills includes storytelling, and building her client's authority. She's also learning the skill of pre-selling.

She needs to presell her prospects on these things before divulging her prices, so they are able to recognize the true value of what she can offer.

I wrote what I call a Presell Report for her. It was a 15 page PDF document which pre-sold clients on her skills, without directly pitching them.

In the report, I created a concept called "Sales Booster" content, which involves a mixture of preselling, storytelling and building authority. The report was titled: "The Sales Booster Secret: How To Make More Sales And Grow Your Business Fast, Using a Unique Type of Content."

I used the report to talk about the problem of "cheap" content, introduce the idea of preselling, and make some of her points through storytelling (which showed off her storytelling skills). In short, the report pre-sold all the things she was good at.

Preselling the Difference

Savvy sellers understand the need to pitch what makes them different from the competition. However, why not start this process well before you pitch, by PRE-SELLING the difference?

In the Presell System, I have a component called the "Difference Identifier," devoted to helping you identify what makes you and your product different in a beneficial way. This is important, because you can use those differences to warm up your prospects before you introduce them to your product.

Ideally, by the time they come across what you're selling, they're already pre-sold on what makes you different from your competition, which makes buying from you a much easier decision... and no longer a "spot the difference" puzzle.