Posts

Value proposition is a phrase that became ubiquitous during the 90’s dot.com (dot bomb?) era. You may still encounter this, or the “value messaging” term on a regular basis in the business world. Buzz word or not, value messaging will help quickly convey the value of your product or service without overwhelming or boring potential customers away in a landslide of features and benefits dumping.

Based on the research performed by Sirius Decisions, communication plays the biggest role in sales failures. The number one inhibitor to achieving your sales quota is the inability to communicate value messages, followed closely by an information gap, and then by having too many products to know.

Top Inhibitors to Achieving Sales Quotas
Insufficient leads: 13.3%
Poor sales skills: 16%
Too many products to know: 21.4%
Information gap: 24.3%
Inability to communicate value message: 26%

If you can’t articulate what your product is in a simple manner that is easy to digest, how do you expect customers to understand why they should choose you over the competition? To get you on the right track, here are three strategy development tips to work against these statistics and help you develop and convey a powerful value message:

    1. Learn about your customers – Develop an ideal customer persona.  First, from a demographic or “firmographic” perspective, do your research.  Learn about their market, what they sell, how much they sell, the organization size and the roles involved in the decision making process.  Next, conduct informational interviews within your network.  Talk to anyone in the industry who has been exposed to your ideal customer.  Even third hand knowledge can be valuable in preparing for the next step – which is to talk to your customers and/or prospects.  Find out about their goals, how they measure and track their success, and ask about their pain points.  Once you have a solid definition of your ideal customer persona, you’re equipped with the knowledge to successfully position yourself to appeal to your target audience.
    2. Demonstrate value – Take what you’ve learned about your customer; their pain points, needs and goals to start crafting a message that demonstrates the value of your product from their perspective. How will your product eliminate pain points and help them achieve daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly goals? Messaging that shows that you, the seller, understands the customer’s view point will make your message much more powerful than an organization that suffers from “Me Syndrome” and constantly talks about themselves and product capabilities.  Here are two examples of how you can paint a picture for the customer:
        • “Imagine a day without the stress of x, y, and z. With the time you save you’ll be able to accomplish twice as much of what you need to do.”
        • “Whether it’s daily, weekly or yearly we understand that goals are always top of mind. Let (product X) help reduce the time it takes to meet those goals by taking advantage of x and y capabilities.”
    3. Position and differentiate –What makes you different from your competitors? Is it your exceptional customer service, large number of capabilities, or the price of your product? Whatever it is, be sure to reiterate the difference across all sales and marketing channels, and especially when you’re physically speaking with a prospect or customer. Proper positioning involves being able to identify who you, as an organization are, and consistently demonstrate that to prospects and customers. A mistake some companies make is forgetting to consistently use the same positioning statements and language in sales and marketing when speaking about how they help your customers create value. Make sure what you’re saying on your website is demonstrated similarly on your social channels, in your marketing materials and through the words that sales reps use with customers. It sounds obvious, but unfortunately many organizations fail to do this.

Successful sales strategies are all about the creativity and adaptability that your sales management can create in conjunction with Marketing. Understanding your customer, demonstrating value and positioning yourself are all simple strategies to help streamline the sales process. Don’t fall into the 26% that are unable to communicate value messages about their product consistently and effectively.

John recently addressed the Association of Language Companies (ALC) at their annual conference held in San Diego. The ALC is a professional organization of commercial translation and interpretation companies who operate in a global capacity.

The following video is a five minute outtake of the dialogue conducted. Listen in for the framework on how to help your customers and prospects understand the value that you provide. If you would like the tools that are mentioned, simply e mail to john@drive-revenue and they will be forwarded to you.

 

The Flannery Sales Systems’ OLP is another tool we created to:

  1. Enable our customers to understand buyer behavior
  2. Reinforce the core concepts and selling skills of Sales Process for all individuals in customer facing roles.
  3. Provide practice and repetition of skills in a self-paced, ongoing basis.
  4. Help Managers to understand where their sellers are competent, where they need coaching, and how to improve results.

The web based portal (view screen shot here) includes:`

  • Six reinforcement videos by sales stage and skill; each are 5 to 7 minutes long (click here to view a sample)
  • e-Toolkits that support each stage
  • A reinforcement quiz for each stage
  • The Manager’s Coaching Room
  • Support with live phone coaching sessions

In a previous article (How To Make Learning Stick), one of the key tenets of Adult Learning Theory emphasized a need for a learner (salesperson) to use repetition as a way to embed additional skills into their everyday routine.

Coaching is a major component to reinforce the use of enhanced skills, but until the new skills are entrenched, coaching will be difficult. The portal is designed to provide the repetition, and then offers the visibility for a specific skill that needs improvement (i.e. qualification, establishing value, negotiation, etc.).

Once the salespeople go through all six modules, Managers will be able to see the results of the scores on the quizzes completed. This provides the Managers with the objectivity needed to pinpoint coaching efforts.

Sales skills is often one of the last things to be addressed in the overscheduled world of most Sales Managers. The OLP provides Managers with an objective way to assess skills, as well as a platform to create skill related topics for sales team meetings.

Marketing, Customer Service and Inside Sales personnel can also benefit from the use of this valuable tool, as the OLP provides a window into the buyer’s world, the sales process that is being used in the field, and how other customer facing roles can use it in their respective roles.

For your FREE 30 DAY TRIAL, please contact John Flannery at john@drive-revenue.com or call 858-518-7039.

 

 

John will join his long-time customer ID Systems  at ProMat in Chicago this week. Mark Stanton, GM of IDSY has invited John to the show to speak with the ISDY Dealers, and see how they can benefit from the use of the IDSY Sales Process.

We know how strong the Dealer network is for IDSY, and look forward to exploring additional ways we can help them to grow their revenue in 2019 through the usage and deeper connections in the sales process.

If you are attending ProMat, or are in Chicago this week and would like to meet up with John, text or call him at 858 518-7039.

 

John is attending the Selling Power 3.0 Conference in San Francisco on Monday and Tuesday of this week. The purpose for spending 2 full days out of the field is to gather information that will help Flannery Sales Systems’ customers to drive revenue.

As a great Sales Manager once said “If you are coasting (in your career), you are usually going downhill.” Don’t let that happen to you!  We are committed to learning and sharing important new information from Sales 3.0 with individuals in all customer facing roles, not just sales.

 

 

 

Here are two thought provoking concepts from the conference:

  • Relationship sellers are 63% less likely to ask tough questions of customers and prospects because they have an overriding need to be liked
  • Growth and comfort never co-exist

If you’re attending this conference, or in the Bay Area and would like to speak to John about how to improve your revenue generation, give him a text or call at 858-518-7039    #salestraining #salesconference #salesleadership #S30C

In three separate conversations, I was contacted by 2 sales representatives and one entrepreneur who asked to provide a critique of a presentation that they were taking to a prospect. While the circumstances around each were different, there was one common challenge I identified following each conversation-information around a solution, product, or service was being presented way too soon! None of the three understood how the prospect ran their business without the recommendation that they would prescribe. And only one realized how this approach would lower their chances of a successful outcome, even if they did (for some strange reason) win the business.

A sales presentation is often the prelude to closing the sale.  Stop for a minute to think that the sales presentation is more like third base.  Understanding how a prospect would use your product or service, what their title was, what the decision making process is, what problem is solved by buying from you are all the issues that will get you to first or second base.  Jumping right to the boilerplate sales presentation is one sure way to be knocked out of the game.

Today’s marketplace is very unforgiving.  Buyers have more information and less time than ever before.   Asking the right questions and taking the time to listen and learn about how to help solve a buyer’s problem is the road to success.  Sellers will have fewer opportunities to be “at bat” so make sure that your presentations count.  Make sure your sales organization is not squandering those opportunities by practicing “spray & pray”.

Flannery Sales Systems helps organizations develop and implement a repeatable sales process.  Improving the effectiveness of your sales organization is a key success strategy for the coming year.  We would welcome an opportunity to explore your needs and understand where you could benefit from an improved skills and processes.  Only then would we consider making you a presentation!  Flannery Sales Systems works with a broad cross section of industries and we are confident that we can enhance your results.

765qwerty765

Flannery Sales Systems to attend PITTCON Conference

We are  pleased to be participating in PITTCON,  the world’s leading annual conference and exposition on laboratory science. Pittcon attracts attendees from industry, academia and government from over 90 countries worldwide. We will be attending the conference this Tuesday and Wednesday, March 19 and 20 in Philadelphia. John E. Flannery, President of FSS will be on hand to speak with Sales and Marketing leaders about fine-tuning their efforts to drive revenue.

“We help all individuals in customer facing roles with the tactical execution of their GoTo Market strategy, which equates to one effective customer conversation at a time” says Flannery, who has worked for customers within the laboratory science sector. The inclusion of Sales, Marketing, Customer Service and Technical Expertise in the execution of sales process has proven invaluable in meeting and exceeding revenue objectives.

For an individual conversation with John, contact him at 858 518-7039 or john@drive-revenue.com

Why You Should Use Those Buyer Personas You’ve Been Avoiding

 

Sometimes marketing just doesn’t get it. In my own experience, I’ve worked with companies in which the marketing team gave me one pitch while the sales team gave me a totally different one. Which one did I believe? The sales team’s pitch, because they were the ones on the front lines, and they knew the lingo to use and the angle to take.

 

But when marketing is dialed in, sales can get content that really resonates with prospects and leads. And that content might include buyer personas. If your organization has handed you buyer personas, and you’ve been reluctant to rely on them, read on…

 

The Case for Buyer Personas

Does your organization suffer from a distrust of marketing? Have you had marketing qualified leads handed over only to discover they’re not sales qualified leads? OK, that happens. But don’t distrust everything that comes from the marketing side. If marketing hands you buyer personas, and you’re skeptical, consider these two important reasons for using them:

 

  1. You can be more targeted in your approach when you have a better understanding of someone’s situation and pain points—which is what a buyer persona is designed to help you figure out.
  2. You can approach different audiences in different ways. Your prospects might include decision makers vs. end users, or a business decision maker (BDM) vs. a technical decision maker (TDM). The pain points will vary between each, and you want to hit on the right ones for each—or else they won’t listen.

 

What Should a Buyer Persona Include?

Buyer personas can be quite detailed, and some organizations even use a photograph to try and make the persona that much more real. What, exactly, the buyer personas you’re offered include is up to the team that creates them, but, in general, a persona should help you understand a prospect’s:

 

  • Role
  • Responsibilities
  • Current solution
  • Goals
  • Challenges

 

Other information might include budget, education, industry, years of experience and more.

 

Give Marketing the Feedback They Need

And what if you’ve tried the buyer personas and been frustrated? If you put these buyer personas to work and discover a disconnect, give marketing feedback on what is or is not working. After all, you’re the one out there with boots on the ground. You might have insight they need to refine these buyer personas to better describe your organization’s ideal prospects. And marketing is approaching these buyer personas from their own perspective. They need the information to improve upon the content they’re creating. You need the information to make more sales. So speak up. Don’t put the personas aside. Just ask for better versions.

 

Making Your Own Buyer Personas

And what if your marketing team doesn’t offer you buyer personas to work from? You can create your own. HubSpot offers a free template that you can find here. If you’re doing this on your own, you won’t need to get into too much detail, and you can refine these as you go. But at least you’ll benefit from a more targeted approach with your sales process.

 

 

Do Simple BetterThe quote on a t shirt worn by Joe Maddon, the Manager of the Chicago Cubs (an American baseball team) inspired me. It said “Do Simple Better”. Professional athletes focusing on how to do the simple things, better.

Hmmm, Do Simple Better. What does that mean to your team? In Sales, this is what the focus should be on, and as fundamental as it sounds, doesn’t always happen in the heat of identifying, developing and closing a healthy Sales Pipeline filled with qualified Opportunities.

  1. Understand the Prospect/Customer’s Primary Business Objectives (PBOs): what is the Decision Maker hoping to accomplish if they purchase your product or service?
  1. Identify the Challenges: what is happening in their business today that inhibits them from reaching the PBO? And what is the impact, financial and otherwise, if they don’t make a change?
  1. Align Your Capabilities: how do your capabilities help the Decision Maker to address the Challenges? Be specific in matching the capability, and make sure the prospect identifies the VALUE they could obtain through the use of your capabilities. If they can’t, you should be able to help paint the picture on value.
  1. Agree on a Clear Next Step: what is the next step that the prospect and you are taking to move forward?  My colleague John Golden calls this an advance, as opposed to a continuation. Are we advancing this opportunity to the next step, or in a stall with one of the above mentioned items incomplete?

Items # 1 through 4 are the SIMPLE, or The Basics for sellers in early Opportunity development. They should all be discussed, documented and agreed to with the Decision Maker BEFORE sellers create a quote, write a proposal, ask for technical support or Marketing resources, build a presentation or respond to a tender/RFP.

 

Sales Leaders, it’s time to Coach your sellers to get the Simple right. Right now.

We just concluded the fourth of four SKO meetings with our customers over a five-week period, and we ready for a nap. The cities included Sedona, AZ, Tampa, FL, Cleveland (Aurora), OH and Kingsport, TN. How much knowledge, excitement, reflection, presentations, awards, conversation, redundancy, partying and planning can be packed into a 3- or 4-day session? Well, it turns out that A LOT is the answer. 

There was your regular run of the mill events at each of the four, but also tremendous highlights as it pertains to new team members, capital infusions, product launches and laser like focus on customers and emerging markets.  Our part was to contribute to the continual learning for the Sales teams, and other individuals in customer facing roles. While all companies embraced their own “theme” for the meeting, we intertwined and reinforced the fundamentals on the tactical execution of sales success as it relates to our customers’ commercial strategy.  

Many of our competitors are working on the next, new shiny object in selling; not us. In the sales training business, some are looking to offer the silver bullet, or latest trend on what can appear to be a fashion industry-like approach. The leaders of the companies we work for are focused on executing the basics well, then taking it to the next level. But we have to get the fundamentals right, and we help them to do that in all skill set capacities.  

To the teams we recently trained: now that you’ve let all that information you received at your SKO settle in, and got back into your regular routine, pick up your Sales Tool Kit, review the on-line modules of your sales process and get ready to have better conversations with customers and prospects. And Managers, it is your job to make sure your sellers are improving their selling skills, one opportunity at a time. Let’s get going!