How often does your sales team complain about the leads? Many times the lead is not the problem, rather, it's the story sales is telling, that limits sales growth. Are you speaking your customers' language?
No Deals to 10 Deals a week: By speaking the customer's language, your sales team talks to more people and wins more business. Download this whitepaper to learn how one company transformed their sales pipeline by:
. Telling a clear and compelling story
. Connecting with customers and prospects hearts and heads
. Testing and refining the "magic words"
It's Not Just About leads
Sell more by speaking your customer's language
The ProblemA common lament we hear from business leaders surrounds their struggle to grow faster. It often sounds something like this:t Why can't we grow faster? We have a great business, happy customers, and demonstrable results. What are we doing wrong? tWhy is it so hard to get folks to sit down and talk to us? Can't they see how much we could help them? tWe're in a competitive market, and it seems like everything comes down to price wars. How do we stand out in the crowd so people COME FIND US? Any of these sound familiar?
For Experts OnlyWe hear these most often from those running businesses that have a high 'expert quotient.' These are businesses that are run by experts or craftsmen - those highly skilled in a particular area - like IT, Web Development, Software Development, Consulting or Law.The common problem with these businesses is that to the 'uninitiated,' it's very hard to tell the difference between one service provider and another. They all seem to provide the basics: a new intranet; a website; a consulting project that delivers a final result; legal or tax advice.Which creates a big challenge: if the customer thinks you look like everyone else, how do you stand out in a crowd and also avoid bidding wars that turn you into a commodity?Here's one way we found to do it.
The Lightning BoltAbout 15 years ago, we joined a British software company as head of US operations. In-market for about a year, they had about 5 customers and zero penetration. After we joined we began experimenting with new marketing and sales messaging to speak to the unique styles & needs of US customers.End result: hundreds of customers, plus annual growth of 100%+.The difference? Our story and how we communicated it.
Proof Positive? Or One-Off?Okay, so it worked once. Big deal.But after this discovery, we began testing this approach on other businesses we joined or consulted with. Since we generally went into companies who were struggling to grow and wanted help, we found them a willing test bed for growth formulas and tools.As we implemented this approach at company after company, we began to see a clear trend emerge:If you broadcast a clear, compelling story that explains your secret sauce and connects with prospects on both a head & heart level, you grow.If you broadcast a clear, compelling story that emphasizes your secret sauce and connects with prospects, you grow.That's a lot easier than flogging your salespeople or missing your numbers.
P.1It's Not Just About Leads
No Deals to 10 Per WeekOne consulting firm we worked with couldn't get a conversation going to save their life. Despite their highly referenceable clients and terrific results. We started with a sales pipeline that had close to ZERO new conversations. After 3 months, they were engaging in 10+ conversations PER WEEK with C-levels at Fortune 500 companies.The only difference was the story; we had tested and found the 'Magic Words' customers responded so well to.
Why Does This Work? Remember 'The Dating Game?'Remember this television show? A female contestant would sit with the host behind a partition. On the other side of the partition were 3 bachelors - Bachelor #1, Bachelor #2 and Bachelor #3. She would ask them all a series of questions, and decide who she wanted to go out with.We could see the whole thing transpire, and while we in the audience knew how the guys looked, our contes-tant ultimately chose a bachelor based on what he said.While we all laughed, there was a lot of truth there.Remember your own dating stories when you sat down to dinner with someone who seemed very attractive and then they opened their mouth, only to cause you to RUN out the door at your earliest opportunity?Now remember another time when you sat down with someone who may or may not have been as attractive, but at the end of the night you said 'I want to get to know this person?'What was the difference?He said 'The Magic Words.'Exactly.
THE PROCESS: How Do I Create My Story and Let the World Know?To get you started on the right path here are the basic building blocks for creating your 'Story' or 'Magic Words:'
1) What's your secret sauce? a. Define it, so you can validate with customers. b. Ask yourself: i. What makes you different or better than anyone else? ii. What internal assets or processes do you have that no one else... [download for more]
