Peady’s Selling Engagement sponsored by IRD Prospector
In the SME sector, there’s a “herd mentality” – a need to know what others are doing and if successful copy it. That’s why so many attend networking events. From a selling perspective that opens the door to one of the most powerful tools – references and testimonials.
More importantly, references and testimonials woven into a strong and engaging sales success narrative.
At its simplest, an effective narrative says “someone you can relate to has had success in a situation you can relate to.” By doing this, you build your credibility and give a prospective customer confidence in you, your company and product or service.
Creating an effective narrative
I feel there are four main steps:
- It should be concise, targeted to the customer you are speaking to and about the problem or challenge addressed.
- How you solved the problem – your solution.
- The results achieved presented in a tangible and quantifiable way.
- Supporting proof such as a video testimonial or written hard copy from the customer you helped. This makes it “real”.
Challenges
Putting together your narrative often has some challenges and that’s why many sales people don’t bother.
The most common issues include difficulty in measuring the success in a clear and quantifiable way, reluctance of customers to share the information with others in a document and lack of strong follow up and ongoing relationship with customer so that results are monitored and measured.
Create a library
Because you need a variety of narratives for various situations and verticals a library of success narratives is important. To start, create two or three and go from there. Importantly they’ll need refreshing on a regular basis to remain relevant.
Don’t forget to test them in market. Do they make a difference? Do they help gain traction?
The outcome?
Having a series of relatable success narratives assists in your new business development by bolstering the power of your prospecting because it allows you to build value propositions and immediately stimulate interest.
As Shiv Singh, the Senior VP Global Brand and Marketing at Visa said: “The purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates customers”
Until next week good selling!
About the author
Stephen Pead is a media industry veteran of 30 years with significant experience in direct sales, sales management and general management. He is based in Sydney and specialises in helping SME’s market their businesses more effectively and providing training for salespeople and sales managers.
He can be contacted at [email protected]
