Sell the Experience

While skiing this winter, I stood at the top of a snowy ridge and took in the panorama. In the distance stretched the deep blue Lake Tahoe. The peaks, ridges and forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains surrounded it as far as the eye could see. The day was bright and sunny, warm enough that I did not need a hat or thick coat, like spring in February.

My ski partner dropped over the edge and cut back and forth down a steep slope. He maneuvered between two rock outcroppings and into an open area below. I looked down over my skis and felt a shot of adrenaline and fear in my gut. It was my turn.

That is the beauty and the thrill of alpine skiing. When I purchased a lift ticket that day for $57, I was not thinking of chair lifts, cables, electric motors and ski patrollers on the mountain. All of those are necessary to run a ski resort; they are the "product" so to speak. But I was thinking of the beauty and the thrill - the essential ski experience. That is what I paid $57 for, and it was worth it!

When marketing a product or service, remember to emphasize the finer points of the experience it delivers, which may be different from the technical features of the product itself. For instance, when selling a computer system, focus on the ease of management and how it enables workers to be more productive, as opposed to the number of megahertz and gigabytes it has. When selling a tree at a nursery, emphasize the cool shade it will provide during summer and the elegance it will add to a property, as opposed to whether the tree is 3 or 4 feet tall.

There is a time and place for selling features, but people ultimately are buying the experience.