Getting Your Packaging Right – A Lesson in Sales

If you sell products through a retail outlet, chances are the first thing your customers will notice about the products you sell will be how they are presented. Yes! The packaging.

In fact, you’ve probably gone to lots of trouble to ensure the packaging shows off your product to best advantage: professionally designed brochures, product labels that cost an arm and a leg, products displayed in beautifully made boxes or bags – all that! You know that as your customer picks up the product and holds it in their hands, they’ll see its as a quality item. You’ve probably done something similar with your website too, all with the aim of convincing your potential customer that you are selling something your customers want.

The same principles you use to display your products works when selling a service.

Experts agree that about 93% of customer perception is based on the non-verbal messages we send and so product presentation is massively important in securing a sale.

Yet in the absence of a folded carton with colourful graphics, you may not be packaging your service business in a way that secures the perception of your services and expertise as quality products. Intangible points of contact, including what you wear, the briefcase you carry, the condition of your shoes, all create a lasting image of you as “a professional business operator and service provider” in the minds of your buyer. You have less than 30 seconds to create a first impression and that impression makes or breaks the possibility your customer or potential will purchase services from you.

Pay attention to your personal packaging.

Your clothes

Your credibility and therefore the perception of you capabilities is immediately eroded if your wardrobe is out of sync with the image you want to portray about your products or services. Dress the part.

Your sales tools

It may be tempting to toss your sample products, brochures and other sales collateral into a recycle bag, but please don’t. Are you currently carting around your sales materials and sample products in a daggy old suitcases or a broken cardboard box? It’s time to invest in some carry bags or boxes which create the impression that you are organised. Invest in a carry bag which is light, durable and conveys a sense of professionalism and style.

Your notebook and pen

When you pull out your note book and place it on your client’s desk, are you pulling out a sturdy, professional looking notebook or just a pad of paper? Acquire a leather-like credenza and resist the urge to use the free pen you secured on your last hotel stay.
Carry a credenza which is in sync with the products or services you are selling. Remember your writing materials sits on your customer’s table throughout the presentation; they may go unnoticed by some, but then again, they may not.

Your body language

You’ll be judged by your potential customers and clients as much by your personal body language and verbal language as by your products and service offerings. Watch your body language and watch how you express yourself. Remember to look your customer or client in the eye when talking to them.

Say please and thank you and extend a firm hand when you shake hands with clients – no need to bone crunch however. Etiquette is the equivalent of the ribbon and bow on a package.