Identifying the best sales strategy for your specific niche is a key first step in your sales process. You need a great story that will grab people’s attention, make them think about their current solution (if any), and finally lead them to the conclusion that not having your solution in place is a mistake that is costing them.
Breaking down the creation of this narrative, identify:
- The Problem: the pain points that your customers are experiencing that are relevant to your solution
- The Solution: how your offering addresses those pain points
- The specifics: how exactly you accomplish that solution for your customers
The Problem
Pain points are the most crucial part of beginning a conversation with any prospect. If you aren’t able to solve a problem that they are currently experiencing, they have no motivation to consider you further. Test it out with colleagues in the industry you’re targeting. If it’s not a commonly experienced issue within your target, keep looking.
That key pain point can of course be different for different roles within your target companies. You also need to identify the pain points specific to each persona/role/title. It’s also a good idea to be familiar with the costs/losses that are associated with the problem you’re able to solve for your customers. Nothing is more to the point than emphasizing your effect on the bottom line.
The Solution
Next, think about why your solution/offering exceeds that of your competitors. Why do your customers ultimately choose your company over others? What is it that you are getting right that your competitors are getting wrong? Use these points to have an honest conversation about what you can offer above the prospect’s current solution or other solutions in the marketplace that they could pursue.
Just remember – be honest! You will only gain happy customers by seeking out those companies that are a good fit for what you offer. If you discover that you are a good fit to work together, this is the stage to provide references or case studies for your prospect as proof that you mean what you say.
Put these simple steps together and you’ll have a seamless, coherent narrative that tells your prospects the story of why you’re the best.