A massive clap of lightning awoke me from a dead sleep at 3 am. It was pouring outside. I responded as I always do in a storm—rushing downstairs to unplug my computers, hoping they weren’t already fried.
Several weeks ago, at the CEB Sales and Marketing Summit, I interviewed the authors of The Challenger Customer about what it takes to win big deals today -- especially when they involve multiple decision makers. I hope you enjoy the conversation below.
Let me guess. Your company doesn't have any metrics for your value proposition and you're wondering if it's possible to be successful. Absolutely.
If they don't have exact metrics, perhaps you can suggest a range. You might say, "Gut level – do you think it helped cut costs somewhere between 8 – 10%?" They'll either say, "That's about right," or tell you if it's too high or too low. Either way, you now have some metrics you can use.
What's a value proposition – and why is it important? It's a clear statement of the tangible business value that companies get from using your product or service. It's the outcome of using your offering – not what your offering is.
For example, I do training. No one cares about training. But, when I work with my clients, I help them with new client acquisition and faster sales cycles. That's what they get from my training programs – and that's the ONLY reason people hire me.
So, your challenge is to figure out what your outcomes are. Here's a tip. Every value proposition has three components:
When your prospect has decided to change from the status quo, they start seriously considering their options. How can you differentiate yourself from others who are also competing for their business?
Most salespeople feel compelled to brag about their company's service or talk about all the awards their company won. Everyone does that. It's not differentiation.
True competitive differentiation comes from helping your prospect make a good decision. Here's the most effective thing you can say:
Here's a typical exchange between a prospect and a salesperson when this common sales objection is raised:
Clearly, that's not working.
I recently interviewed Brent Adamson, co-author of one of my favorite sales books, The Challenger Sale. His groundbreaking research at CEB has totally changed how we talk about sales in the past few years.
In our conversation, Brent shared the results of CEB's most recent research -- and what that means to salespeople. Here are four key takeaways on changes in the buying process and actions you can take to advance the sale:
What does it take to capture the attention of today's crazy-busy, well educated prospects? They certainly don't want to take time learning about your products/services.
That's why I thought you'd be interested in my recent interview with Mike Schultz, author of the new book, Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently. I hope you enjoy it.
Decision makers don't care about your product's speed, specifications, or efficiency. They don't care about the wonderful methodology you use.
Your offering is simply a tool. They care only about the results your offering delivers for them.
Buyers are particularly attracted to phrases that are linked to their business goals and objectives. Start speaking in these terms and you'll definitely attract their attention:
How does being "crazy busy" impact selling? It affects your prospects in a huge way.
First of all, your prospects put up barriers to access. They're protecting their time at all costs so it's much harder to set up an initial meetings. But it goes beyond that.
Your prospect today can't handle much complexity, so you can easily throw them into overwhelm by giving them too much information at one time. If it's hard for them to decipher the business value of your product or service, they'll just forget about it.