” Delivering value is core to success in sales. Whether in winning new clients, or retaining or expanding accounts, value is central. Customers expect it, and sales and marketing people must employ it to win customers – usually from another company that is using value to keep them.
Given all the talk about value and its importance, you would think that sales and marketing people would have a good understanding of the value they deliver to clients, and are able to communicate that value in a way that will resonate,” wrote Tibor Shanto for The Globe and Mail on Friday March 25, 2016.
Shanto continued, “The sad reality is that many don’t, and have great difficulty articulating the value they can bring to potential buyers in a clear or specific way. Existing clients are left to figure out what value they are truly getting from your product or your company – a situation that explains why loyalty is so fleeting, and why many are so surprised when their clients bolt for reasons they don’t understand.
This may sound harsh, and many sales and marketing leaders may dismiss it, but from where I sit, it is confirmed on almost a weekly basis.
There are two questions I ask of sales people that confirm this. The first is “Why do people buy from you and your company?” The answers I get are not only underwhelming, but often indistinguishable from other companies in their sectors. The answers are generic and usually communicate the vendors’ own view of themselves, rather than that of the market. In most instances, if I took out the name of the company I am with, and put in the name of their least worthy competitor, the effect and accuracy of the statement changes little, if any. Which means that unworthy competitor can compete with you and deliver the same underwhelming experience at a lower cost.”
Read the full article here.
Raymond Matt, CFP, CLU, TEP, CHS
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