It doesn't matter what industry you're in, what business customers you sell to, or what products and services you provide; ultimately, it all comes down to your value proposition.
In fact, in today's business world, a customer's go/no-go decision on a purchase ultimately comes down to how they perceive your company's value. Your offer must be unique, well-defined, and clearly understood.
More importantly, it means your sales and business development people must clearly and thoroughly understand that value and be adept at outlining it to your market and customers.
I've written about a business's value multiple times. I've explained why the most senior people in the company are the greatest resources for outlining their company's value. This is because they've gone through the entire process. They've gotten their hands dirty, and they've interacted with every member of each department.
Senior executives know how to make their external and internal networks work. This involves defining the strengths of the company's supply chain to its excellence in after-sales service and support. They know the strengths of all departments and what each brings to the table.
A company's senior sales and marketing executives are also the best resource for new salespeople. They can easily define the company's value proposition because they've had a hand in every aspect of the business.
This is essentially why it's so important that new salespeople see how that value is defined in front of customers. They should be traveling with the most senior salespeople on their first couple of customer calls. This allows them to gauge how customers respond to the value conveyed. It's a critical portion of sales and essential to winning new business.
The best training a new salesperson can have is to ride along with the company's most senior salesperson and listen to them give the value proposition. If, for some reason, your most senior salespeople don't have a value proposition, don't use it, or choose to "wing it," then it's up to you to get them to change.
A value proposition need not be elaborate. It doesn't need to be an exhaustive and elongated presentation. It simply needs to be understood and quickly explained to customers. Not only is the value proposition important for new customers, but it is especially important when cold-calling for new business.
Using leading questions with the customer will help uncover the customer's fears and concerns. Once those concerns are present, it's up to the salesperson to link them back to the value proposition to alleviate those concerns.
Get started on your value proposition today. Have everyone play a role in defining what that value is. The purpose isn't to inundate your customers with constant messaging or ramble on for minutes.
Instead, it's about outlining a quick summary of the value your company offers and keeping that information ready when customers throw out objections and stall tactics.
The following video and link outline how to incorporate your value within a B2B cold call. It explains how to use leading questions to get customers to outline their concerns and then use the value proposition to eliminate them.
Learn more about how to incorporate your value in B2B cold calls.