3 Ways to Wow Your Buyer with Experiential Selling

Years ago, I was looking at buying a new Nissan 350Z Roadster. I went to the local dealership here in Phoenix and met a salesperson we’ll call Nick. After asking me a couple of basic questions, Nick said, “Let’s go on a test drive.”

Of course, this was the part I had been waiting for. After all, I had this particular car on my dream list for years and I was ready to buy one – now.

Nick pulled up in a stunning red convertible and told me to “hop in,” which I did. We pulled out of the dealership and started down the road. All the while Nick told me about all the features and “benefits” of the car.

Five minutes into his pitch, I couldn’t help but think, “Can I get behind the wheel already?” You see, Nick had been driving the whole time – not me!

In fact, Nick never did get out of the driver’s seat.

As you can imagine, I didn’t buy the car that day. I ended up buying from a private seller who actually let me test drive the car.

Think about companies that are truly disruptive and crushing their competition. They have figured out how to incorporate experiential selling as a part of their model.

• Warby Parker is an online prescription eyeglass company who sends you several pairs of glasses to experience before you actually purchase.
• Trunk Club has you fill out a survey to assess your clothing style and they send you a trunk of clothes for you to try out before they bill you.
• Apple encourages you to use every product in their store. Try out Apple TV before you buy it. Use the newest iPhone and compare it to your Samsung.

My point is that we live in an “experience first” consumer world. If you are going to win the sale, you have to engage your customer in experiencing your product. Here are 3 tips that may help you wow your customer by embracing experiential selling.

Experiential Selling Tip #1: Switch your focus from the product to the customer

Part of the reason we miss the opportunity to use experiential selling is we are too focused on the product and not on customers.

Imagine you were showing your sister your product. Which would you focus on more, her or your product? Obviously, you would focus more on her. When you stay focused on your customers, you will be more inclined to engage them in experiencing your product.

Experiential Selling Tip #2: Ask them to literally “Try it on for size”

Say you are selling real estate. Instead of standing in a corner and talking about the features of the home you are selling, have them sit on the couch.

Perhaps you could ask them to tell you who would be sitting or standing in the kitchen on a busy family night. I know real estate sales people who actually have customers sit in the bathtub to make sure they like it!

Experiential Selling Tip #3: Ditch the script 

Part of what keeps sales professionals from engaging customers in experiential selling is the dreaded script.

Common sense tells me that if you focus on your script, then your focus is on you instead of your customer. Instead of a script, have some questions ready, which will lead your customer to “try before they buy.” Strategy, not scripting, is the essence of experiential selling.

If you want to impact more customers, stop selling features and benefits.  Experiential selling allows your customer to connect EMOTIONALLY to the purchase…and you will be far closer to winning the sale!