So What?!?!?

“Discounting. Long cycles. Slippage.

A sales exec's problems shouldn't sound like a midnight trip to Wal-Mart”

It cannot be denied…

…that the joke above highlighted three common problems faced by sales leaders.

It CAN be denied...

...that it's actually funny.

Fine. They're not all winners. That said - it's gotten me laughs when I've delivered live and in person to sales teams.

Welcome to Part 2 in a (probably) 5-part series on how to get started with crafting your own hyper-relevant humor for your go-to-market efforts.? It’s like my diss track to AI.?

Just kidding. I’m not cool enough to have a diss track. I just wanted to use the term “diss”.

Dissery aside, when crafted properly, the right kind of humor can be connecting tissue between buyer and seller.??

The premise of a joke is the subject of the joke - the thing you want to highlight.

For it to be the right kind of humor, the premise needs to be hyper-relevant to your target persona.

To help you find that relevancy, let’s start with my favorite question(s) in sales:

“So what? Who cares?”.?

When I started my career, I was taught to ask myself these two questions. They keep us on track by forcing us to scrub the BS, jargon, and fluffy statements from our talk tracks and ensure our words & statements are relevant to our prospects’ objectives & goals.?

For example, if I was to say:

“Our product has a whizbang new feature”

So what? Who cares? ??Why does this matter to them?

“We’re a best-of-breed AI-driven engagement platform”

So what? Who cares?

“I have a newsletter on Linkedin.”

So what? Who cares? (OK, stuck this in for comedic effect).

Sales is about removing roadblocks for prospects - including the ones they live with and need to sweep under the rug - so they can achieve their business objectives.

Last week, I shared how your prospects should be viewed as a live audience who react to the same things, because they have the same objectives, duties, and challenges. This is your “Who cares?”.

To find your “So what?”, identify those roadblocks, problems, challenges, pain points or whatever you want to call them - which you can solve for prospects.

Imagine you’re on a stage presenting to a room full of your target persona. What problems can you eliminate from all of their day-to-day that will get them to lean in and listen?

If you’re reading this, my guess is you can articulate the problems you solve for who.? But doing it really simply is kinda awesome.??

I boil down my “So what? Who cares?” using the following framework:

“Many ___{A}___ struggle with _________ {B}__________.”

A = your target persona

B = the specific problem you can eliminate for them.

Think about how every company - regardless of industry - operates. They all struggle with tactical problems. Annoying stuff like:

• Cumbersome admin processes (travel, invoice, approval, expense, etc.)

• Long reimbursement cycles

• Lack of talent & retention

• Outdated technology

Problems like these may seem piddly compared to some larger senior leadership challenges, but each leads to strategic problems like:

• Operational efficiency
• Customer satisfaction & retention
• Growth
• Profitability

And per my opening joke, sales leaders struggle with:

• Reps offering wild discounts to get deals done
• Long sales cycles
• Deals slipping into the next quarter

Each problem - tactical or strategic - listed is a premise for humor.?

So, I’m giving you homework:

Make a list of all the problems your company solves and for who by answer the “Many _____ struggle with _____” question repeatedly.?

I’m sure your company solves multiple problems for prospects. Get really in-the-weeds with this, as problems you solve can be framed as either tactical problems or strategic problems.

We'll build off of them next week.

Humor's always stronger when colleagues collaborate. If you're digging this process, I'm launching a live workshop designed for you and a few colleagues to team up like the gang on 30 Rock over 4 x 2 hour sessions and pool your knowledge, insights, and creativity and craft humor that nails your "So What? Who Cares?". It kicks off on June 14.

Right now, the landing page is geared to help your events team drive better engagement at your trade show booth. BUT it also lists other use cases, including a) hooks for your entire teams' cold outreach, social selling efforts, b) demos, c) onoarding new hires, d) improving communication skills, and e) aligning team members.

Questions? HMU. DM me here on Linkedin, or email me directly (jon @ jonselig . com).