Sales Leaders: Is Your Marketing Message Hurting Your Sales Efforts?

This is from our 2010 News Bulletin Archive
How do prospects decide from which company
to ultimately buy? If you examine
most company’s marketing materials,
you’ll notice that they believe customers
buy for reasons like the ones listed below.
These themes are intended to reach a broad
audience. Do they sound familiar?
Reputation
Experience
Best and latest technologies
Capacity to identify and analyze problems
Ability to provide flexible and multifaceted solutions
Commitment to superior customer service
Prospects could buy for any one of these reasons, or for a combination
of these reasons. What we know for sure is they aren’t
buying for ALL of these reasons.
What’s the point?
When prospecting for new business, many salespeople make the
mistake of painting too broad a picture of their company’s capabilities.
They do that by including all possible ways to help a
prospect. Here’s an example:
XYZ Engineering is the oldest and most experienced provider of
process engineering consulting. We utilize proprietary, awardwinning
technologies endorsed by SAMPE. Our multidimensional
analysis process enables us to isolate and analyze the critical
aspects of performance and provide our clients with a validated
solution for generating the greatest improvement in the shortest
period of time.
There is a lot of information in that one statement, and it covers
many possible reasons to buy. The problem is, until the prospect
recognizes they have a need for a product or service, they might
not care to hear about the company’s reputation, expertise, service,
process, or how many awards have been won.
For you, that means…
One size does not fit all. Target your prospecting message toward
a specific market segment and a specific problem or set of problems.
Pick the ones for which your company has a particularly
effective solution. Then, focus on a well-defined outcome. Your
message must answer the question, “What is in it for the prospect?”
What will the TARGETED prospects obtain? How will
things change? What will they be left with if they buy your product
or service?
Let’s rework the previous example using the problem, solution,
outcome formula:
Production bottlenecks cause the typical XYZ Engineering client
to operate between 78% and 81% efficiency. Performing a comprehensive
production flow analyses, then developing, documenting,
and implementing improvement plans have increased average
production throughput for our clients by 21%, reduced scrap
and waste by 11%, and increased average revenue by $4.2 million.
Reread the first example and try to answer the “What’s in it for
me” question. Difficult, isn’t it? No problem, however, in the
second example.
Sales and Marketing Working Together
When crafting your marketing and prospecting messages, first
focus on your prospects’ problems, challenges and goals. This is
where sales can help. Your salespeople understand the challenges
your prospects are dealing with. Take common client problems
and tie in the solutions you provide with the outcomes the prospects
will obtain. All the rest – company history, proprietary
processes, awards, testimonials – can wait until the prospect has
recognized there is a problem to be solved. You’ll identify prospects
more quickly and ultimately close more sales.
Want to learn more about Sandler Sales Leadership? For upcoming
event information, contact Susan at 312.733.4592 or susansmith@
sandler.com or visit www.selloquent.sandler.com. .You
can view her TMA member profile at /members/profile.asp?
MEMBER_ID=Ql5fX15YXA.