Trust Triangle Selling February 2008 Newsletter

February 2008

Issue: 13

Ask Dan

It's good to have questions - now ask them! The only poor question is the one never asked. I may be able to feature your question in the next newsletter. Just email me at dadams@trusttriangleselling.com.

Q: We'll soon be announcing a new product to our entire sales team. In our last product introduction we did not give the sales reps the information they needed to really promote the product successfully. Our most successful reps are selling to the senior executives at their target accounts. Do you have any best practices that we can incorporate into this rollout that will help to insure the successful launch of this product, especially to senior executives?

Amy P.
Seattle, WA

A: Amy, a great question. Sounds like your team could benefit from having a solid "Value Proposition" for your corporation and your new product, particularly given that you are selling to senior executives. In this case, most often you are facing barriers to entry before you can even think about deploying appropriate sales strategies. Gaining access to a CxO mandates that you tackle the anticipated question,: "Why should I talk to you, much less buy from you?" Answering this question effectively requires thoughtfulness and advance preparation. You need something in your sales arsenal called a Value Proposition.

A value proposition is not a thing, like a product or a service. It's a sales message that shows that you thoroughly understand the following:

Who the customer is and the exact nature of his or her headaches
How your product or solution can eliminate or prevent those headaches and provide desired benefits
The ways in which you are uniquely qualified to do this
Specifically why a customer would want to spend more for this uniqueness
Solid credible proof that you can do it

Preparing and internalizing an effective value proposition is one of the very first things a rep should do upon joining a company. Preferably, the value proposition is developed in conjunction with senior executives and corporate marketing. It should take into account the overall corporate strategic direction. Everyone from the person who answers the phones to the CxO to the janitorial staff should know the company's value proposition. Although you must memorize it, you will never use your value proposition in its entire memorized form with a customer. Rather, you customize it to each customer based on his or her specific needs and role. A powerful value proposition has five components:

The Promise
The Enablers
The Unfair Advantage
The Justification Of Value ("Show Me The Money")
The Proof.

The Promise
This first value proposition component answers the customer question, "How can you help me?" Typically, your promise will be to help the customer increase profits, reduce costs, increase revenue, increase efficiency, improve quality, or strengthen its market position. Promises are not the same as benefits. If you were selling medical billing software, your promise would not be the software's ability to print labels at top speed; it would be to reduce billing costs and improve the hospital's bottom line.

The Enablers
The second component of your value proposition answers the customer question, "What services, products, and solutions allow you to make the promise to me?" The enablers are what you offer to fulfill the promise.

For example, if your promise to the customer is, "I can help you increase revenue," the enablers explain the tools, solutions, and services you offer that will permit you to fulfill that promise.

The Unfair Advantage
This third component of your value proposition answers the customer question, "What makes you different from your competition?" Your unfair advantages are the capabilities, services, and offerings unique to you or your company that your competitors consider a threat to their success. An unfair advantage - such as having the largest market share, the best product, the best reputation among buyers, or the longest experience in the field - alters the playing field and gives you a distinct advantage.

Once you determine your unfair advantage, you need to elevate it as a key-buying criterion for all of your customers. If it's not a key-buying criterion now, you need a strategy to convince the customer that this should be a key buying criterion. For instance, let's say you are an insurance agent and your unfair advantage is the financial reputation of your company. You might say, "Mr. Customer, whether or not you buy from my company is irrelevant. As you analyze the different offerings, you need to consider the long-term viability and reputation of the companies. Are they going to be there in the future to take care of you?"

The Justification of Value: Show Me The Money!
Having one or more unfair advantages is not enough. In an advanced value proposition each unfair advantage also includes a justification as to why the customer should invest more in the selling price (initial investment) than that of your competition.

A true superstar assumes that the initial investment for her solution will be significantly higher that that of her competitor. She is armed with the sales tools and knowledge to specifically justify that difference. In fact, the true superstar wants her initial investment to be higher than her competition because it speaks to value. Most customers associate quality with cost. Let's say, for example, that you sell cars and one of your unfair advantages is that your cars have a higher trade-in value, on average, than your competition. You would want to walk your customer through the business case for investing more upfront than he would spend for another auto. This is called selling value!

The Proof
The proof, the fifth component of a value proposition, provides a response to the customer statement, "I don't believe you - prove it!" Without question, the very best proof comes in the form of referrals from satisfied customers, quotations in the press, or case studies showing how you improved quality or increased revenue for another account similar to your target account.

Constructing a rock-solid value proposition is not that difficult. Your efforts will be rewarded with easier access to CxOs and greater success selling to them.

Good Luck, and Close 'Em!

Dan Adams, Adams and Associates