Creating Value

A tough place to be with no doubt, is where little value is perceived. Whether in a sales situation in attempt to gain enough interest with a prospect to move forward with other team members, or trying to meet that perfect someone in your life – creating value can be overwhelmingly difficult.

In both cases there are number of vendors, and as the prospect, they can turn them away at a whim. But how can you prevent that from happening?

A few things I have learned from personal experience that you may not necessarily read from book are:
-Guts
-Honesty
-Creating Doubt

I will talk about others, but I like these. It can take a lot of Guts to pick up the phone knowingly that you about to get kicked in the face. The same goes with dating. You have got a lot of personal humiliation on the line if it goes poorly. Especially when you are still dusting yourself off from the last beating.
What keeps Guts going? Persistence, Ego, Self-Deprecation, whatever you want to name it, it’s sales.
Maybe that is way they say salespeople are a different breed. Companies are always trying to find the right salespeople to fit their company culture, that is crap. Salespeople will never meet your definition of company culture. Some schmooze with their clients, some are hyper-professional, some are rebels.

Honesty; This can also fall into the bucket of being unique in your approach. When you make that phone call, saying something like, “I know, this is probably your 45th sales call of the day…”. By acknowledging what is happening and putting it out on the table, you can take the edge off the initial conversation. It does take more than just that to keep the call going, but at least your foot is securely lodged in the door. On the other hand, sometimes brutal honesty is so in your face it can backfire. This is one that is dependent on the person on the other side of the phone.
I will say though, having the Guts and gusto to ask the tough Honest questions will get you much further than standing around all day waiting for someone to hand you a deal. Is it really that hard to call someone’s bullshit over the phone. When you ask a prospect about something pertaining to their business that you know the answer to and they lie to you, why not call them out on it.
With respects to my company, Innotas, I typically ask about a companies “Resource management”. Dealing with resources is always tough no matter what industry. So when they say it’s going fine, or nothing could be better, I say, “really?”. Or I ask the question again in another way. It can take up to asking the same question 3 – 5 times to get an honest answer.
Honesty from you will get Honesty from your prospects.

When creating doubt, it’s a little similar to playing hard to get. By almost talking them out of the situation, you create more value in what you aren’t giving them. Prospects are pushed and peddled all day long. By letting them know you exist but giving the image they aren’t good enough for your product of service, creates some sense of mystery and intrigue. This can then lead to Urgency. Creating doubt is very powerful. Think of things in your past life you have doubted and to what extent you have done to prove it right or wrong. Yeah, kind of embarrassing at times.

I think there is a misconception of having to show your product to others. Some people believe ‘you have to see the product, it’s amazing’. Selling something based on Features and Benefits will only be a small percentage of your overall sales, I promise you. IF you do start selling like that, you are no better than a multi-level-marketer. “I cant tell you about, you just have to see it so I call give you the hard sell and have no shame by the end of the night!” How embarrassing.
Companies do not (typically) spend $30 – 50,000 or even a $1Million dollars on something because some guy in IT was sold on the features of some Demo he saw on the web. Selling into real pain, need, and problems that keep people up at night is what sells.
Michael Cooper, step aside son.

This is not to say a live Demo isn’t necessary to sell your software or service, but people aren’t going to buy because of that, and if they do, put your seatbelts on for a bumpy road with unhappy customers.