Have you seen this hilarious video of how B-to-B negotiations would play out in “real world” situations?
We’re almost so used to B-to-B purchasing demands that we forget how ridiculous they are. This video gives us a chance to step back and laugh, but, it doesn’t change the reality of your customers’ buying habits.
What can you do? Do these battles always have to occur? According to The Corporate Executive Board’s Integrated Sales Executive Council, only 9% of brand preference and loyalty decisions are based on price. Meanwhile, 53% of a prospect’s decision to choose you comes from their sales experience.
So you are saying I’ve got a chance
What these percentages mean is… in a world where everyone sounds and looks the same, your prospects and customers are saying: “Would someone please cut through the clutter and present a clear path to value that will result if I partner with your company?”
Unfortunately, too many salespeople wallow in parity with their presentations and proposals, leaving customers with the perception that everyone is a commodity. Freeing them up to bring the hammer of B-to-B purchasing down.
Avoid these ugly and ridiculous confrontations by preemptively showing the contrast between you and your prospect’s status quo, as well as you and your competition.
Value Lives in the Contrast between Pain and Gain
Here are three easy ways you can use contrast to show value:
1) Focus on what you do that’s unique: Don’t waste precious conversation time playing the “me too” game. If you’re in a job interview, would you talk about how your resume is exactly the same as the guy who interviewed before you? Of course not! Your prospect already knows that your solution is on par with others in the industry… that’s why they agreed to talk with you in the first place. Instead, identify some unmet or under-served customer pain and talk about what you do uniquely or better to turn that pain into gain.
2) Before and After Stories: When presenting references, don’t just show off the end results your customers realized using your solution. That’s only half the story. You need to show contrast. What was your customer’s life before they implemented your solution and then after? Showcasing the pain first provides the foundation for understanding what value your solution brings by helping the customer visualize their current situation and see it getting better.
3) Use colors and space to make emotional connections: Don’t stop with the content of your message. Make sure the way you deliver your uniqueness and value is engaging and memorable.Work the room… or the web conference. Remember, value lies in the contrast between the pain and the gain, so make the contrast as apparent as possible. Use different flipcharts placed at opposite sides of the room, or split your PowerPoint slide in two, to show the pain and the gain. And use different colored markers or different colored fonts. In Western cultures, use red for bad and green or black for good. (Adjust the colors based on what significance they carry in your culture.)
Don’t fall for the same old B-to-B buying tactics. Establish your solution as the one your prospects need by leading with your uniqueness, clearly showing the contrast between you, the status quo, and your competition, and proving it with a before and after customer story that makes your value come alive.
There’s an ever growing challenge on the horizon that is threatening sales effectiveness in the area of sales messaging. It’s the prolific expansion of web meetings and presentations. Getting on-line to present to a faceless group of people as you stare at your computer and talk into the telephone is a daunting task for sales people who have come to rely on their abilities to present in front of a customer, face-to-face.
You need a different perspective.
Many of the charming, personal techniques you use in-person go out the window. You can’t just think about you — the author of the presentation. You need to re-think the perspective of the person on the other end of the presentation. How is this coming across to her and her colleagues?
In one of my favorite movies, “Dead Poets Society,” the instructor, played by Robin Williams, challenges his students to break out of the traditional approach and view their work from a different perspective.
It’s the same with your online presentations. You need to think about the impact on the audience on the other end. They are staring at their computer screen, waiting to be inspired and pulled away from doing their email.
Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran of online messaging consider these 10 tips and take advantage of the opportunity you have to inspire your audience.
1.Don’t rush in to your slides or demo. Do something different, first, to grab their attention. Then take some time to establish rapport. Ask some questions. Get your audience talking. One of the biggest mistakes people make when doing web-based presentations is rushing into presenter mode and not having a conversation with the people on the other side.
2.It’s NOT about your solution. Often, not knowing your prospect’s needs can lead to information dumping. Make sure that your solution, technology or capabilities are proof points to the message you’re going to convey, and are not the entire presentation. Your presentation should reinforce no more than three key, customer-focused messages; even if the presentation is a technical demo. Make sure what you’re showing is relevant to the prospect’s needs.
3.Visual cues set the pace. The pace of the presentation is not determined by how quickly you talk. It is determined entirely by how quickly you move from slide to slide. If you leave a slide up for over 60 seconds, without any visual changes, the customer perceives the presentation as slow and boring. Make it invigorating by changing visuals, often. (For an example see the video at the bottom of this article.)
4.Use more photos and videos. A picture’s worth a 1000 words and will help tell your story. Use large photos, not clip-art, to support and tell your message. A great picture or rich graphics will grab the attention of your customers on the other side of the computer and will keep them engaged with your message. A movie clip or commercial that supports and reinforces your message is a great way to grab attention. A well placed video will connect with your customers and go along way in supporting your message.
(Not all web presentation vendors support video and some just don’t do it very effectively – so verify, test and practice ahead of time. Also, there are copyright laws you need to abide by, so check with you legal department.)
Sites like www.freefoto.com are great resources to search.
(Make sure you always check the usage rights, so you’re not violating copyright law when downloading and using images.)
5.Use more slides. Really, MORE slides?! Notice it doesn’t say more content!
Rather than having a slide with 4-5 messages and “sitting on it” for 5-10 minutes while delivering, have only one key thought per slide supported by an image. You’ll increase the number of slides, but you’ll make it easier for your customers to connect to your message and remember it. (You can even try having one word per slide, check out the video at the bottom for an example.)
Don’t get caught into the mundane, traditional and predictable. Be different.
Food for Thought
Watch this presentation, pay attention to the delivery style, not the content, and think about how it differs from what you’re doing today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrpajcAgR1E
Very different than your typical presentation, isn’t it? Did you notice any techniques you maybe able to use in your next online presentation? I’m not suggesting you should start presenting exactly like this! But this quick and witty delivery style is very effective at keeping attention.
There’s an ever growing challenge on the horizon that is threatening sales effectiveness in the area of sales messaging. It’s the prolific expansion of web meetings and presentations. Getting on-line to present to a faceless group of people as you stare at your computer and talk into the telephone is a daunting task for sales people who have come to rely on their abilities to present in front of a customer, face-to-face.
You need a different perspective.
Many of the charming, personal techniques you use in-person go out the window. You can’t just think about you — the author of the presentation. You need to re-think the perspective of the person on the other end of the presentation. How is this coming across to her and her colleagues?
In one of my favorite movies, “Dead Poets Society,” the instructor, played by Robin Williams, challenges his students to break out of the traditional approach and view their work from a different perspective.
It’s the same with your online presentations. You need to think about the impact on the audience on the other end. They are staring at their computer screen, waiting to be inspired and pulled away from doing their email.
Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran of online messaging consider these 5 tips and take advantage of the opportunity you have to inspire your audience.
Don’t rush in to your slides or demo. Do something different, first, to grab their attention. Then take some time to establish rapport. Ask some questions. Get your audience talking. One of the biggest mistakes people make when doing web-based presentations is rushing into “presenter mode” and not having a conversation with the people on the other side.
It’s NOT about your solution. Often, not knowing your prospect’s needs can lead to information dumping. Make sure that your solution, technology or capabilities are proof points to the message you’re going to convey, and are not the entire presentation. Your presentation should reinforce no more than three key, customer-focused messages; even if the presentation is a technical demo. Make sure what you’re showing is relevant to the prospect’s needs.
Visual cues set the pace. The pace of the presentation is not determined by how quickly you talk. It is determined entirely by how quickly you move from slide to slide. If you leave a slide up for over 60 seconds, without any visual changes, the customer perceives the presentation as slow and boring. Make it invigorating by changing visuals, often. (For an example see the video at the bottom of this article.)
Use more photos and videos. A picture’s worth a 1,000 words and will help tell your story. Use large photos, not clip-art, to support and tell your message. A great picture or rich graphics will grab the attention of your customers on the other side of the computer and will keep them engaged with your message. Sites like www.freefoto.com are great resources to search.
A movie clip or commercial that reinforces your message is a great way to grab attention, too. A well placed video will connect with your customers and go along way in supporting your message.
(Not all web presentation vendors support video and some just don’t do it very effectively – so verify, test and practice ahead of time. Also, there are copyright laws you need to abide by, so check with you legal department. Make sure you always check the usage rights, so you’re not violating copyright law when using images and videos.)
Use more slides. Really, MORE slides?! Notice it doesn’t say more content! Rather than having a slide with 4-5 messages and “sitting on it” for 5-10 minutes while delivering, have only one key thought per slide supported by an image. You’ll increase the number of slides, but you’ll make it easier for your customers to connect to your message and remember it. (You can even try having one word per slide, check out the video at the bottom for an example.)
Don’t get caught into the mundane, traditional and predictable. Be different.
Food for Thought: An inspirational example
Watch this presentation, pay attention to the delivery style, not the content, and think about how it differs from what you’re doing today.
Very different than your typical presentation, isn’t it? Did you notice any techniques you may be able to use in your next online presentation? I’m not suggesting you should start presenting exactly like this! But this quick and witty delivery style is very effective at keeping attention and transferring information.
Getting through to decision makers via email is tougher than ever these days.
According to Business Week magazine, the average business person receives more than 100 emails per day – and, by some estimates, as many as 80% of email messages are spam. This translates into approximately $21.6 billion per year in lost productivity due to time spent identifying, managing, and deleting junk email. As a result, organizations are taking drastic steps to block unsolicited email – and decision makers are all the more selective about which emails they’ll even bother to open, let alone read through to the end.
Download the template
In this environment, how can you make sure your prospects will read and remember your emails?
To stand out among the thousands of other emails that land in your prospects’ inboxes each month, you need to craft crisp, relevant messages that not only capture and sustain their interest, but also spur them to action – preferably, an action other than hitting the “delete” key. And there’s no more surefire way to end up in your prospect’s “deleted” folder than to follow these five easy steps:
Step One: Begin with an unmemorable, hyperbolic, or offensive subject header
Nothing screams “delete me!” louder than a dull, ambiguous, or alarmist subject header riddled with capital letters, exclamation points, and words like “URGENT!” “ACT NOW” or “TIME IS RUNNING OUT!!!”
People want to read emails that offer them something, be it a tip, an insight, a solution to a problem, or an answer to a question – not emails that bully, bore, or frighten them. Use your subject line to make a promise – and the body of the email to fulfill it.
Step Two: Personalization? We don’t need no stinkin’ personalization!
No one likes being on the receiving end of a random, mass email – just take a look in your own “deleted items” folder as proof.
Beginning with something as simple as your prospect’s first name, company name, or a reference to something you know they’ll be interested in will capture their attention long enough to allow you to get your message across.
Step Three: Take Your Time
As much as you might like to believe your prospects have nothing better to do with their day than meander through a long, rambling email from a stranger looking to sell them something, if you don’t get to your first point quickly you’ll never get a chance to make a second one.
Avoid such “throat clearing” tactics as lengthy company introductions or painstaking explanations of why you are contacting this individual. As long as you’ve included an informative subject line and personalized intro, they’ll already know why you’re contacting them – and they’ll be eager to learn more.
Step Four: Cram in as much text and as many big words as you can possibly fit on the page
You have important things to say, and email is so limiting! What better way to get your meaning across than to fill the screen with block after block of incomprehensible text, paragraph-long sentences, and meaningless marketing fluff? Surely your prospect will be impressed with your command of the language and read straight through to the end….right?
Sorry. In email marketing, brevity – and white space – are your two best friends. Long sentences are easy to write but exhausting to read. Before pressing the “send” key, try reading your message out loud. If you have to stop and take a breath mid-sentence, that’s your signal to split it with a period or semicolon. And, as a final check, try sending your email to yourself first – preferably to a PDA or BlackBerry – so you can see how it “plays” onscreen. If you see your key points getting lost, trim back the text and set important thoughts apart as single-line paragraphs.
Step Five: Forget about the offer/call to action
Assuming your prospect has made it to the end of your message, don’t just wander off into the sunset and hope they’ll pick up the phone and call you.
Close strong with an offer, an invitation, or a proposed next step, and make sure to follow through. If you’ve done your job right with the rest of your email, they’ll remember it – and you.
A congressional hearing on tainted food might be the last place you’d expect to find powerful sales messaging. But, when a congressman recently wanted to elevate the concern over unsafe food on supermarket shelves, he unleashed an emotionally potent presentation technique.
Check out this brief clip:
Your Brain Wants Concrete
A by-product of the information age is that many of the “solutions” being sold today are no longer physical objects. They have no shape, substance or concrete form that can be seen and touched.
Have you noticed that consumer software is sold in very elaborate packaging? It gives you, the buyer, the illusion that you are getting something substantial for your money. In reality, with the advancements in digital storage technology, you could easily sell the entire Microsoft Office Suite on a disposable chip the size of a postage stamp.
Why is it harder to sell intangibles? The answer goes beyond the logic of “getting something for your money.” The reason lies deep in the wiring of your brain.
Behavioral science has taught us that humans are more likely to be motivated to act or to change a behavior based on a stimulus that is concrete. Scientists describe “concrete” as something that can be experienced through one of your five senses (Touch, Taste, Smell, Hearing, or Sight).
Using a prop, a three dimensional physical object, when describing your solution is an effective technique to make your solution appear more “real.” The concept of unsafe food on supermarket shelves, while unsettling, is not as emotionally potent as a plastic jar full of potentially tainted products, and an accused executive having to take his chances by taking a bite.
Here’s One You Can Use
Let’s say that you have a solution that offers greater flexibility to your customers. How do you communicate an intangible concept such as flexibility?
Try this. Hold up a golf ball and say: “This golf ball represents your business. Golfers know there are three types of clubs that are used to drive this ball forward. If you want power to drive great distance you use a driver. If you want a combination of power and accuracy you will use an iron. Lastly, if you want even greater accuracy and finesse you use a wedge or putter.”
Then say: “What’s unique about the solution you are seeing today is that it gives you the flexibility to have everything you need in your bag to ensure you move your company forward the best way possible.”
By using the golf ball as a prop, you take an abstract, sometimes overused concept and make it real and more meaningful to your buyer.
In your next face-to-face customer interaction, bring a prop into the message.
Make sure it is relative to the needs of your prospect
Make sure it supports your message rather than steals the show
Keep the story around the prop very concise and to the point
Bring the prop onto the scene and then take it off. Don’t continue to hold it once your point is made.
Using this simple messaging technique, you can make whatever you sell seem more real. Plus, you have just made it easier for your prospect to buy.
Have a good example of how you used a prop in a presentation? Email us your story with My Prop Example in the subject and enter to win a wireless PowerPoint remote.
The Messaging Feed contains easily digestible ideas you can immediately incorporate into your messaging, presentations and other client connections.
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