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15 Critical Areas of Sales Success - #9: Value Proposition & Differentiation

Do you wonder why, when you have this great product or service, prospects seem interested but never act? Have you ever thought how inundated those prospects are with messages from your competitors that sound just like yours? And if all the messages sound much the same, and similar to what their current provider says as well, why would they make a change? There’s no compelling factor moving them forward in the sales cycle. It’s easier to stay right where they are, with their current provider. That’s the commoditized market in which we do business today.

What are you to do? You may be in an arena where you have just a few, or thousands, of competitors. It doesn’t matter. You have to differentiate yourself from the competition to win in your arena. And a perfect place to do that in the sales process is in your value proposition and messaging. 

Let’s start with a couple definitions:

Value proposition – Your value proposition is your external statement of the value you deliver to your clients. In essence, it's why they should buy from you versus your competition.

Messaging – Messaging comprises not just the written words in your marketing materials and proposals. Messaging is also what you say. Messaging happens any time a prospect sees or hears something about your company, product, or service whether in an advertisement, a brochure, a proposal, or a sales call.

So how do you go about defining your value proposition and differentiating your message?

1. Write down reasons why your prospect should buy from you versus your competition. Don't just list a couple...list as many as you can think of.
2. Write down those things that differentiate you from your competition. Don’t say, “nothing.” Think hard and think beyond the traditional product and service features. Perhaps you can handle larger orders than your competitor; perhaps your servicing team has much more tenure and expertise than your competition; perhaps you can customize your offering much more easily and inexpensively than your competition. The key is to identify all those things that make you different from the rest of the pack. Some of these differentiators may be the same as the items you listed in #1 - that's OK. Consolidate the two lists.
3. List several of your top competitors and go down the consolidated list from and determine if, in fact, the reasons you listed in #1 are true differentiators. If not, why bother talking about them? Put stars next to those that are true differentiators. 

Then create your value proposition using your strongest differentiators. Your value proposition should be a short, concise sentence that captures the essence of your differentiators versus comprising a list of them. Once you have your value proposition, test it out on some of your best clients - those who will give you honest feedback. Tweak and then message accordingly. Remember, your differentiated message is strongest when it addresses something about which your prospect really cares or something about which you can make them care. And your differentiated messaging should permeate all of your avenues for communication, whether written or verbal. That doesn’t just happen. It takes commitment and follow-through. But by differentiating your message, you will:

• Set yourself apart from your competition.
• Guide your prospects through the sales process.
• Prompt not only prospect interest, but action. 

Do you want to have a “me too” message or a message that truly stands out from the crowd? Investing in creating a differentiated message helps ensure you are seen not as a commodity, but as a true partner that can help your prospects succeed.

jkl 

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success - #8: Questioning, Listening, and the Client Needs Analysis

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success - #8:  Questioning, Listening, and the Client Needs Analysis

It's far more important for sellers to know how to question and listen to the client's situation vs knowing how to pitch, but it's a very, very hard habit to break.  Sellers love to talk about their products and services...talk...and talk...and more talk.  The key is to break this model by going outside of sales and looking at the process from a different perspective, that of a psychiatrist.  Psychiatrists are trained in the art and skill of effective questioning and listening, and we can pick up many good habits that we can apply to sales.

It's also important to know which questions to ask and to have them in front of you as you go through a questioning process with the client (as longs as we're not reading the questions).

Steps to Improve in This Critical Area:

• Questioning and Listening Like a Psychiatrist.  The best salespeople are usually the best listeners, not the best talkers.  A role model I've used for effective questioning and listening within my training program has been the Psychiatrist.  You should learn the training concepts I've developed that will enable you to quesiton and listen at these more advanced stage.
• A Professional Sales Call Should Feature an Effective, Easy-to-use C.N.A. (Client Needs Analysis).  The C.N.A. should be a simple series of questions the seller uses when interviewing the client.  The questions shouldn't necessarily be read to the client, but are used more as a talk-track guide to ensure the call moves forward and uncovers the critical areas of need the client may have.  A good C.N.A. should also have questions about budget and the decision making process.

GB

 

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success - #7: Contolling the Opening of the Sales Call

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success - #7:  Controlling the Opening of the Sales Call

The best way to improve how a call ends is to improve how it starts.  And it all has to do with control, confidence, skills, and the right tools.

Steps to Improve in This Critical Area

• Opening the sales call in Greg Bennett's "Going to the Bank" System.  Rapport & "Why are we here?"  Years ago when I first started in sales training, I developed a sales process, or system, I called "Going to the Bank", where someone in theory would enter the bank and proceed through each chamber. The system starts at the beginning and includes building some rapport with clients and then asking "Why are we here?".  Rapport is basically that casual opening chit-chat.  Some folks are better at "small talk" than others (personally I suck at it), so it's important that you have some topics in mind when you arrive.  We don't want the rapport to be about us and I don't like to go too personal too fast, just because I think it's too obvious. You must learn some key things to say to break the ice without being too "salesy".  Next is "Why are we here?"  or "Why am I here?" - this is a quirky question that really must be asked if we want to start the call on the right foot (only use on the first call however).
• Agenda.  Starting with an agenda is CRITICAL, as is knowing what to include in an effective agenda.  The way you establish and keep control of how the call will go and how it will end is with a well crafted, natural-sounding agenda.  You MUST learn to use this powerful tool to start every meeting.

You never get a second chance to start the first meeting, so you must be prepared and have effective tools for getting off on the right foot.

GB

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success: #6: Creating a Mini-Stepped Sales Process

#6:      Creating a Mini-Stepped Sales Process 

I've written extensively over the past several years about the importance of developing and using Mini-Steps in the sales process (in a nutshell, without them you're flying blind and going down the path to sales mediocrity), so I won't write much as a way of explaining the concept.   If you haven't already hopped on the Mini-Step bandwagon, I'd suggest you get on board by picking up my book "Consultative Closing" and/or read the many posts we've written on the concept here on the blog.

Steps to Improve in This Critical Area.

• Designing your sales process. You need to take a step back and design how you feel your sales process should work.  Though sales is an art and not an exact science, we can still design a model for how we feel it should happen, starting with how many calls a typical sales process entails -- do you have a one-call sale (where you diagnose, present, and close all in one call), or a mulit-call close?  Then what should be accomplished in each of those calls?
• Mini-Step development.  Once you know what should happen in the various calls, you can then  can layout your mini-step process.  You'll want to start at the beginning the process, then move through the qualifying stage, the pursuit stage, the closing stage, and finally the post-buy and long-term support stages.
• Using mini-steps throughout the sales process.  Mini-Steps are very helpful in several areas of the sales process, but only if you understand how to use them, and what to do with the information they'll provide you.
• Putting steps into stages.   Another reason Mini-Steps are popular is within clarifying opportunities within the pipeline.  Once you have your steps laid out, and start using them, you can being putting the steps into what we call stages, these stages usually come in threes, for instance:  Cool, Warm, Hot...Qualify, Pursuit, Close, etc.  This makes it easier for salespeople and sales managers to describe where opportunities are without having to recite every step that's been taken. 

There isn't a more essential and critical area within the 15 Critical Areas of Sales Succes than Mini-Steps, I hope you'll take the time to develop and use yours!

GB

    

Tips for Time Maximization, Accountability & Goal Setting

Yesterday we focused on the importance of blocking out time to prospect, managing your calendar, accountability, and planning and goal setting.

For some practical tips on just how to do that, I went to a few sites – specifically higher education sites – to see what they suggest. Sure, business is different than school, but isn't school where most of us first had to apply the basic concepts of time maximization, accountability and goal setting? So let's go back to the basics...

Block your study time

 Develop increments of dedicated time to prospecting instead of trying to do it whenever you have a moment. I don't have a lot of moments floating around, do you? So if you leave prospecting up to when you have a moment, you'll never get to it. Block it out on your calendar just like any other meeting (this is, after all, a meeting for you and your prospects) and honor it.

Have a dedicated study space

Find the space and make it free from distractions (email, texts, etc.). If you need your computer for prospecting, mute the sound, shut down any IM, email, and Angry Birds apps, and work with only the information you need for those calls. Find a back-up place you can escape to if someone has comandeered your preferred space – and enjoy the creativity and energy a change of venue can offer. Have your tools with you...notepad, pen, calendar, scripts, objection reframes, and whatever else you need for that time.

Review weekly 

Just as you would review your assignments on a weekly basis in school, review your prospecting tracking sheet on a weekly basis as well. Did you make the number of calls you wanted to make? If you're experimenting with call days, which days seemed to work best to reach people?  What techniques worked best? Take note of these "lessons" and apply them the following week. Pretty soon, you'll have a standard pattern of successful prospecting.

Get something done!

It's pretty easy to sit around and look at what needs to be done...and then organize it and reorganize it and do research and organize it again...  But to actually accomplish something, you have to pick up the phone. So pick up the phone and get that first call made...the rest will come easier. 

Postpone unnecessary activities until the work is done!

Prioritize your prospecting - get it done and postpone other activities, like cleaning your cube, registering for that conference, and reading your email, until your prospecting is done. In the words of Nike, Just Do It.

Identify resources to help you

You likely had a study partner in college; you need an accountability partner in business. Someone who will be there to help you, but to also hold you accountable. If you need help in the tactics of prospecting (call lists, value proposition, elevator pitch, etc.), find the right professionals to help you. Everyone needs a tutor now and then...the smart people get them. 

Use your free time wisely

Identify small pieces of prospecting skills development you can do between meetings, while making your coffee, or while waiting in line at the post office. Maybe it's reviewing your elevator speech, practicing objection reframes with flash cards, or reading small articles that improve your industry knowledge...whatever it is, have the resources you need to make good use of those 5-15 minute increments.

Review notes just before and just after class

Prepare for your calls...review previous notes so that you can have warm calls with your warm leads. I get pretty upset when a salesperson calls to "follow up with me" only to have no idea what we talked about the last time we spoke. Similarly, review your notes after your prospecting time and determine the follow-up steps you need to take as a result of your calls.

Isn't is amazing the things we learned in college that we can apply today? Happy prospecting!

jkl

 

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success: #5: Time Maximization, Accountability & Goal Setting

#5:      Time Maximization, Accountability & Goal Setting         

Your life in sales is a direct reflection of what you do each moment, hour, and day.   That's why it's critical to focus only on making today excellent.   You stay within that 24-hour window (without dwelling on the past or fearing the future) and you'll stay focused on the only time you can really impact...right now, today.

In order to make today excellent, we need to maximize each hour to ensure our activity is the right activity to accomplish our goals.  This means we need to have goals, and then know the action required to hit those goals. Once the goals and associated activities have been established, we need some accountability structures in place to ensure we do what we need to do to win.

Steps to Improve In This Critical Area:

• Blocking Out Time to Prospect.  A sure sign of a focused, successful salesperson is the regular habit of blocking out enough time to prospect on their calendar, then keeping that time sacred. How much time you need to block out depends on your targeting and your prospecting skill sets; then deteringing the volume required to fill your sales pipeline.
• Manaing Your Calendar. There is a difference between planning your calendar and managing your calendar. When you manage your calendar you're constantly updating the fluid nature of a life in sales, always trying to stay with the plan, and when things get off track, to be able to adjust the scheudle and make sure you're getting done what you need to get done.
• Accountabilty.  Who in your life can you count on to call BS on you from time to time?  Who can you rely on to care enough to check on your progress?  Who can you trust to kick your butt from time to time? Since most of us good at selling and influencing others, we know how to sell ourselves, and we often sell ourselves on getting off our planned activities (especially the really tough or intimidating things) and seeking more comfort.
• Planning and Goal Setting.  Having goals is critical to accomplishing anything.  Without goals, how can we tell when we're moving the ball down the field?   Once our goals are established we need a plan for successfully advancing toward the goal.  This plan needs to be executed consistently, then reviewed, tweaked, and executed on again.

GB

The Danger of Stereotyping

Yesterday, Greg wrote about mental toughness. I think a lot of us suffer from mental destructiveness because of stereotypes we've heard others assign to us or, worse yet, that we've assigned to ourselves. There are a few professions where you really have to be mentally tough because a lot of people like to put these professions in a prelabled box...attorneys, garbage collectors, salespeople. It's wrong, and yet we, as humans, do it. Who knows why?

In sales, you have to be mentally tough because your prospects and clients may quickly stereotype you, often without even knowing you. And sometimes, all it takes is a hint of a stereotype for us to hunt down the superglue, smear it all over the back of that big, ugly label, and press it firmly to our forehead. We become a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

I recently ran across an article from the Association for Psychological Science about the dangers of stereotyping. Take a peek - it's pretty interesting.

http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/were-only-human/the-ironic-power-of-stereotype.html

Don't let others stereotype you – and for heaven's sake, don't stereotype yourself! If you're a professional, you likely don't fit the stereotype...so don't go there!

jkl

15 Critcal Areas of Sales Success -- #4: Mental Strengthening for Prospecting Success

It takes a great deal of mental strength and conditioning to face the daily onslaught of negativity and rejection one gets in sales.  We're told NO...your product stinks...we don't like salespeople, etc. etc. And because this negative feedback goes against our deeply-programmed need to be liked and accepted, our mind can interpret this rejection as life threatening.  And we can even experience physical symptoms that resemble an actual threat to our body;  heart racing, sweating, butterflies in the stomach, etc.  

Rejection and negativity are daily threats in sales. Some naturally handle it better than others.  The good news is - we can all learn to not only handle it better, but learn to turn the negative vibes into positive energy and outcomes.  

By far the biggest foe any seller will ever face resides in their own mind.  Ironically, it's also the home of their greatest ally.  It just depends on how enlightened we are about the role of the mind and our willingness to take ownership of its thoughts.  

Our mental conditioning and strengthening is critical to business development and long term success (and happiness) in sales.

Steps to Improve In This Critical Area

• Facing Call Reluctance.  These fears and perceived risks will impact us directly in our reluctance to make prospecting calls.  And if we don't make calls, we won't load the pipeline with enough opportunities to survive.   Understanding what call reluctance is, where it comes from, and how to deal with it, are all critical steps to surviving and thriving long term in sales.
• Learning to Detach.  Detachment is a wonderfully liberating state of being when we're facing the scary or intimidating parts of selling.  The ability to rise above, or to the side, of a situation and become an observer is the goal, but it takes a great deal of self-awareness and training to be able to do it on a regular basis.
• The Importance of NOW. Salespeople, like most other people, are so used to living in either the past (thinking about what they should have done), or the future (worrying about what may happen tomorrow) that they miss out on the only "real" time there is -- right now.  Today.  Salespeople must learn to focus only on the moment at hand...on making today excellent. 
• Confidence.  With mental strengthening, detachment, and focusing on right now, will come confidence.  Being more confident is the worthy goal of many people, not only in sales but in all walks of life. 
• Self sabotage & positive affirmations. In sales these positive states of mind come under daily attack; we have to put ourselves out there every day if we're be successful (and stay successful). And once we achieve a certain level of success, we must become aware of some subtle (and not so subtle) strategies for staying positive and moving forward.  The concept is called Self Sabotage, and it can happen to the best of us.  The best way to keep it at bay is to create Positive Affirmations that we continue to introduce to ourselves as we go through the varying stages of the selling process.   When we experience someone telling us no, and our mind begins doing its dirty work of attacking the process, we counter it with a positive affirmation.  When we experience rude behavior; angry people; or self doubts, we call on a positive affirmation to stay the course and keep moving forward.

Success or failure in sales is totally and completely between you and you.  As William Shakespeare once said (paraphrasing here)  All the rest is just a stage on which it all plays out!

GB

 

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success -- #3: New Business Approach Strategies and Scripting

#3: New Business Approach Strategies and Scripting

Once you've defined your message, you need to have a strategy for getting by screeners and getting to decision makers.  I call this process "Script Logic" which is basically developing an approach plan, and associated word tracks, for wading through complicated sales waters. 

Most salespeople don't really have a strategy or effective scripting for reaching key people, thus their prospecting efforts are all over the map, and this can lead to frustration and eventually giving up all together.

Steps to Improve In This Critical ARea:

• Getting by screeners.  You have to understand how screeners think; what they're charged to do; and the techniques they employ to keep you away from decision makers.  Then you have to develop an effective process for calling and emailing in order to reach top people
• Mastering voice mail.  Voice mail has changed over the past few years since the advent of Blackberrys and smart phones.  Since we can receive emails and texts where ever we are, the need for playing "telephone tag" has dropped dramatically.  That being said, you still need to incorporate effective voice mail messages into your process.  There are several "tricks" and "commando strategies" we employ to help you get more return calls.
• Effective use of email & social media.  With the drop in voice mail there's been a corresponding rise in the use of email and social media.  Part of any successful prospecting strategy must include the use of email and social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.  We send off far more signals to our clients than we realize by the way we handle these powerful tools.
• Getting more appointments with decision makers.  Once you get a decision maker (or a potential decision maker) on the phone, you need to take advantage of the opportunity.  Which means developing an effective talk-track that includes your messaging and your elevator speech.  Why should this person carve out 20 or 30 minute to see you?  How are you going to deliver value in a short amount of time?  
• Dealing with push backs and objections.  As we make these calls it's critical that we have some strategies and talk-tracks for dealing with the myriad of push-backs, stalls, and objections we can get when we're doing business development.    Unfortunately, only a very small percentage of sales organizations take the time to script effective talk-tracks in these areas (and they're areas that need them the most!)

If your goal is to create a powerful, effective sales process you MUST be able to effectively and efficiently reach key decision makers!

GB

 

 

15 Critical Areas of Sales Success – #2: Refining Your Prospecting Message

Selling is quite like campaigning; likewise defining your prospecting message is a little like writing your campaign speech. You need to determine what you stand for, what makes you different than those who are running against you, determine the value of what you offer, identifying where you'll give your speech, then creating the speech and delivering it.  These compromise the steps of refining your prospecting message.  

• Define your brand – What do you stand for? That is one of the most basic questions every business and every business person should ask themselves. A good place to start might be what your clients say you stand for...then see if that rings true to you. Write down your ideas and over the next few days revisit and revise until you end up with the one that fits and sticks with you. 
• Determine your sweet spot – Today's marketplace is full of "me-too" messaging. Many competitors sound the same which makes it a big playing field with a lot of players. Why play on that field? Instead, create your own field by identifying your sweet spot: that spot where you offer a solution that meets the needs of your and that is differentiated from your competition. 
• IT-ENABLES-SO – Begin your messaging using my "It-Enables-So" process. IT is the "thing" you offer (aka product or service). Most salespeople can go on and on about what IT is in excruciating detail. IT won't sell. ENABLES tells your prospect what they will be able to do tomorrow that they can't do today because of your solution. Ooohh, now that's a bit more interesting. ENABLES may sell. SO tells your prospect exactly what being able to do something differently means to her. SO will sell.
• Review your client interaction points – Determine where to tell your story. Where do you interact with prospect and clients? Advertising, direct mail, web, social media, marketing materials, proposals, prospect events, phone conversations, and in-person meetings...you get the idea. Record all of these interaction points - that's where you'll need messaging around your sweet spot.
• Create and use an effective elevator speech – Draft your elevator speech. Draft two - a longer one and a short one. Reflect your brand and focus on your sweet spot. Writing is a bit magical, but when you use start with the steps just reviewed, it's much easier. Practice it until you have it down, then role play with a colleague, friend, or spouse. Get their feedback and make tweaks until it's natural for you and clear to your audience.

Now you're ready to hit the campaign trail!

jkl