Analogies

You sell expensive collectors' watches . The strongest feature is their high resale value. You tell a customer to think of a collector's watch as not only a precision instrument and work of art but also an investment, like a mutual fund.

The worth of the watch increases the longer you own it— historically at a rate of 11 percent annually. You point out that this return is better than that of any savings account. Everyone can relate to the benefits of investing in a mutual fund, even one that tells time.

The Product Profile Sheet

The Product Profile sheet analyzes your products in terms of the concepts discussed in this chapter, such as:

• Features. List the key features of your product that add value to it. The more specific the description, the harder it is for competitors or customers to redefine them to your detriment.

• Benefits. Express them in terms of time or money savings. Express a benefit as a verb followed by a noun.

• Value Type. Decide whether the benefits are perceived or measurable.

• Focus. Determine if the benefits have an internal or external focus or both.

• Unique Strengths. Review the summary on unique strengths before you classify a feature as such.

• Value Rating. Assign a 1 for a feature everyone possesses, and a 5 for a unique strength only your company has.

• Analogies. What everyday event parallels your highest-value unique strength or strongest feature?

Use this data to decide which market segments your products best serve. You develop a Product Profile sheet for each product. A Competitor Product Profile sheet should also be filled out for each product. (Microsoft Word templates for the sales tools shown in Exhibit 2-5 and Exhibit 2-6 can also be found as downloadable files on www. measuremax .com.)