by PAUL CASTAIN on MARCH 2, 2011
Whether a client says it to your face, behind your back or simply thinks it, your offering is subject to . . .
How is this better?
What’s the difference between this and your competitor’s offering?
What’s the difference between this and simply doing nothing?
And perhaps even a “So what?” or three!
What’s a Jedi to do?
Here are 3 ideas to help!
1) Say It First: By far one of the most overlooked opportunities in sales. Take a good look at everything your product, service and even “YOU” do. Now, stop listening to that voice in your head that tells you “everyone does that” and consider telling it to your prospect! Why? Because everyone might, in fact do those things, but do they tell prospects about it? The concept here is that if you are the first one to make it an actual selling point, then you have presented a difference!
Note: Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to find huge differences to present, that we miss small differences along the way. Stack a few small differences on top of each other and they add up real quick!
2) Say It Better: Think about all the intangibles you offer and then find a way to make them more tangible. For this one, think about the Verizon commercials. They could tell you all day long about their network, but what the heck does a network look like? I’m thinking cables and all kind of ugly electrical crap. Not on their watch! They illustrate their network with a cool Verizon dude and all his merry dudes and dudettes! Paints a different picture. No?
Here’s another way to say it better: Offer evidence! Things like demonstrations, samples, examples, testimonials, stories, analogies and metaphors, facts etc. Otherwise you’re just talking jibberish dude!
3) Say It Exclusively: Is there something that only your company can say? Is there something unique about your product or service? Think hard . . . could there be even a tiny thing that only you can say that could make a difference?
Example: When I worked for Dale Carnegie we used to make it a point to work in the fact that we had trained over 8 million participants. There aren’t many who can say that.
I saw an H&R Block ad that mentioned that they had serviced over 500 million people.
Did you know? One time I was in this meeting with one of my sales reps and we were in this neck and neck race with two other companies. Even though she made an awesome presentation, the prospect was still on the fence and let us know point blank.
An idea hit me like a ton of bricks so I said “Dude (his real name removed because dude is way cooler) Carmen was being very modest and didn’t mention that the true differentiator, is Carmen. Without her, all these selling points are meaningless, and to my knowledge she is available exclusively through our company and not theirs”
Moral of The Story: Don’t ever be afraid of touting the exclusivity of that incredible client advocate called “YOU”
Sustainable, competitive advantage? Yeah baby!
Just make sure you not only say it, you back it up with some of that evidence to support your point!
One final note about presenting a difference.
I’m not suggesting, for one minute that you spew these things like some leisure suit wearing power closer from the 70’s.
All of these techniques should be worked into a presentation that is addressing needs uncovered during your needs analysis.
Now get out there and demonstrate your difference!
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