Selling the value of what you do in business is one of the most challenging areas for most people. There is so much to consider:

• Who is my target market?
• What is the proposition that I am offering?
• How do I get meetings with busy business people?
• I’m an Account Manager and I’m looking for ways to sell higher and deeper into organisations
• How do I break through the ‘SMADD’ disease that clients and prospects have – that’s Sales Message Attention Defecit Disorder!
• How do I get more referrals?
• How do prove our worth to an organisation so we don’t have to compete on price?
• How do I get clients to value what we have done for them and stop switching suppliers?

The good news is that I am about to share with you 3 core components of value that you can use in your business to help you with these business challenges and more. The best news is that very few sales people and businesses operate successfully proving 1 level of value, let alone 3.

Let me introduce you to the ‘Sales Bullseye’:

Value Hypothesis –

The value hypothesis is the outer ring of value. This is when you are on the outside of an organisation trying to get in or are breaking in to new divisions, or trying to create a new project within an existing client. Here you must use research to determine whether you can probably derive some benefit for them. You don’t know for sure yet because you do not know enough about the organisation or the particular business initiative or business pain that the company is facing. This is not to be confused with an ‘elevator pitch’ which can come across as a trite generalisation of what you do. This is a very specific hypothesis of what value you can specifically add  to that organisation. An example could go like this:

“John, you should be capable of reducing your stock holding of your entire widget range  by 60% through the ability to use our demand forecasting software to know precisely what inventory is required to within a 10% tolerance rate. This will require an investment of £320,000. Which could  be returned within 11 months. We recently implemented a similar solution at Major Corp PLC  who achieved  a 70% reduction and payback within 9 months.”

A t the very early stages of a discussion this is only a hypothesis because you do not know enough about their business and without the right kind of conversation, at the right level, and therefore validation it is only a value hypothesis. You  will rarely  win business selling on a value hypothesis! It is only the start of the process and without the questioning and investigating skills needed to get validation from the client and prospect then it will never be a true value proposition.

Value proposition –

This is where your Client or prospect, is describing  how their business operates, where the dysfunction and costs reside and what their vision is for an alternative way of doing things.  This is what you use to map your capabilities against with your value proposition.

Executives in large organisations give  feedback  that few, if any proposals, make them sit up and go “Wow, I really love what these guys are proposing” and very few if any actually propose anything. More they are no more than page after page of price lists and capability statements. Rarely is there a personalised story that tells the names of stakeholders, the challenges they face, the goals they own and an overview of how those tasks and goals will be affected by a new solution. They want  specifics of the value hypothesis turned into the reality of what can and will happen specific to their business.  Asked why they feel they rarely see this type of value proposition executives answered that salespeople are too intent on getting their message across without asking the questions needed to identify the core basis of a value proposition.

Value Statement –

The value statement is the single most important part of the whole process and yet very few people do it. An opportunity in your marketplace?

One of the core principles of sales has always been trust.  People don’t buy from people they like, they buy from people they trust. One of the greatest ways to build long lasting trust and credibility is to show you have delivered on what you have said you would. This is even more important when selling to large organisations because research shows that senior executives generally get involved at the project scope phase (value hypothesis) and post project review (value statement). The value statement is simply proving the value of what you said you would achieve:

“John, we said we might be able to  reduce your stock holding of your entire widget range  by 60%  and infact now the system has been live 3 months we have seen a reduction of 75% with a prediction  tolerance of 7% . Your  investment of £320,000 is on track for full payback in 9 months and not the  11 months we originally planned.”

If you can continually prove the value of what you have done then your credibility will go through the roof. In effect, you are closing the sales loop.

So my challenge to you then is “How well do you rate on the three stages of the value bullseye?”

Let me know you are alive and have a point of view by leaving a comment below, and share your experiences here too

sales success for this business

About 80 minutes later we managed to get to our desk, collect the keys and we were on our way. The staff were friendly and efficient and chatting to them, we found out that this was actually a quiet day for them.

When we were talking lagter on, we worked out that this company was probably not that much cheaper than their rivals. You see, the car hire company priced on the basis that the fuel tank was empty and we had to purchase a full tank at the car hire companies rates. By the time we added this in, they were probably around the same price as the other companies.

There are some fantastic sales tips to be learnt here:

1. If you are in a price sensitive business, where you don’t have much chance to differentiate yourself then look to find a way to use price to your advantage. The car hire firm did this and the results were spectacular. In the 80 minutes we were there, they must have cleared 100 customers. The other 6 or 7 hire companies combined probably had a grand total of 5 clients while we were waiting. Thats good business!
2. Prepare for customers – Even though we were there for a while there was little more the company could have done to speed us through. They were frindly, efficient and never stopped to take a personal break. They looked delighted to be doing good business.

Have a look at your business and see how you can use price to your advantage.

As a final note though i do have to say that you must be careful about how you use these techniques. I was impressed withthe company but would probably not use them again.

Why?

Because I value my time. Next time i would prefer to pay a premium to speed through the airport and be sipping my san miguel by the pool while the rest of my fellow passengers were just collecting their keys.

If you own a SPAR retailer consider a Subway franchise. If you are a huge department store, how about adding an old fashioned  gents hair cutting and shoe shine shop.

Maybe this is a step too far though?

I was recently tidying out some old paperwork and came across some notes I made when reading the Seth Godin Classic – “Purple Cow”. I think I made these notes back in 2006 or 2007 but they are just as relevant in todays business world.

Be Remarkable – old approaches just don’t work. The ways you have happily found, dealt with and kept customers for years are becoming increasingly ineffective. When was the last time you tried something new or revolutionary in your sales system?

You are Invisible – If your overworked, time poor audience doesn’t have the time or inclination to listen to you then you are just down right invisible. When was the last time you tried out a new way of communicating. Do you twitter? Do you post to Youtube? God forbid but do you write hand written letters? In the information age the old personal touch may just work you know?

Old Rule: - Create safe, ordinary products and combine them with great marketing.

New Rules -

Create remarkable products that the right people seek out. What can you do in your business that is remarkable? When was the last time you had a Being Remarkable brainstorm?

Happy consumers - The vast majority of people are happy with what they have got – they are stuck! It is a tough job to sell to the stuck so your only chance Is to a seek out those people that are actively seeking what you sell and want/like change.

Differentiate your customers: Find the group that loves what you do and is the most profitable and rewarding. Ignore the rest. Don’t cater to the masses. Cater to customers you would love to have.

Boring leads to failure! - Always.

Abandon Following The Leader - Does your company follow the leader in your Industry? What would happen if you abandoned that strategy and did something very different instead? When was the last time you made a strategy for being different?

Niche first Product later? – Can you identify the niche market first and then build or develop the product or service to be ‘remarkable’ in that niche.

Slogan - What is your slogan that people can use to spread the remarkable message about your company?

Are you looking for inspiration at the moment. At around £10 or less I would recommend Seth Godins – Purple Cow as a quick read to inspire you with ideas. Or read some more of this sales blog. It’s free!

We are faced with uncertain times and many people are  fearing the worse about their ability to sell their products and services in his recession. It may not be easy but there are some proven ways that, if you work smart, will guide you in the right direction.

One of the key areas that I have worked with sales teams over the last few years is the ability to develop their ‘emotional’ skills in selling.  No – this is not about removing their own emotions to overcome their fear of rejection. It is about developing the ability to appeal to the emotional needs of the potential buyer – whether they are selling to business or consumers.

When selling in a recession this is more important than ever. Especially if you are selling to consumers. Consumers are proven to be seeking out confidence and escapism. Businesses tend to seek out products and services that they have confidence in and gives them confidence for the future.

Think what this means to you?

How can you inspire confidence and appeal to the desire for escapism with your products and services. In my sales training business I have seen an increase in the number of enquiries from ‘stressed’ sales people and sale managers. They need things that will give them confidence in themselves, their products and services and they are also looking for confidence in the people they turn to help them through this period.

Beware: If you are a sales manager or a small business owner beware of your staff and your own desire for escapism. The desire for escapism to get away from the stress of the current climate can blind you to what you need to be concentrating on. Focus on the hard reality. Ensure your value proposition is sound, ensure you can develop confidence, be a master of your sales metrics and focus on what you know works. Don’t settle for the short term emotional ‘hit’ that can come from your desire for escapism. Things to watch out for in your team and for you are:

• Increasing contact with ‘friendly’ prospective clients that have no intention of buying
• Spending too much time with existing ‘friendly’ clients who have no requirement for you to add value
• Short term activities such as ‘tidying the desk’, catching up on paperwork, – anything that keeps you away from business generation

Make sure you benefit and do not suffer from the recessionary desire for escapism and confidence. If you want to know what sells in a recession look at my blog or my articles on this site  because in part 2 I will give a run down on three key areas proven to sell  in times of a recession.

See you then……

The star prize for creativity went to Guy Portelli who managed to face the dragons and walk away with more money than he was asking for.

The dragons seemed a bit surprised that this proven sculptist would be asking for £70,000 for an almost guaranteed return of £250,000

It became clear, however, that Guy had his own plans. He had put his creative side to work and had thought about how he could launch his collection at the least cost to him and with the most control. Typically, art dealers would ask for 50% commission for the artist to use their premises, experience and marketing to gain access to people willing to pay around £20,000 per sculpture. They remained in control.

Guy had other ideas. His creativity led him to offering the dragons a deal that seemed to be too good to be true. However, he knew what he was doing:

• He gained access to a network of some of the worlds ‘high rolers’ who would be personally invited by the three dragons who invested
• The dragons would have a vested interest in getting as many financially capable ‘buyers’ as they could through recommendation and at little or no cost
• Guy could gain control of his exhibition and put on the “show I always wanted”

Is there something you could do to inject some creativity* into your business life?

Creativity —- “The process of having original ideas that have value”  — Sir Ken Robinson