Is your sales message positioning you win, draw or lose? The answer depends on several factors including if your sales message is heard, who is hearing it and how effective it is.
Having your message heard is a role of the media, message, timing, frequency and delivery. A recent LinkedIn survey revealed the number-one challenge on the minds of sales professionals was “getting the attention of prospects”. Customers are bombarded with information, so much so everything begins to sound like “Blah, Blah, Blah”. Making matters more challenging is only 3% of your target market is in the buying mode at a given time. If they aren’t buying they aren’t listening. Getting your sales message to your customers too early, too late or without impact is a waste of time, money and energy.
In the communication jungle, there are just too many products, too many companies, and too much marketing noise. The mind, as a defense against the huge volume of today’s communications, screens and rejects much of the information it’s offered. The only hope to deliver your sales message is to be selective and to focus on narrow targets. In a word: “positioning.”
According to John Foley CEO of Interlink One,“This is a one-on-one world…you have to really be more relevant with the marketing channel and the media you use to the people you’re trying to reach and not only relevant in those channels or media, but also the content, messaging, timing, and even how they’ll respond.”
To effectively position your your products and services you must find out:
- How the marketplace sees your company
- How your ideal or target customers see your company and what they value
- What you know about your own company and the customer value it creates
Positioning your sales message should be a foundation for action to design, manage and defend your brand. It should inform everything you do, including:
- What customer value you create
- What you value
- What’s your sustainable competitive advantage
- How you conduct your business
- How you communicate and interact with customers
Business consultant and CEO of Grow My Revenue Ian Altman worked with a health insurance company who was getting a 1% response rate to their cold calling efforts. Sales were down and morale was even lower. Altman helped the company change their generic sales message to one that highlighted what the company did best and appealed to a large segment of the market. Selling the same products with the same salespeople, the company saw its response rate increase to 30%. Achieving such a dramatic increase was accomplished by simply delivering a better sales message.
You must view your sales and marketing messaging as an asset that you can quickly leverage into increased sales and profits.
Take a close look at your sales message and ask yourself: How does it help your ideal customers clearly understand how your solution uniquely satisfies their buying criteria and emotional needs; and is it delivered when it most influences the buying decision in your favor? If you answered no to either one you’ve got some work to do. Improve your sales message and watch sales grow.