Categories: Sales Conversation
Think about your last sales presentation. Did it contain the slide that talked all about your company? When you started, how many employees you have, the number of customers, your locations all over the globe….
'Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Customer – Look at our logos!'
If my experience tells me anything, I’m betting you showed it right after the introduction slide. Guilty? I was too, for a long time. It’s a classic seller mistake.
Your company may be long-established and have a great history of pleasing customers. These factors could differentiate you in the marketplace, to a point. We call these traits Holistic Differentiators.
Many sellers have been trained to talk about these differentiators early in the sales process, when you don’t have much else to talk about. But, follow this tactic, and you run the risk of derailing any deal before it’s even begun.
Improving Your Sales Messaging
Timing is everything, especially when it comes to the conversations you’re having with your customers.
Potential customers really don’t care about your financial stability or company culture when they’re trying to solve a problem. They want to know how your solutions can help them achieve their business objectives.
Early in the buying process, the client is much more focused on communicating his or her needs and evaluating how your company's products or services match up with those requirements. This is when you need to highlight how your solutions can help alleviate the specific challenges faced by the customer.
It isn't the time to provide your company story, no matter how good it is.
Holistic differentiators make a customer feel good about doing business with you and may be most useful in confirming that the customer is, indeed, making the right decision in choosing your products. Save them for late in the buying process.
Improve sales messaging at the early stages of the buying cycle, listen and allow the customer to communicate his or her needs. Then, provide specific ways your products and services fulfill those needs. When you have effectively made the case that your company has the right solution for the customer, seal the deal using holistic differentiators.
Holistic differentiators do one thing. They mitigate risk. They help make your soon-to-be customer feel comfortable about doing business with you. If you find yourself discussing your company's financial stability or its leading position in the industry, instead of engaging your customer in a discussion of their needs and requirements; it’s time to retool your approach.
Logos make for nice and colorful PowerPoint slides. Mapping solutions to problems make for signed deals.
Brian Walsh is a Senior Director with Force Management. He has nearly 30 years of experience in sales leadership, including corporate sales/management training and a background in leading high performing sales and operational organizations.
