8 Ways to Find Your Prospect's Key Benefit

If there's anything you can count on, it's that things are always changing. Meaning you don't ever want to get left behind.

With that in mind, here are 8 secrets you can use - right now -to discover the benefits that are most important to your customers and prospects – AT THIS VERY MOMENT.

1. Forgive me if you feel I'm stating the obvious, but: Ask them.

Seriously, if you're already in business, and you want to know what your prospect's want most when purchasing products like yours – ask.

You can ask using website/blog surveys, printed surveys, telephone surveys, or, depending on your business model, even face-to-face. You'll often be surprised at what you find.

Many times a company fears opening up this kind of dialog with their customer's so they DON'T ... but it's what the best companies in America do. They wouldn't do it if it wasn't good for business.

And you'll never find a better source of information, or a more direct route, than by asking your current customers.

2. Ask a competitor. Don't worry about how he or she is going to respond. If you aren't enemies, and you approach them right they're usually open to sharing information back and forth with you.

If not, that's O.K. you can still ask someone in the same industry. You may have to contact a business outside your normal market area – but the information will still be valid ... unless you sell a regionally based product or service.

You can contact them by email, by phone, by letter, or even in person e.g., at industry events.

3. Ask Google. Man,oh man. Is Google valuable or what? Try typing in an incomplete phrase containing your question, but let the search engine finish the sentence. This sometimes works wonders!

For example: "Challenges facing rural hospital administrators today include ..." And let the search engine go do it's job. As you can see – no matter how the sentence has been completed is going to tell you a lot.

You'll sometimes get a wealth of information with this tactic – I've found sophisticated market research, including pdf files prepared by market research firms, outlining exactly what I'm looking. It's great!

CAUTION: Just make sure you check the date the information was written, and look around to be sure it's still an issue for folks in your kind of business. It's best to check several sites to be sure you have relevant information.

4. Ask Google with keywords, and visit your competitors websites.

Once at their site look for common themes, or common issues.

Get out a sheet of paper and write down the top 10 concerns you see coming up on page after page. There's a reason they're there.

When they appear over and over again you know it's something your marketplace is hungry for, or a problem that needs to be solved.

5. Visit article directories and research your market there. Again, by simply typing in your keywords you'll be taken directly to articles addressing your subject(s) or market(s).

For example, if your market is providing Family Histories, ancestry, or lineage - it's as simple as entering in the keywords: family history articles.

I did that and found this site: www.familyhistoryarticles.com ... exactly what you're looking for!

6. Read Industry Journals and magazines. It's also a good idea to subscribe to them.

Once you're getting them scan the table of contents regularly to stay up on important issues and trends.

Then read the articles you believe are important to be aware of.

If you're in a hurry and can't wait for a subscription to begin you can always check to see if they offer an online version and subscribe, or, you could even visit that place we used to go to called a "Library" to do your research.

7. Visit discussion forums. Again, do a Google search to find the best forums for your industry. Use industry specific keywords such as, "internet marketing forums", or, "pet lovers" forums, etc.

Visit these forums regularly, and "listen in" on the topics and issues your competitors or people who fit your "ideal customer profile" are concerned with.

8. Ask salespeople who serve your industry. Not only is it their job to stay abreast of what's happening in their/your industry, they're also learning what's going on on a daily basis from their contacts,(customers, clients and prospect's),

That means every day they're being informed of the problems your competitors want solved. And it's a safe bet that if they want them solved – then you do too.

As you can readily see, using even one of these 'secrets' can give you a 'gold mine' of information.

Imagine what can happen when you use all 8?

Your next step is to use this information to create a "key-benefit" sales letter or presentation. My book: The Beginner's "Easiest Book in the World" For Learning How To Write Powerful Sales Letters shows you how!