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credibility

Selling ice to Eskimos and your return policy

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It’s a familiar compliment, but it benefits no one. The Eskimo ends up with buyer’s remorse and we get our ice back while earning a bad reputation among Eskimos.

If the first step is determining if there’s a fit, let’s figure it out as quickly as possible. Why take three conversations when it can be done in one? If it’s not a good match, we can move on to more promising opportunities and our customer will be more inclined to see us the next time we call.

Most of our tools are designed to help our salespeople sell, but consider adding some that first assess fit. Simple checklists, case study comparisons, and interactive surveys can qualify a prospect and inform both parties about how to best work together.

Spend a little more time assessing fit and you’ll spend less time explaining your return policy.

How credible are you?

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Your offering is rock solid. You’ve done a really nice job of designing and executing your product or service. Seriously. Well done.

Once I establish that you’re in the running for my business, on what other criteria do I make my decision? To some degree I make it on the credibility of the salesperson sitting across the table and the company she represents. Is she able to persuade me that she knows what she’s talking about? Do I agree that her company stands behind everything said so far?

We’d like to think that our product accounts for the majority of our credibility, but if our sales force turns over often or if we’re headquartered in the east and selling in the west, there may be many non-product obstacles making us less credible.

Picture your newest, most remote salesperson. Is he equipped with the right stories and mobile tools to build credibility?

Genuine industrial stories

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How our company evolved to be what it is wasn’t pretty.  We had some setbacks, learned things the hard way. But we overcame all of that to become the market leader we are today.

Corporate jargon and stock photos are a smokescreen that make it hard for our customers to know us. Why make them filter and dig to assess if they want to engage us? Let’s just tell them (proudly) and get on with business.

A little straight shooting goes a long way. Genuine stories and images on the web and in our salespeople’s hands explain who we are and why we’re better. Tell an honest story about our past and customers will know to expect great things if they work with us in the future.

I think they’re stealing our story

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They get credit for knowing the industry (but we know it better). They say that they did it first (when we all know it was us). They claim to have a track record, unmatched support, subject matter experts and endless satisfied customers. But we know that we’re better at all of those things.

How frustrating. Our competitors are spinning a tale better than we’re telling the truth! We don’t need to invent the truth, we just need to tell it better. Modern technology offers unprecedented opportunities to convey the value we provide. Let’s use mobile tools to set the record straight and not give our competition the chance to steal our story.

Good things happen when smart people talk

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If you’ve ever had a two-hour conversation that felt like a blink in time, you’ve experienced it. Shared interests and common ground take a conversation to a higher level. Good things happen when we pursue these types of dialogues in our personal and professional lives.

In a sales setting, those types of interactions will grow sales and generate new product ideas so our goal should be to equip our salespeople to be that kind of conversationalist with our customers:

+ Training that teaches where the industry is headed

+ Sales techniques that emphasize listening and collaboration

+ Print, digital and mobile tools that let the conversation meander instead of keeping it on the same old track

Our salespeople are already experts on our product and we can make them even more effective by enabling them to engage customers more deeply because good things happen when smart people talk.

They’ll seek the specialist

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When we’re really sick, we seek the specialist. If our car is not fixed after several attempts, we seek the specialist. And when we’re short on time and under pressure to make the right choice for our company, we seek the specialist.

Step back and consider how our prospects view us. Does it look like we’re trying to be all things to all people? Customers don’t care that our offering is applicable to multiple industries…they only care about their own. One-size-fits-all literature and websites may be easier to build and maintain, but if the first impression we make isn’t of industry expertise, prospects are likely to look elsewhere.

When a prospect engages you, make them feel like theirs is the only industry you serve. Create separate websites and apps for separate segments. In marketing content, make only the most meaningful points instead of hiding them in a list of 20. Demonstrate that you’re focused on each segment as if it’s your only one because when a prospect needs the type of help you can provide, they’ll seek the specialist.

Hard at work becoming wrong

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Someone (I don’t remember who) left me with a thought that’s now permanently etched in the strategic marketing part of my brain:

“The harder we work at the wrong thing, the wronger we become.”

It’s a reminder that if our strategic direction is incorrect or inconsistent with reality, everything that follows is wasted effort:

– Advertising that promises distinguished service while the people that answer the phone aren’t empowered to solve problems

– An over-the-top trade show presence even though decision makers stopped going years ago

– A product launch that claims differentiation while the product itself is a commodity

The only way to be right is to be perfectly honest about what our customers value and about our ability to provide it. If we kid ourselves about either, all of our hard work goes towards becoming more and more wrong.

Stop building your brand

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I have officially replaced the word ‘brand’ with the word ‘reputation’ in my vocabulary and it has made my marketing life much simpler:

– Brand building becomes reputation building.

– Brand equity becomes reputation equity.

– Brand strategy becomes reputation strategy.

Brand is a nebulous, overused word that we pay advertising agencies to fix. Reputation, however, is the name we make for ourselves by what we do day in and day out. It’s reliability and follow-through and taking care of customers long after lesser companies have gone home for the day. Focus on earning a reputation and you’ll never have to pay anyone to build your brand again.

Technology for a personal touch

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Technology is moving at such a rapid pace and offers such opportunity in a B2B setting that it’s easy to get caught up in it:

  • We can turn our websites into a vast reference library where customers can find the answer to any question they have.
  • We can configure our phone system to take voice commands and provide menus for every situation.
  • We can implement CRM systems so that we can form a complete history of customer interactions.

And yet our customers are most likely to buy from us because of personal interactions. A knowledgeable human at the other end of the line. A salesperson that proves herself a resource during a face-to-face conversation.

Some businesses are built around removing human interaction by serving the masses via automation and by creating a self-service environment. But if your business is dependent on a customer dialogue, make sure the technology you invest in enables and enriches conversation and collaboration.

There are endless software and app options that can make both inside and outside people more responsive and more knowledgeable. Just be clear on whether your goal is to reduce the number of customer touches or to use technology to give a more personal touch.

Becoming Righter or Wronger

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Here’s a concept that has stuck with me over the years: strategy first, then tactics. In the words of the late Dr. Russell Ackoff:

“All of our problems arise out of doing the wrong things righter. The more efficient you are at the doing the wrong thing, the wronger you become. It is much better to do the right thing wronger than the wrong thing righter! If you do the right thing wrong and correct it, you get better.”

In the context of marketing and technology, most of us are in the presence of projects and processes that are in danger of making us ‘wronger.’ We continue to do things the same old way even though we know that there are technologies that are more effective. Identifying and implementing the technologies that are right for us will make us ‘righter’ and better.