What Are The 4 Key Questions Customers Ask?

Q: Dan,

We have had some turnover on our Marketing Support Team recently.?We have the opportunity to bring in new talent and provide sales enablement tools to the field sales organization.?Any thoughts on where we should begin?

Tom

Atlanta, Georgia

A: Tom,

Great question.?That’s a one-foot putt.?You really need to address your "go-to" market messaging.?I address this with my clients during my Value Proposition workshop.?As a part of an exercise we address the four key questions that your customers are asking along with the Sales Superstar’s response.

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QUESTION #1

CUSTOMER:?Do we have a problem or opportunity, and should we act to address it?

SUPERSTAR:?The Sales Superstar will assist the client early in their journey with a Business Case. A business case can be called many things, such as a Business Value Assessment, Value Analysis, Budget Justification or

Impact Analysis.?The business case will usually include traditional project financial assessment tools such as ROI (Return on Investment), PV (Present Value), IRR (Internal Rate of Return), NPV (Net Present Value) and Payback. The business case is THE way to fight your number one competitor in EVERY opportunity. If you merely maintain the status quo in a competitive context, you will earn the moniker "Dudley DoNothing" or "David Delay."??A strong business case not only permits the project to obtain scarce budget dollars but it also helps to replace the status quo with URGENCY.

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QUESTION #2

CUSTOMER:?Is there a difference among the solution alternatives which is relevant to me, my team, and/or my company??If not, I'll base my decision on price.

SUPERSTAR:?At this phase, the Superstar now has a new fierce competitor; COMMODITIZATION.?After gaining trust thorough deep discovery on the left side of the Trust Triangle, Superstars intimately know the client’s personal and business needs.?The Superstar battles competitors, status quo, and commoditization by teaching the client that her solution does have unique competitive advantages (UCA's).?With laser precision, the Superstar ties her solution’s UCA's to her customer's personal and business needs as revealed in the discovery findings.?Additionally, she teaches the client that the benefits of the UCA's are not only relevant but URGENT. The key tool used by TTS workshop attendees during this phase of the customer’s buying process is called the TTS Diagnostic Tool which I will address in next month's newsletter.

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QUESTION #3

CUSTOMER:?If there is a relevant difference, should we be willing to pay more for that difference?

SUPERSTAR:?The Sales Superstar knows through experience that if this phase of the buying process is skipped, the client may want to buy the Superstar's product, but may be unable or unwilling to justify paying more. The Superstar establishes value for each of her unique competitive advantages.?Specifically, she shows the customer how her uniqueness positively impacts factors such as Project Risk, Productivity, Costs and/or Revenue. In the case of health care sales, Superstars may demonstrate a positive impact on Caregiver Experience, Outcomes and/or Patient Experience.??

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QUESTION #4

CUSTOMER:?Can I trust and believe that the sales representative's unique competitive advantages are in fact real?

SUPERSTAR:?The Sales Superstar offers PROOF for her Unique Competitive Advantages.?Proof consists of unbiased and credible documents, demonstrations, site visits, whitepapers, customer testimonials, stories, quotes, and rules of thumb.

Trust Triangle Selling workshop attendees recognize the answers I have provided as key sections of the Value Proposition Messaging I help my clients to create for their offering.

Tom, I hope it is clear to sales reps and sales and marketing leaders that you must know your unique competitive advantages and be able to support each of those with benefits, business value and proof.

Good Selling!