We all know that even a savvy salesperson can sometimes get drawn into a conversation that focuses on product features. Preserving margins may be the goal, but if a conversation spirals into product features too early, the final deal will come down to price.
Sales organizations that understand how to shorten sales cycles and preserve margins rely on a sales strategy that uncovers customer needs, articulates value and minimizes the price-only discussion.
Talking about the latest and greatest product feature can cripple a seller’s opportunity to attach a solution to the customer’s biggest business problem. Sales conversations that aren’t focused on problems and solutions are quickly on their way to losing margins.
Here’s why:
The Buyer’s Challenge
A buyer enters the buying process with specific business problems in mind. Ideally, the buyer looks for someone who is focused on solving problems. If a seller doesn’t clearly connect their solution to the buyer’s problem, the buyer is left to do the legwork. The buyer has to determine:
1. If the specific product will solve the problem
2. If that solution offers the greatest ROI
For a buyer, what could be more frustrating and time consuming?
The Seller’s Challenge
When sellers don’t take the time to uncover critical problems and discuss their implications early in the sales cycle, they may miss what is truly important to the customer. As a result, when the customer is ready to buy, sellers may stumble as they try to differentiate value. If they can’t articulate their value, they’ll be forced to lower the price.
The Marketing Organization Challenge
Most marketing organizations invest a lot of time and resources to create collateral materials that include key messages, references, case studies, etc.…, to help their sales force effectively communicate with customers. Yet, often times sales still has difficulty pulling those materials together to support a value-based conversation with the customer. Without a framework that aligns and leverages both marketing and sales messages, the result may be a disjointed customer conversation that doesn’t clearly differentiate your value.
The Sales Organization Challenge
One of the greatest challenges for a sales organization is to provide consistent tools and materials that give salespeople the ability to speak with confidence about how their products/services can truly transform a customer’s business. When sellers are forced into the discounting conversation, they need the right ammunition to truly articulate value and differentiate from the competition.
The right sales messaging strategy addresses these challenges by focusing on customer value and aligning the organization around that value message. Long-term success requires a sales strategy that enables sellers to (1) uncover customer needs and (2) articulate value in a way that resonates with those needs. The result will be bottom-line impact, including:
• Shorter Sales Cycles
• Higher Margins
• Improved Customer Relationships
