THE ROI OF SALES MESSAGING BEST PRACTICES OF AN AUDIBLE-READY SALESFORCE

Transcription

1 THE ROI OF SALES MESSAGING BEST PRACTICES OF AN AUDIBLE-READY SALESFORCE

2 THE GAME CHANGER In the first decade of the 2000s, interactions between sellers and buyers were typically product-focused. During a sales call, reps mainly focused on helping the prospect understand what his or her offerings did and how they did it. The winners were often determined by the salesperson s ability to demonstrate he or she had the best product. Fast-forward ten years through the tech bubble crash and into the current turbulent economic environment and we see the playing field has shifted. Recent research and corporate surveys show that today s high-performing sales organizations are taking a different approach, from a focus solely on what they sell to a focus on how they sell as well. Buying has clearly changed over the same ten years. Unlimited access to information prospects have via the Internet has been one strong factor for this change. Potential customers can access a wealth of knowledge on any product offering yours and those of your competitors from vendor websites, blogs and social/business networking sites, allowing them to begin the game without first engaging a sales rep. When potential customers eventually talk to a salesperson, they often don't need or want to have product-focused discussions. They already know about your product. Instead, they re interested in how your offerings will help them remove pain and/or achieve gain; they re looking to engage in a problem/solution dialogue. A sales messaging framework can give your sales team the ability to articulate the value and differentiation of your product and service offerings, leading to successful sales conversations that link customers high-priority needs to your business solutions. A sales messaging framework can help your team to: Uncover customer needs and articulate value Increase sales productivity Improve deal margins UNCOVER CUSTOMER NEEDS AND ARTICULATE VALUE As competition builds and customers become more selective, best-inclass companies base their long-term sales strategies on a consistent messaging framework that focuses on (1) uncovering customer needs, and (2) articulating value in a way that resonates with those needs. A consistent messaging framework allows these companies to adopt what is called an audible-ready mindset, where salespeople become attuned to asking the right questions, listening for customer problems and guiding the customer conversation in a way that solves the admitted problems. Audible-ready sales teams can define their solutions to customers problems in ways that differentiate them from the competition and allow them to charge a premium for their products and services. 2

3 A best-practice seller learns to ask insightful, two-sided discovery questions early and often throughout the sales process in order to gain a clear picture of what is important to the customer. Asking the right questions to gain an understanding of your prospect s business and using those answers to frame the customer conversation gives these companies the ability to leverage five key components of every successful sale: Show your potential buyer you understand their pain. To demonstrate you understand their pain fully, you must first listen to your prospect, then establish a direct correlation between your product or service and their best business solution. A buyer who believes their pain is clearly understood will be more willing to share critical information throughout the buying process. If they know you are hearing them they will in turn work harder to understand the solution being presented. Listen carefully. Restate their pain points back to them. Nothing will show you understand (or are listening) more than your prospect hearing their points reinforced. Connect your solution to the organization s biggest problems. Making your prospect feel understood opens the doors to conversations about the organization s other problems. Start by making certain you understand how your prospect s pain is directly related to needs higher in the organization. A good grasp of the big picture will expand your sphere of influence in that company to the economic buyers who control discretionary funding, increasing your base of support for the proposed solution. The more you can uncover how the problem is tied to other problems in the organization, the more access you will get to other decision makers. Communicate from the buyer s perspective. No one wants to hear about features that are not relevant to a particular situation. Looking at a long list of features can skew any prospect s perception of your solution and leave the impression that because you have more than what is needed, you will be more expensive. Buyers today are focused on solutions to their problems. Articulate the value of your product or service in a way that resonates with customer goals, needs and problems. Price is of much less consequence if your prospect sees great value in your offering. Introduce relevant competitive differences early in the sales cycle. A full understanding of your prospect s pain early in the sales cycle gives you the ability to differentiate your solution from your competitors. Paint a clear and concise picture of your differences so they don t assume all solutions are similar in value. If you miss this opportunity to influence the buying criteria, it will reduce the decision to the lowest common denominator price. Articulate the value you provide clearly and consistently. You know the solution your company can offer will eliminate your prospect s pain. But do they? You must come prepared with the knowledge of how your company s offering delivers superior value and the best solution. Know your offering very well and be able to articulate it to your prospect. Otherwise, you risk sales cycle inefficiencies, customer confusion and brand dilution. 3

4 The following success story outlines how Dynacast, a $400 million global manufacturer of precision engineered, die-cast metal components with facilities in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, used a consistent messaging framework to uncover customer needs, differentiate their solutions and negotiate value. BEST IN CLASS CASE STUDY #1 Challenge: Dynacast s products are manufactured using proprietary die-casting technology and are supplied to a wide range of markets, including automotive, healthcare, telecommunications and electronics. Faced with increased customer attrition, a rising cost of raw materials and inability to differentiate their products in the marketplace, Dynacast s international sales force was experiencing declining revenues and reduced margins. They knew they needed a greater focus on value and lesser focus on raw reaction of lower targets in the marketplace. In essence, they needed to keep negotiations with customers from being based solely on price. As their products and services moved to a more commoditized market, Dynacast knew that consistency or lack of it in messaging and sales process throughout the entire international sales force had to be addressed. Solution: The first step was for Dynacast to evaluate its sales processes and productivity challenges. They put in place a customized Management Operating Rhythm to meet their distinct market needs. Dynacast s executive leadership team developed a Value Messaging Framework to define how the company would communicate and differentiate their product and value. Lastly, they provided third-party training for their international sales force, which facilitated interactive instruction on utilizing their Value Framework to uncover customer pain, differentiate their solutions and negotiate value. Results: Dynacast s international sales team began delivering consistent messages of value and differentiation in the marketplace. Coupled with its redesigned sales processes, Dynacast generated a 20% increase in year over year product sales. Developing consistent sales messaging and improved sales skills (including solid listening) empowers a seller to uncover a prospect s pain, articulate and differentiate value, and provide unique solutions. It allows the seller to negotiate the sale based on the value of eliminating the pain versus the price of the solution. INCREASE SALES PRODUCTIVITY Best-in-class companies that leverage a consistent messaging framework create the foundation for sustainable competitive advantage. By engaging in value-focused conversations with customers and prospects, sales professionals not only avoid margin-consuming discounting, but also create greater opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling. A consistent messaging framework clarifies marketing messaging and elevates sales conversations 4

5 beyond the rudiments of feature, function and price. It provides sales professionals with a value-oriented sales language that resonates with customers and motivates them to buy. The right messaging framework requires companies to do several things differently, including: Providing salespeople with a clear overview of the value propositions critical to the success of their customers. Supporting value propositions with concise guidelines on how to understand, relate to, and prioritize the challenges clients face. Linking customer needs to the right solutions your company provides to help the client achieve gain and remove pain. Supplying specific insights that allow reps to have interactive, business-focused customer conversations. Providing proof points to back up your claims with examples of how you have helped other companies. Realizing that few deals today go uncontested, creating clear competitive differentiation is more critical than ever. Best-in-class sales organizations leverage consistent messages to communicate value, generate better leads, convert leads to customers and realize revenue goals. The following success story outlines how BMC Software, a $2 billion IT giant, increased sales productivity by 59% in two years using a sales messaging framework as a key component. BMC is a company built on helping customers plan and operate data centers and govern their devices from a compliance standpoint. BEST IN CLASS CASE STUDY #2 Challenge: BMC s sales leadership desired to boost the overall quality of its sales force and recruit more players at the top of their game. Another objective was stronger new-hire training and the establishment of new standards of performance. They also wanted to adopt a new sales process and methodology. Even with more than 300 products, BMC did not want to approach this new sales methodology from a product standpoint. Instead they chose an approach based on first understanding customer needs and then focusing on BMC products that could provide the best solution. Solution: BMC defined a new sales process providing a common vocabulary for its global sales force. The sales enablement team created a sales-training process, using a methodology called Command of the Talent to help define how the company would recruit, hire, develop and motivate the sales force. 5

6 Results: Shortly after implementing the new sales initiatives that integrated consistent pain/solution messaging for the sales team, BMC began to see record-breaking results. In the first year, sales productivity increased 31% over the previous year, with another 22% increase the following year. Today, in addition to the 59% sales productivity increase, they have also seen an increase in average deal size. BMC s sales force transformation began with training in message consistency. Its success demonstrates how a seller can be strengthened through training and development, and with a culture of success, can recruit more successful people to the team. IMPROVE DEAL MARGINS AVOID DISCOUNTING One of the greatest challenges for any sales organization is providing consistent tools and materials that give salespeople the ability to speak with confidence about how their products/services can truly transform a customer s business. Conversations focusing on the pressure of discounting require a sales force to have the courage to stand tall when the conversation turns to pricing. In order to have that pricing courage sales teams need the right ammunition to truly articulate value and differentiate from the competition. BEST IN CLASS CASE STUDY #3 As a $110 million global provider of next-generation virtualized security solutions for enterprises and managed service providers, Crossbeam had a strong corporate foundation that was primarily engineering-driven. Challenge: Crossbeam s product/features sales approach was creating inconsistent messages in the marketplace and led to unpredictable sales revenues. Sales, marketing and support teams needed to put into use a consistent, common language that effectively articulated its unique differentiation and market advantage. Its sales force needed to move toward a value-based selling culture that would serve to reinforce its premium market position and boost its ability to meet their corporate goals. Solution: Using a methodology called Command of the Message Crossbeam was able to utilize a sales-development curriculum that dramatically improved its sales-to-win ratio, resulting in a higher gross margin on sales. Personnel put a common value messaging process to work, helping to establish an internal culture of value-based selling around their unique solutions. 6

7 Results: Within six months of developing and implementing a Value Messaging Framework, Crossbeam both improved its total revenues and significantly reduced average discount points. As a result, Crossbeam has experienced improved gross margins and bottom line profitability on a worldwide basis. WHAT NOW? We ve explored challenge outcomes of companies like Dynacast, BMC Software and Crossbeam Systems and the creation and use of a Value Messaging Framework. By re-aligning and keeping their messaging consistent around a common language, these successful sales organizations were able to: Uncover customer needs and determine which customers actually needed what they were selling. Articulate and justify business value by focusing on eliminating the customer s pain. Differentiate from the competition to prove that their solution was the best solution. Map solutions to customer problems, because customers don t want products, they want their problems to go away. Provide proof through real-world examples that showcased their solutions. As the examples show, each company has seen one or more of the following positive business outcomes: Higher competitive win rates Higher average deal size Greater deal margins How will your company change its sales messaging to reflect the playing field of the next decade? Without a focus on consistent problem/pain/solution messaging, you may find your sales team experiencing lower sales volumes, reduced margins, and struggling to meet their goals. But when you change your sales message into one that is consistent and solution-driven, you can change bottom line results. Visit to read more customer success stories, watch testimonial videos and learn more about creating your own consistent messaging framework. 7