In a time where buyers have more options than ever and Sales has no room for error, specific messages that communicate value to the prospect are critical.
Your mother told you this advice, and it’s still true: “Don’t talk about yourself all the time.” Many organizations approach messaging to their customers by speaking about themselves. However, today’s buyers have more options than ever. Selling with value messaging is no longer optional—it’s expected.
Targeting the buyer
Sales reps need to speak directly to buyers with targeted messages showing the value their organization can deliver. Today’s messages must be highly targeted at the unique prospect audience and their spending priorities to be relevant.
It’s about communicating value
The top obstacle to achieving quota—more than too few leads, poor skills, too many products, or information gap—was Sales’ inability to communicate the value message (SiriusDecisions). By selling with value messaging, sellers can highlight your brand and benefits without overwhelming prospects. Here’s how to get started.
Tips for selling with value messaging:
1) Watch for the less obvious influencers. Consider less common stakeholders with significant input, like business or department leads. For more information on better understanding and meeting customer needs, check out our Sales Messaging page here.
2) Specify how your solution benefits important parties, even if they aren’t stakeholders. In healthcare, consider how your solution benefits your patients, and in education, consider the students. Patients and students won’t be buying your solution, but benefits to them are critical to the decision-makers.
3) Consider shifting the focus to value benefits rather than feature functionality. Creating a repeatable structure for client-facing materials with logical benefit groupings makes content easier to re-use and focuses benefits in a consistent way. For a recent client, we grouped healthcare benefits around user experience and safety (i.e. “good for the patient”); clinician burden and usability (i.e. “good for the clinician”), and financial, technological or efficiency benefits (i.e. “good for the organization”). We replicated this structure across key pursuit materials, helping prospects to see value—not just features.
4) Check that no value messages targeted to different stakeholders conflict. That way, if your decisionmakers meet at the water cooler to chat about your business, they don’t think they are talking about different vendors or solutions. They just see how your solution delivers the best possible benefits to each of them.
The takeaways
By focusing on value, your sellers can deliver razor-sharp value propositions that address buyers’ specific challenges. Sales can then add value to the conversation, positioning them as a thought leader. This increases your likelihood of winning by focusing on buyer needs, rather than company history or solutions. Are you ready to see what a value-based message can do for you?