Why is it important to sell the solution and not the product?
Typically, most brands initial thought is how can I get everyone to want to buy this product? What makes this product great and how can I make money? Although these are great questions to ask yourself from a business perspective you need to flip the switch and look at it as a consumer.
When people go online or in store to buy a product they will look at various things. Quality and price are massive factors, can they get something of better quality or better price/value for money else where? If they can, you’re going to lose that customer. This being said, don’t lower your worth to be able to compete with other brands, know the value of your product, and understand your audience.
Something customers will look at without even realising, is noticing if that product is the solution to the reason they’re making the purchase. For example, you don’t sell a car by saying it doesn’t guzzle up fuel, you would sell it by making it known to the consumer that they will save money and time by purchasing this car. Same goes for a fitness plan, your sales will be far more successful if you market it by saying, this plan will ensure you become fitter, stronger, healthier and more toned than ever as well improving your mental wellbeing and happiness, over saying buy this plan and you will lose a stone. Connect with the customers emotions. You have to answer the problem and sell why your product is better at doing this than the rest on the market.
Think about what the consumer cares about, not what YOU care about. Find compelling ways to frame your product and evoke emotion and curiosity.
Similarly, think about features vs benefit as this goes hand in hand with selling the solution not the product. Try to make the customer aware of the benefits they’re getting with their purchase, rather than just stating the obvious. Instead of telling a new customer that in the gym there are 20 treadmills, 10 bikes and 70 classes a week, you need to sell it to them, tell them the benefits! Tell them that with their membership they will never find themselves stuck without equipment available, because the gym has so much to offer, that their time will never be wasted as they can come into the gym, smash out their workout and leave without having to hang around and wait for something to become free. Same goes for the classes, tell them you have such a massive variety of classes available for free with their membership that they won’t ever be stuck finding something they will love or find classes repetitive.
The difference between selling a product and selling a solution might not be apparent at first, because aren’t all products created to solve a problem? But it’s how you market your product which separates you from your competitors. Sell to fit an individual persons needs not a wide audience. Create connections with real people and understand their emotions as emotions are the biggest influence on buying behaviour.
By no means does this mean sell a product as something it's not, it doesn’t. We are really passionate about understanding what the consumer wants and making sure we market to their needs. Whenever we’re finalising anything, from workouts, pdf’s, mp3’s we watch, listen and read as a customer, this enables us to understand the impact we're making from the buyers point of view.
Source: https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/emotion-influence-buying-behavior