Product Knowledge: Finale

One of the products that I sell is a very complex product.  It involves management of the compressed air distribution in a manufacturing plant.  The name of the product is ConservAir.  I don't believe you can really sell a product that you don't understand, so I spent hours trying to understand this product.  What does it do?  How is it made? What makes it better than other similar products?  

And then, most importantly, how do I make a complex product understandable to the customer.  If you don't understand something, you can't explain it.  It's that simple.  

Can you make your explanation simple enough for your spouse, your kids, your parents?  That's the real test of product knowledge.

To explain how ConservAir manages compresses air, I used an analogy, comparing the distribution of air to water:

Imagine a large 2" water hose gushing large amounts of water.  Now imagine that you want to water a tree in one part of your yard, some flowers in another part, and you want to power wash your house.  So you divide the flow up.  And when you want to stop watering the tree, you turn the valve off and the system automatically regulates the flow to the flowers and power washer.  It can do this very quickly because of the flow is divided.  Each part of the system requiring water can be regulated quickly because the flow is divided up and you're not dealing with the full flow through a 2" water hose.  That's what ConservAir does for air flow in a manufacturing plant.

You can tell your customer that you're saving him money, but if you can't tell him how you'll never get the order.

For true product knowledge, you must be able to explain your product in understandable terms to anyone.