Making a Difference
Making a Difference
Sound familiar? I can't tell you how many times I've heard discouraged sellers say various iterations of that quote in the past couple years.
No one likes to feel that they might as well be selling wastebaskets or rubber bands. You hate to think your customers could care less about the quality of your products or services. That leaves you feeling empty, like you're wasting your time and your life away.
If you're like most people, you want to feel good about the products or services you sell. You want to be proud of your services capabilities. It's important to believe your product is top-notch or a great value for its price point.
Virtually every sales book on the market talks about the importance of being able to relate the features, advantages and benefits of your offering. But, in today's market it's just not enough.
To be successful selling these days, it's imperative for you to go deeper - to understand the difference your product or service makes to your customer. And you must understand it from their perspective, not yours.
Finding the Difference
Use these strategies to better understand the difference your product or service makes to your customers.
1. Situational Analysis
Use your critical thinking skills to analyze your customer's world. Ask yourself or brainstorm with colleagues:
• To the best of your knowledge, how are customers doing things without your product/service? (Identify the top 2-3 ways)
• What problems are they likely to be experiencing because of what they're doing/using today? How might their current methods make it difficult for them to achieve their goals and objectives?
• How do these problems affect their business? This part is critical. "Feel-good" terms like lowered morale or upset workers isn't enough. Think in terms of critical business measures such as productivity, operational efficiency, profitability, costs and time-to-market. How does your offering affect these issues?
2. Ask Your Customer(s)
This is one of the most important things you can do - and it's much more effective if you do it after you've completed the situation analysis. Ask your customer:
• About how they did things before they bought your product or used your service.
• To share the problems your offering helped them fix and the goals it helped them achieve.
• About the value they realized from using your products or working with you.
This is an invaluable exercise. Have your questions prepared and take good notes. If you don't understand your customer's response, ask for clarification. You're at this meeting to learn as much as you can.
Quantify the Difference
If at all possible, quantify the value of your offering. This is what catches the interest of today's business decision maker.
How much was turnover reduced? How much faster did the product come to market? What specific cost savings were achieved? How long did it take to get these results? What percent increase/decrease was attained? What profits were gained from faster decision making?
Sound like a lot of work? It is ... but it's worth every ounce of effort you put into it.
• When you know the difference you make, developing a strong value proposition is easy.
• When you know the difference you make, it's much easier to get your foot in the door.
• When you know the difference you make, you can develop great questions that explore customer's needs, issues and concerns in areas where you have a solution.
• When you know the difference you make, it's possible to move a customer from indifference to urgency.
• When you know the difference you make, it's much easier to separate yourself from the competition.
• When you know the difference you make, it's much easier to keep going when the times are rough.
Remember this: Customers could care less about your product or service. They only care about the difference you make!
If you haven't taken time from your busy schedule to find it out - do it right away. Not only will you feel better about yourself and the work you do, but you'll also sell more!
_____
Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers get their foot in the door of large corporations, create demand and win profitable contracts. Get a free Sales Call Planning Guide ($19.95 value) when you sign up for the Selling to Big Companies e-newsletter. Just send an email with "subscribe in the subject line to jill@sellingtobigcompanies.com . For more info, visit http://www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com .
Making a Difference - To learn more about this author, visit Jill Konrath's Website.
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"All customers care about today is price. It doesn't matter if your product (service) is better, lasts longer or enables them to do more things. If you don't have the lowest price, you lose."
Sound familiar? I can't tell you how many times I've heard discouraged sellers say various iterations of that quote in the past couple years.
No one likes to feel that they might as well be selling wastebaskets or rubber bands. You hate to think your customers could care less about the quality of your products or services. That leaves you feeling empty, like you're wasting your time and your life away.
If you're like most people, you want to feel good about the products or services you sell. You want to be proud of your services capabilities. It's important to believe your product is top-notch or a great value for its price point.
Virtually every sales book on the market talks about the importance of being able to relate the features, advantages and benefits of your offering. But, in today's market it's just not enough.
To be successful selling these days, it's imperative for you to go deeper - to understand the difference your product or service makes to your customer. And you must understand it from their perspective, not yours.
Finding the Difference
Use these strategies to better understand the difference your product or service makes to your customers.
1. Situational Analysis
Use your critical thinking skills to analyze your customer's world. Ask yourself or brainstorm with colleagues:
• To the best of your knowledge, how are customers doing things without your product/service? (Identify the top 2-3 ways)
• What problems are they likely to be experiencing because of what they're doing/using today? How might their current methods make it difficult for them to achieve their goals and objectives?
• How do these problems affect their business? This part is critical. "Feel-good" terms like lowered morale or upset workers isn't enough. Think in terms of critical business measures such as productivity, operational efficiency, profitability, costs and time-to-market. How does your offering affect these issues?
2. Ask Your Customer(s)
This is one of the most important things you can do - and it's much more effective if you do it after you've completed the situation analysis. Ask your customer:
• About how they did things before they bought your product or used your service.
• To share the problems your offering helped them fix and the goals it helped them achieve.
• About the value they realized from using your products or working with you.
This is an invaluable exercise. Have your questions prepared and take good notes. If you don't understand your customer's response, ask for clarification. You're at this meeting to learn as much as you can.
Quantify the Difference
If at all possible, quantify the value of your offering. This is what catches the interest of today's business decision maker.
How much was turnover reduced? How much faster did the product come to market? What specific cost savings were achieved? How long did it take to get these results? What percent increase/decrease was attained? What profits were gained from faster decision making?
Sound like a lot of work? It is ... but it's worth every ounce of effort you put into it.
• When you know the difference you make, developing a strong value proposition is easy.
• When you know the difference you make, it's much easier to get your foot in the door.
• When you know the difference you make, you can develop great questions that explore customer's needs, issues and concerns in areas where you have a solution.
• When you know the difference you make, it's possible to move a customer from indifference to urgency.
• When you know the difference you make, it's much easier to separate yourself from the competition.
• When you know the difference you make, it's much easier to keep going when the times are rough.
Remember this: Customers could care less about your product or service. They only care about the difference you make!
If you haven't taken time from your busy schedule to find it out - do it right away. Not only will you feel better about yourself and the work you do, but you'll also sell more!
_____
Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies, helps sellers get their foot in the door of large corporations, create demand and win profitable contracts. Get a free Sales Call Planning Guide ($19.95 value) when you sign up for the Selling to Big Companies e-newsletter. Just send an email with "subscribe in the subject line to jill@sellingtobigcompanies.com . For more info, visit http://www.SellingtoBigCompanies.com .
Making a Difference - To learn more about this author, visit Jill Konrath's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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