Establishing Credibility with Prospects
July 25th 2008
You’re about to land the big deal. The CTO is at the table, all you have to do is convince him that your solution is the best for his organization, which, of course, it is. Your company has the best reputation, the best customer service, the best product. But somehow, the message isn’t getting through. The CTO says the solution costs too much. He obviously doesn’t get it! The ROI on this thing is through the roof, any fool can see that! It’s as though he’s just refusing to see the value you’re delivering. In the end you’re going to have to come down on price to be competitive with the other bids, but it’s a crime, because you really out perform the competition….
If you sell products to other companies, you know how hard it is to win their business. All too often, claims of savings and performance are dismissed as marketing puffery. And despite more performance, better value, etc., the customer always cites “price” as the biggest determining factor in the decision process. But if you lower prices to stimulate sales, your profits shrink.
I recently read a case study on how a salesman was pitching a company to buy his integrated circuits. He was up against a rival company for the business and was differentiating his proposal to the customer based on his superior service reputation. However, little did the salesman know, the customer had performed some metrics of its own and found his circuits to be of a greater value than the competition’s—partially on service, but primarily on other grounds. Yet, in the end, the salesman had to offer a deep discount to win the business because the salesman couldn’t substantiate just how great his service was compared to the competition’s—a comparison that ultimately proved of little value to the prospect.
Engaged in this sort of exchange, the seller always loses. However, there is another path: bridge the gap by communicating a real value. A great example of a company that advertises (and delivers) a specific value proposition is ESPN.
What ESPN realized is that their target audience values being able to share sports information; stats, stories, you name it. In an interview with Radio Business Report Mo Davenport, Senior VP and General Manager of ESPN Radio, discussed that the relationship between listeners of ESPN Radio and the organization …
… is based on this one-on-one like you know us and you know that we know sports and sports is currency. Sports is the ability for you to be smart around your buddies, your pals. So we came to this brand position of sports radio is a relationship worth having. Just based on that one-on-one relationship, it’s like you can talk to them. Ever find yourself in a car and you start “arguing with the radio,” arguing with Golic or arguing with Greeny? How can you have that opinion? That’s what we found that relationship was like and so we set out with a great team of Weiden and Kennedy to capture that inside of these commercial offerings/spots that we had. It’s kind of fun it has that sort of ESPN sensibility where you don’t take yourself to seriously but it also captures that one on one relationship.
What can small business learn from this? Take the time and effort to talk to your customers. Learn why they come to you and not to someone else. Learn what they value about your organization, even if you think it is obvious. Be constantly aware that, while you think you are delivering great customer service (and you probably are), what the customer really loves about your offering is likely something else, for example, reducing labor costs.
If you can, take it one step further. If your customers tell you that they like your service but keep coming back because you’re saving them labor costs, ask them to quantify it. Document it. And then, use them as a case study and a reference. Now, not only can you say with confidence that you can reduce labor costs, you can substantiate the claim, and if you have enough history and confidence in your system, you may even be able to guarantee it!
