I’ll Need You to Throw This One in for Free

October 14, 2009

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.

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Posted by Corporate Visions Inc.

You Need to be a “Challenger” if You Want to be a Winner!

June 15, 2009

Relationship builders come in last and challengers finish first.

A fresh report on the types of sales approaches that win and the ones that do the worst reveals results that could come as a surprise to you, but as Yoda says,  “You must unlearn what you have learned. Try not! Do, or do not! There is no try!”

According to the Corporate Executive Board’s Integrated Sales Executive Council (iSEC), the sales persona that is most successful in winning business is “The Challenger.”  The one that performs the poorest is “The Relationship Builder.”

You can download a summary of the report, Replicating the New High Performer.  But, here’s the gist:

“The Challenger” salesperson is a teacher. She brings a unique perspective to the customer, asserts her perspective and insight, takes control of the  process, and tailors the message to the recipient on the customer’s side.

According to iSEC, in order to build more “Challengers,” companies need to get three things right:

1. Messages: You need to arm your reps to bring a unique perspective or point of view to the customer…in order to “teach.”  In other words, you need to have something worth teaching.

2. Tools: You need to give your reps the tools and skills to master the teaching message (per point #1), and you must equip them to tailor that message to different people and executives on the customer side.

3. Training: Your reps need to develop a greater sense of assertiveness (without being aggressive) so they can start taking control of the sales conversation and confidently guide the dialogue.

Corporate Visions is featured in the iSEC report as a provider of teachable messages and delivery skills. They highlight a CVI case study with our Volvo client, and they are wrapping up another one with our ADP client.

Being a Challenger does not mean being arrogant. The emphasis is on teaching the customer something.

When you get in the room with a customer, are you focused on providing a fresh insight? Do you add value to their day?

Or are you focused on your relationships and giving your customer a hug? (Just poking a little fun at one of the popular business books.)

Challenge your customers like a mentor encourages a protégé.  Help them overcome their initial reluctance to be the hero they are called to be.  Be the “Yoda” to their “Luke Skywalker.”  You get the point.

Download a summary of the report, Replicating the New High Performer.

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Posted by jfrantzcorpv

Making it Real: Using 3D Props to Help You Sell

March 17, 2009

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?

golfTry 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.

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Posted by Corporate Visions Inc.

Lost in Translation, Part II – Context is King

February 18, 2009

Ever heard of the Rosetta Stone? One man spent his entire life unlocking its secrets. We know you don’t have that kind of time, so just watch this video to get up to speed:

It wasn’t until the discovery of this stone in 1799 by Napoleon’s troops that the modern world was able to decipher hieroglyphics. This stone carried the key to finally cracking the hieroglyphic code.

It contained a carved text made up of hieroglyphs along with Egyptian and Greek translations, which enabled scholars who knew Greek and Egyptian to work backwards to finally understand the hieroglyphs.

In some ways, sales people need to be like the Rosetta Stone. They must translate your product and services details into something the customer will understand and care about.

Context is King!

Customers know what they are trying to accomplish, and they understand there are challenges that are causing them pain. They are looking for a partner company to share a unique insight and clearly align their offering with these challenges, demonstrating how they will provide relevant value in meeting the customer’s objectives.

This is called “context.” Without context there can be no translation. Or the translation will be questionable because you are forcing your customer to do the heavy-lifting.

What happens if you leave the translation of your message up to your customer?

  • It’s hard work! It takes a ton of effort to listen to a message that’s all about your company, your product and your technology and try to figure out what that means to me – the customer. People like to hear ideas and answers for their problems; they don’t like to be sold product features and have to intuit how it helps.
  • It’s confusing! Your customer wants to know what they will be able to “do” with your product. What they can “do better” or “do different” in order to succeed.  Forcing them to translate your product features and capabilities into something meaningful can become frustrating and futile.
  • It’s boring! How long can you sit in any conversation listening to someone talk all about themselves before you tune them out?  If you ask the right questions to uncover their pains, issues and challenges, then you can focus your entire message on your customer. Putting your product and your message in their world – in their Story. You’re making it more relevant and more exciting for them.

Language translators didn’t need more hieroglyphs in order to finally come up with a translation. They had thousands of years of hieroglyphs. What they needed was the hieroglyphs to be put into the context of a language that made sense to them.

Similarly, your customers don’t need another company capabilities presentation or credentials dump. They’ve heard the same thing a thousand times. What they need is your company to put your offer into the context of what they need to accomplish.

Does this mean more work for you? Yes! Is it going to be harder to do? Probably!

But know that most of your competitors aren’t taking the time to do this. You have an opportunity to be your customers’ Rosetta Stone.

You’ll not only translate a better message, you’ll win more business by doing it!

— by Mike Miller, Consultant, and Tim Riesterer, SVP of Strategic Consulting & CMO at Corporate Visions Inc.

If you’re in sales, check out The Power of Story webinar to find out more about translating your message into your buyer’s world.
If you’re in marketing, check out the Bridge the Messaging Gap webinar to see how you can translate your 30,000-foot level brand message into a 3-foot level field message that’s ready for your sales team to use.

Leave a Comment » | business process, buyer conversation, delivery techniques, focus on the buyer, presentation skills, sales messaging, sales methodology, sales strategy, sales tactics, sales tips, sales training, story | Permalink
Posted by jfrantzcorpv