Can you write your customers ‘I have a Dream’ speech

Moving beyond points of pain for a more compelling proposition.

Martin Luther King is not remembered for an ‘I have a problem’, but rather an ‘I have a dream’ speech. He brought the issue of civil rights and race relations centre stage, but will always be remembered for his dream of the solution, not his definition of the problem.

Think about this in relation to the message you want to leave with your customers and prospects. Do you want it to focus on the problem, or on what their life and business can and should look like once that problem is surmounted?

Is it easier to rally people around the problems they are facing, or around a vision of what they can achieve? Well, let us take another more contemporary statesman as a reference. Barack Obama did not get elected on a ‘no we can’t’ ticket. Yes, he did speak plainly about the problems (of which there were many), but what rallied people was not agreement regarding the problems, but his vision of a better America. Think about this in terms of your last sales meeting, presentation, or proposal – did it focus on defining the problem, or envisioning the future post its resolution.

Are You Focused Too Much on Pain?

Think of it this way – do you go to the doctor to find out what is wrong, or to get a remedy, or cure? For a long time ‘problems’ and ‘pain’ have been the glue of the complex sale. Find, leverage and accentuate them and you got yourself a customer, or at least a prospect. Now there is no doubt that buyer problems and pain does represent an important dimensions to understanding customer needs and their behaviours. However, it is in no way the full picture. Here is why:

· Problems can be a lot more contentious that solutions. Problems, politics and blame are often intermingled, making it difficult to get agreement on the problem. Focusing on the solution instead can be less divisive.

· Some may be sensitive about discussing their problems with outsiders and particularly those they feel want to exploit them (that is sales people).

· Some people don’t realize, or don’t want to realize they have a problem. Others may realize they have problems but not want to own them. The complex sale requires that you not just sell to those with existing needs, but that you help create the need among others.

· A focus on problems can sap morale and motivation. By definition it can involve looking backwards, as opposed to looking forward. In addition, people can also learn to live with problems and with pain, taking refuse in denial, or inertia.

Moving from, or Moving To Motivation.

Have you ever noticed that some people are motivated by what they want, while others are motivated by the opposite? Let me explain. Some people are driven to meet target and all that goes with it, while others may be as powerfully motivated but for a different reason – that is the fear of missing target.

Similarly, some people go to the gym because they want to look good in a swimming suit, while others go because of the dread of being pointed at on the beach. Put simply this could be referred to as moving away from and moving towards motivation. So, which one applies to your various prospects and which form of motivation do you find yourself appealing to most?

The Higher You Sell, The More You Should Focus on Promise, Not Problems.

We find that as salespeople sell higher in organisations, particularly at C Level, the focus moves somewhat from problems and more to the achievement of business goals, or potential. Also we find that the more product, or technology focused the seller is the greater the focus on problem and pain. That is because it can be easier to latch onto a problem than to develop a full understanding of what it is that the prospect’s business wants to, or can potentially achieve.

That is because at C level the salesperson's focus has to be as much on the business objectives and strategy, as the buying process and the buying decision. Afterall it is a business decision first and foremost and the business case is foremost.

A focus on problems to justify selling your solution, can result in a band aid mentality with narrow problem definitions that run the risk of addressing symptoms rather than their causes. An example would be the implementation of a sales system in order to address sales reporting and paperwork problems, without addressing more fundamental issues relating to sales process, structure and effectiveness.

The resulting danger is that the system may reinforce underlying problems, say for example where it ends up automating existing inefficient processes. Another potential issues that may arise from a failure to understand what the business wants to, can, or should achieve is that its project may be vulnerable to a range of other risk factors, such as a change in internal priorities where the system implementation is delayed because the sales manager succeeds in persuading his colleagues of the need to ’get the house in order first’.

Take The 'I have a dream' Test.

Helping your customers envision a more successful future is a powerful ingredient of the complex sale.

- So could you write your customers ‘I have a dream’ speech?

- How much of this dream (at a personal, as well as a organizational level) is reflected in your sales presentations, conversations and proposals?

- What is the ‘Yes we can’ message your sales proposition is communicating?

After all it is better to 'light a candle than to curse the darkness' to quote no less than Mother Theresa.

What will it take to win over today’s buyers?

What is it going to take to win over increasingly demanding and budget strapped buyers? Well, here is a step by step formula:

1. Go beyond features to benefits and then keep on going…

Go beyond features to benefits and then keep on going. That is because buyers are not as impressed by benefits lists as we sellers like to think they are.

Benefits are a hypothesis about what is important to the buyer, a catch all list of possible reasons to buy. But, that is all they are. The problem is that most benefits and features lists are too long. They tend to be laden with adjectives and are vague, unquantified and subjective.

Another problem is that benefits often suffer from a crisis of identity being regularly mistaken for features. They also tend to be written with the technical, as opposed to the business buyer in mind and generally do not reflect the issues of concern to senior management.

So it is time to move beyond feature and benefits selling – to stop telling the customer what the benefits are and listening to what it is that he, or she wants to achieve. It is time to start selling solutions, right?

2. Go beyond selling solutions and then keep going...

Selling products and services is so 1990s, so you would be mistaken for thinking that you should be selling solutions instead. Well, not necessarily so. That is because too often salespeople start selling a solution before they understand the problem, or need that it is meant to solve for the customer.

Here is the problem - buyers don’t really want what you are selling! Rather they want the results that it can help them to achieve. So, your SOA enabled turnkey solution is not what you should spend most of your time talking about. Instead, you should be discussing the end results that your prospect wants to achieve and how your other customers have achieved something similar.

The challenge of moving beyond the solution can be made more difficult by some customers, for example when they send out an RFP, or request a proposal without giving the salesperson an opportunity to really understand their needs. In any respect, the buyer may have a less than complete understanding of his/her needs.

For example, we regularly are asked to provide proposals in respect of the provision of training to sales people. Our wisdom gained over many years, tells us that sales training (at least the traditional variety) generally falls short of delivering what managers want to achieve. So we try to better understand what challenges or priorities are facing the sales team and the results expected. With this information we are can put training in its proper context in terms of the full range of options available.

So, you have gone beyond the solution to focus on the need, but is that all? Well, it is a great start. Now keep going till your conversation has left needs in the shade and started to focus on results.

3. Go beyond the pain and the problem to the results…

It is fashionable to talk about point of pain for the buyer as the fundamental motivation to buy and in particular as providing the impetus to buy now. This is one step up, in terms of intensity, from the focus on the problem as a means of selling your solution.

However, while both of these elements are important an even more compelling approach is to focus on what your customer is trying to achieve. That is the hope, as opposed to the pain and the opportunity as opposed to the problem.

So, what is the business impact of your solution? Specifically, how will it impact on the Productivity, Performance, Revenue and Profit of your prospect? What business results will it enable your customers to achieve? How will it impact on key business metrics?

4. Go beyond results and keep going until you get to the strategy…

With buying decisions being made higher and wider in most organisations, there is still one common denominator for senior buyers – that is business strategy. Sales people must connect with managers not through the focus on solutions, problems and pain, but instead on their strategy for their business. That is what they want to achieve and how the salesperson’s solution can make it a reality.

Having moved beyond the solution to the need and beyond the need to the results, you are ready to relate to the buyer in a totally new way. That is to connect with managers not by focusing on their strategy for their business. That is what they want to achieve and how the seller’s solution can make it a reality.

Selling at a strategy level can present a challenge for many salespeople. That is because it requires a new level of insight, as well as a new language – one that is more akin to business people than traditional salespeople. It is the transition from salesperson to trusted advisor and requires deeper relationships, as well as high levels of credibility and trust.

From Selling Products to Selling Ideas

Ideas, beliefs and causes are more compelling than products, or services. In an age of increased choice, competition and commoditization, features and benefits are not enough to really connect with your customers. So how can you link what you are selling with a cause, idea, or concern that your customers are passionate about? Or how can you get passionate about the problems or opportunities your solutions address for customers?

How to Really Connect with Your Customers
So, if ideas are the real currency of the age, why are you still selling products and services? Find a cause that is inimical to your product, or service - one that really matters to your customers, as well as their own customers. Don’t settle for being a sales person, identify with, join and build a tribe (we will let Seth Godwin explain this term later) around the causes, values and passions shared by you, your company and your customers.

The most powerful way to build your business is to stop selling, moving beyond features and benefits, as well as from points of pain and problem identification to igniting purpose, passion and imagination. That means focusing on a cause that is inimical to your product, or service and that really matters to your customers, or their own customers. It is to become an advocate, champion and thought leader.

The Most Effective Way to Connect With Your CustomersListen to what matters to your customers. What issues are they concerned about? What is at the core of success in their industry? What are they passionate about? To what values do they aspire? What ideas engage, or have the potential to engage them?

People want to identify with values, causes and ideals. They want to connect with others who share them too. In this way building momentum behind a cause is not a one man job, it involves connecting with others who share the same passion and the building of communities around it. That is its power as regards sales.

Salespeople can blur the traditional customer – seller distinction, by being part of a movement, network, or community. In this internet age, everybody has an opportunity to find and the air their voice and to connect to others worldwide for whom it resonates, no matter much in the minority they might be.

What is your cause?

So what is the cause you can lend your voice to? What cause can you champion? For example, the salesperson selling warehouse management systems might focus on a particular cause relating to warehouse performance, sharing their ideas and becoming a thought leader, promoting or championing new ideals, connecting with potential customers who share the same concerns, etc.

Now, of course you cannot champion a cause just because you think it will help you sell more. To carry it off you will need to have a genuine conviction and commitment regarding the issues concerned. You will also need to have something to say, a strong voice, a unique perspective, or value to add.

Sharing passions, purpose and ideals means standing for something larger than just a product, or a commercial transaction. It requires not just following, but challenging the status quo. It often requires breaking new ground and being on the edge, whether that is Michael O Leary and the purpose of low fare travel, or Al Gore and the environment.

What are the new tools for selling ideas?
How this happens has been propelled by means of the web, with blogging, online forums, social networking, etc. the viral means of selling ideas and connecting with others. Indeed, the web gives everybody, salesperson, or not, the means of finding, developing and airing their voice.

Again taking the example of the warehouse management system sales organisation that wants to connect with its customer and prospects in a new way. It begins by members of the organisations sales or marketing team:
- Setting up RSS feeds to read relevant news, articles and views from cyberspace. That means tracking those issues that are topical, what others are saying, who is influencing opinions, etc.
- Joining forums and groups relating to the topic of interest, including those on linked-in, facebook, etc.
- Setting up a blog to air views, share useful information with others and build a following. The fact that this has a positive effect on google search ranking should not be forgotten about.
- Commenting on other blogs and feeding the conversation.
- Writing whitepapers, delivering webinars, pod casting, hosting presentations, webinars, online, etc.

From Salesperson to Tribal Leader
Tribes according to Seth Godwin are what matter most and leading them is how you can really affect changes in society, economies and business. See his video on TED below.