Sales Blog with Sales Tips

There is an avalanche of misunderstanding and disagreement when it comes to value propositions.

Since there is no absolute definition of value propositions, let me give you a brief history. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions as to what they really are and how you might use them in your selling efforts.

In The Beginning…Phase 1
It all started with salespeople doing nothing more than selling the features of their products. This kind of selling started before the industrial revolution and sounded something like, “Ivory soap is 99.44% pure.” Nothing more than a simple feature.

Things Evolve…Phase 2
Around the 1930’s, the advertising and selling world realized that prospects needed more than a feature. They needed a reason to buy. The benefit was born. Tell the prospect about a feature and then tell them why it helps them.

Significantly driven by automotive advertising, we saw feature-benefit statements like, “General Motors’ new Hydra-Matic transmission completely removes the work of shifting and operating a clutch.”

Circa 1970’s…Phase 3
The first hint of sophistication in features and benefits enters here. The marketing types realized (as we know today) that prospects couldn’t care less about the feature; they were interested in the advantage to them (i.e. the benefit).

The marketers fixed this by simply reversing the feature-benefit statement to a benefit-feature statement. Tell them the benefit first and then tell them how it is achieved.

“Give your children more of your time by using Duncan Hines’ 1-2-3 easy cake mix.”

The Birth Of Value Propositions…Phase 4
Transport yourself to the 1980’s.

It is arguable who actually “invented” value propositions. There is also little agreement as to what ingredients should be in a value proposition and in what order they should appear.

However, most value propositions include the following four basic components and normally in this order (but not always): need, feature, benefit, uniqueness/differentiation.

“Busy executives need to be able to work in comfort when traveling. American Airlines’ business class provides you the ability to conduct business in a luxurious environment. No other airline offers as many business class seats as American.”

One More…Phase 5
Sales and marketing is currently operating, for the most part, under phase 4. But there is a new wind blowing. Primarily driven by the Gen Y’ers.

This wind is called the New Authenticity. It throws out all of the above and simply asks the sales professional to be revealing, honest and direct with the prospect. No formulas. No games. No marketing (at least not overt).

Kind of refreshing sounding isn’t it?

Sales Tips Wrap Up
You’ve been through all of your company’s sales training and you’ve heard the marketers at your company tell you their story. Your sales manager uses “value proposition” or “value added selling” in every third sentence.

However, the most successful sales professionals have used the new authenticity approach for their entire sales career. They just didn’t know what to call it.

This new authenticity thing has legs.

Further sales tips reading:
Selling In A Recession, The New Authenticity
For A Change, Try Being Honest With Your Customers

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>©2010 Scott R. Sheaffer

Scott Sheaffer’s New Book, “Comatose Management”
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Six Short Stories of Destructive Management Practices, Volume I
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Available in printed and Kindle edition on amazon.com
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I’m sick of hearing about “added value.” So are customers. We have to start giving our customers and prospects something real instead of spouting off intangible and meaningless phrases we’ve gotten from marketing.

Believe me, much of the “added value” we spew on our customers lands on deaf ears.

Voodoo Added Value
Voodoo Added Value is my term for the embellished, intangible and baseless added value we hurl at customers. Want some examples?

“We have the best trained account managers.” Name one of your competitors that doesn’t claim the same thing.

“We can provide any product or service for you, even if it’s not in our product line.” Really? Can you? Think the customer believes that? Does your employer believe that?

“We are an honest company.” Oh please! Companies aren’t honest, people are.

“We’re the Mercedes of the business.” Again, name one of your competitors that you think might say something like, “Oh yes, we’re not that great at what we do, but we have great looking account managers.”

“We provide the fastest service/product delivery/response times/etc.” Quick, how many of your competitors say this? Answer: all of them.

The Great Contradiction
Given that your competitors are repeating these same kinds of Voodoo Added Values, actually not saying them becomes a real added value. This is counterintuitive.

Think about it.  Authenticity, credibility, factuality, legitimacy and originality are valued by customers. They respond positively to these qualities. No hollow marketing chatter required.

Sales Blog Epilogue
Rules to sell by – and to avoid the trap of Voodoo Added Value:

• Anytime you feel it necessary to start machine-gunning your customers with added value statements, ask yourself, “Is this the least bit original or has this customer heard this from all of my competitors?” If it fails this test, it’s Voodoo Added Value. Your customer isn’t listening.
• Am I making legitimate and factual claims as to the added benefits my company brings to the table? If the answer is no – Voodoo Added Value.
• If what you’re saying is not credible, or if you don’t sound credible, you guessed it, Voodoo Added Value.
• Am I being authentic or am I being a phony? Don’t forget that buying from you is not your customers’ first rodeo. They can sniff out an imposter in about three nanoseconds.

Further reading:
What Value Do We Need To Be Selling In A Recession?
Rise Above Commodity Style Selling

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>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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There is a trend in sales that is a breath of fresh air. It’s called The New Authenticity. Let me provide some sales tips on what it is, why it’s happening and how you can use it.

The New Authenticity Defined
All of us have seen black and white movies where we get glimpses of the stereotypical salesman from the 1940’s and 1950’s (women were rarely allowed in the profession at that time). Sadly, these movies were not parodies. Unfortunately, much of the sales training dished out today is based on that model.

Fast forward to 2009. Yes, there has been progress in how sales professionals are trained, but essentially we are being coached in how to manipulate the customer in one form or another.

The New Authenticity is focused on service and personal credibility with our customers versus arm wrestling and psychological sales tactics. Don’t misunderstand; sales professionals who practice The New Authenticity are attempting to maximize their selling opportunities. The New Authenticity teaches that we can be forthright, open and protective of our customers as a means of being more effective, even if it means we may forfeit sales in the short term.

Why The New Authenticity Is Growing So Quickly
There are three primary reasons The New Authenticity is growing rapidly:

1. The amount of selling pressure being exerted on customers in our current selling environment has become counterproductive. When you push too hard, people push back.
2. It’s become an escalating war of avoidance from the point of the customer. I’m amazed at the sophistication that customers have resorted to in order to avoid talking with a salesperson. Traditional cold calling is almost dead. It doesn’t work anymore.
3. All sales professionals look the same to customers. We all say the same things. We all use the same selling concepts. There is nothing new under the sun except The New Authenticity. Customers see us in a completely different way when we use this method. We’re not lost in the white noise of traditional sales approaches.

Sales Tips For Implementing The New Authenticity With Your Customers
When I discuss this concept with other sales professionals they all go through the same three-step process: 1) This won’t work, 2) I feel like I’m doing exactly the opposite of what I should be doing, 3) It works because customers put their defenses down.

Here’s how you can implement The New Authenticity with your customers:

• Be yourself. No more scripts. You’ve got a personality; use it.
• Be honest about your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Ironically, revealing a weakness voluntarily makes your strengths appear stronger to a customer.
• Be up-front about your intentions with customers. If you’re trying to add an existing product line to what they already buy from you, tell them.
• Lose the marketing exaggeration. Be honest about your company and yourself.
• Use the creativity you were born with. Be original in your approach.
• Lower your defenses. No one wants to deal with anyone who is defensive. Openness is the antithesis of defensiveness.

Two Warnings
Warning One: There will be sales trainers coming out of the woodwork telling you this is a bad idea. Don’t listen to them. They’re old school. They don’t want to change and adapt. Look at the top sales professionals in your company. All of them are already using some form of The New Authenticity.

Warning Two: Depending on where you sit on the continuum of old school versus The New Authenticity, you might want to ease into this New Authenticity thing. You’ll want to do this for a couple of reasons. First, you don’t want to frighten your customers. Second, you’ll need time to adapt and learn this style.

Further reading:

• Point Out Your Product’s Weaknesses And Sell More
• Get customer cooperation by “lowering your shields”

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>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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The bulk of my best sales training has come from observing incompetent salespeople and incompetent sales management. I’ve undoubtedly benefited from many good mentors, coaches and trainers, but there is nothing like the lasting impression of watching gross stupidity. It’s like taking a white-hot cattle brand and branding the words “don’t do it this way” on your brain.

Time For A Story
Let me give you an example of sales ineptitude I observed 4 years ago. I’m simply going to relate a real-life story; you won’t need for me to do any kind of analysis at the conclusion.

The Foolish Funeral Director
I was attending a military funeral for the father of a close friend, Julie Marks. Julie’s father was a Colonel in the US Marine Corps. It was a Saturday; we were at one of the best known and most expensive funeral homes found in this large metropolitan area. In short, my friend was not sparing any expenses on her dad’s funeral.

The funeral service was beautiful, as expected. The facilities were perfect and the funeral itself was orchestrated without error. All expectations had been met by the funeral home.

Immediately after the service concluded, the funeral director (euphemism for “funeral salesperson”) walked up to my friend and me and said, “Mrs. Marks, can you talk with me for a moment?” I asked Julie if I should leave and she indicated I should stay.

The funeral director then presented Julie  with an invoice for the funeral. Is it just me, or was this bad timing on the part of this salesperson? But wait, it gets much worse.

Julie gatherered herself together and started to look at the individual items on the invoice. She suddenly stopped at one item and said, “What is this extra $500 for?”

“That’s our customary additional charge for Saturday funerals.”

A rather perturbed Julie commented, “I don’t know anything about this whatsoever. You and I planned this funeral from start to finish. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

In what has to be the worst response to a customer objection I have heard in my career, the funeral director said, “Well, I guess you didn’t ask certain questions.” I thought to myself, his reply was actually a scripted answer. He had prepared this wretched response in advance!

Even though Julie was going through a tremendous amount of grief at the moment, she responded by saying, “Withholding relevant information from a customer is the same as lying. Your timing makes this even worse. I will not be paying the additional $500.”

I have to confess, I wanted to go postal on the funeral director for 4 reasons: 1) As a salesperson he was a 3 car pile-up, 2) For upsetting my friend at a time like that, 3) For being an idiot, 4) Did I mention for being an idiot?

I called Julie while preparing this sales blog post to double check my facts.  She added that not only did she not pay the $500, but she and her husband canceled the purchase of two plots worth $26,000 they had planned to purchase from this same funeral home.  There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but being out to lunch cost this salesperson some money.

Sales Tips Wrap Up
This experience allowed me to burn into my brain yet another sales lesson – one I will never forget – in how not to handle an objection.

Further reading:

• 3 Rules For Improving Communication With Customers
• 8 Speed Traps in Sales [Sales tips about how haphazardly handling the sales process has many unintended negative consequences.]

>You can automatically receive Sales Tips Blog by Scott R. Sheaffer >by email< or >by RSS<.
>Follow >Scott R. Sheaffer< on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
>©2009 Scott R. Sheaffer

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Are you satisfied with your sales results?
Kay Ray can show you and your team how to reach
your objectives and unlock the door to success.
thekayray.com