Selling.2.YES

July 2022

Recite your value prop and truly WOW your clients. (NOT!)

Inarguably, your company’s value proposition (VP) is the most important selling tool your team can use in the marketplace with prospects and clients. (Objection handling skills are a close second.) However, a debate still rages about how VPs should be used for optimum selling effectiveness.

Recently I got in a charged debate with a client who was paying me to train his team on how to activate their value proposition with clients. (Ironically, they didn’t have a VP so the assignment expanded to helping them develop one. Can’t teach delivery competency if there’s nothing to deliver!)

We both wanted the same thing. We both wanted his team of 30 sellers to have stronger ownership and delivery skills of their newly redesigned value proposition. We had just labored over editing core messaging and script details for weeks, and now, we were ready for his sellers to WOW prospects and clients with benefits, benefits, benefits!

Old school thinking, supported by my client, suggests your team memorize a script, and then, at the appropriate time in a prospect/client conversation, your seller hits the play button and recites the value prop in its entirety. As you probably know, there’s one major problem with this way of thinking…and you have to address it, or you’ll lose your buyer’s attention.

There’s not a buyer on the planet that wants to hear a recited script that sounds rehearsed, and worse, undifferentiated. Training your sellers to memorize a script simply risks that their playback will sound – and be - scripted. This also suggests we must re-think how we present value props on PowerPoint slides. (The primary rule of less is more is strongly in play, here! Three bullets max, four words per bullet.)

Ahhhh, but you know all this.

Assuming you have a strong VP and you want your team to be using common language in crucial situations like, when the buyer asks, “how are you different from so-and-so competitor?” then we must talk about how to prepare and train your sellers. The ideal image of how you want your team to present your value prop is represented by words like authentic, conversational, customized, specific, AND client-focused! It’s hard to get to that ideal if we’re shoving a memorization exercise down the throats of sellers. It doesn’t exactly coach or prepare them on how to use their VP in the countless use cases that arise in selling scenarios.

Uh-huh…you know all of this too.

Sure, there is the risk your sellers will be asked, “so why should I buy you?”, and that's when they’d better have a strong ability to deliver your value prop in a cogent and confident manner. But more frequently, your sellers are engaged in conversations that are highly technical, nuanced, and strategic. Where does a linear and formal recitation of a VP fit into that context? It doesn’t. And that's why coaching VP delivery requires dexterity and intricate thought.

My teaching methods include a three-pronged approach focusing on storytelling, incremental selling, and value-speak.

Storytelling needs no description; more importantly, I help sellers get over the “but I ain’t good at story-telling” obstacle that is often heard.
Incremental selling merely refers to the art of using qualifying skills to find out what the buyer truly cares about, and then using your VP to reinforce your offering value. But do it IN BITE SIZED RESPONSES through incremental steps. (i.e. conversationally.)
And finally, value-speak…it’s so damn simple you’ll kick yourself for not coming up with the phrase. And while everyone I train tells me “I got it, I got it”, I still don’t hear enough of this type of language from their mouths: “…and the reason that feature I described is important to you is _____”. (Otherwise known as the "SO WHAT" factor! So why should the buyer care.)

Simple stuff, sure. And broadly understood. But I'm guessing the pebble in your shoe that drives you nuts is from the activation inconsistency you see amongst your sellers.

Even with hard things like activation discipline, there's always a solution. That's why I do what I do, and I'm passionate about it too. And more importantly, I get results. So, call me now, because, as you read this, one of your reps is bumbling and tripping over your value prop in front of an important prospect. And THAT, my friend, is no bueno! (917 207 5183 or [email protected])

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Selling.2.YES

July 2022

Recite your value prop and truly WOW your clients. (NOT!)

Selling.2.YES newsletter

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