What Do You Do? - Elevator pitches done right
In the past year or so, the elevator pitch has become a hot topic. Everywhere you turn, consultants are claiming it as an area of expertise, authors are devoting a portion of their business books to it, and professional speakers are adding it to their list of speaking topics. In essence, an entire micro-industry has sprung up around helping sales professionals answer the question, “What do you do?” The downside, of course, is that with more and more sales reps turning their attention to that question, it’s tougher than ever to stand out from the crowd.
“Given this situation, your initial contact with a prospective customer leaves little margin for error,” says Jeff Thull, CEO of Prime Resource Group and a leading strategist and advisor to executive teams of major companies worldwide (www.primeresrouce.com). “The first conversation is the most critical and least forgiving point of the entire sales process. Within the first 20 seconds you must simultaneously establish relevancy and credibility – or you will be dismissed as just more marketing noise in the relentless barrage of sellers looking for attention.”
Thull urges sales professionals to think about how they respond to the question of what they do – and then think about the reaction they get to their answer. When you tell people what you do, are they engaged by your answer and prompted to ask questions? Or do you get the standard, “Oh, that’s interesting” – meaning, of course, that your answer is not interesting at all. If the person you’ve just met is a real prospect, Thull says the first response you should be getting to your elevator pitch should be something like: “That sounds as if you could possibly help us. How do you do that?” Or, “We’ve been discussing that problem. Maybe you should talk to….”
To generate this kind of response, your answer to the “What do you do?” question must focus 100 percent on the customer’s world. “Discuss issues you believe your customers may be experiencing, but don’t come across as certain that they are experiencing them or that you can resolve them,” advises Thull. “If they are indeed having those problems, they will probably be very open to exploring them further with you.” Moreover, he adds, when your prospect believes you understand their problem, they will likely believe you have a solution to it.
Here’s an example. Most sales reps answer, “What do you do?” with something that sounds like this: “We are a boutique management consultancy that specializes in working with high tech organizations.” Bland, right? That’s because it’s all about the vendor and thus sounds like almost every other canned response out there. It will be quickly forgotten. To transform that answer into a springboard to a meaningful conversation, says Thull, you’d reply with: “We work with companies who are facing escalating manufacturing costs and are looking at the possibilities of outsourcing. We help them analyze the risks and potential benefits of outsourcing and have the capabilities to provide the manufacturing services if their situation points to that as a best alternative.”
This kind of response instantly gets your conversation partner thinking about his own situation. As you’re speaking, a real prospect is silently agreeing that this is a problem for his company and he naturally wants to know more. And by cutting directly to his problems, you cut directly through the barrage of sales clutter and open the door for further discussion.
If you’re not getting this kind of response to your elevator pitch, take some time to sit down and re-craft it. Describe who you are by describing the type of company you serve and a major symptom they might be experiencing, the concern they would typically be struggling with, and the value you can provide. Keep it succinct, as in Thull’s example. Then be prepared to listen and ask questions. When you follow these guidelines, you “build credibility in that initial contact, ensuring the conversation continues and deepens,” Thull concludes.
http://www.sellingpower.com
“Given this situation, your initial contact with a prospective customer leaves little margin for error,” says Jeff Thull, CEO of Prime Resource Group and a leading strategist and advisor to executive teams of major companies worldwide (www.primeresrouce.com). “The first conversation is the most critical and least forgiving point of the entire sales process. Within the first 20 seconds you must simultaneously establish relevancy and credibility – or you will be dismissed as just more marketing noise in the relentless barrage of sellers looking for attention.”
Thull urges sales professionals to think about how they respond to the question of what they do – and then think about the reaction they get to their answer. When you tell people what you do, are they engaged by your answer and prompted to ask questions? Or do you get the standard, “Oh, that’s interesting” – meaning, of course, that your answer is not interesting at all. If the person you’ve just met is a real prospect, Thull says the first response you should be getting to your elevator pitch should be something like: “That sounds as if you could possibly help us. How do you do that?” Or, “We’ve been discussing that problem. Maybe you should talk to….”
To generate this kind of response, your answer to the “What do you do?” question must focus 100 percent on the customer’s world. “Discuss issues you believe your customers may be experiencing, but don’t come across as certain that they are experiencing them or that you can resolve them,” advises Thull. “If they are indeed having those problems, they will probably be very open to exploring them further with you.” Moreover, he adds, when your prospect believes you understand their problem, they will likely believe you have a solution to it.
Here’s an example. Most sales reps answer, “What do you do?” with something that sounds like this: “We are a boutique management consultancy that specializes in working with high tech organizations.” Bland, right? That’s because it’s all about the vendor and thus sounds like almost every other canned response out there. It will be quickly forgotten. To transform that answer into a springboard to a meaningful conversation, says Thull, you’d reply with: “We work with companies who are facing escalating manufacturing costs and are looking at the possibilities of outsourcing. We help them analyze the risks and potential benefits of outsourcing and have the capabilities to provide the manufacturing services if their situation points to that as a best alternative.”
This kind of response instantly gets your conversation partner thinking about his own situation. As you’re speaking, a real prospect is silently agreeing that this is a problem for his company and he naturally wants to know more. And by cutting directly to his problems, you cut directly through the barrage of sales clutter and open the door for further discussion.
If you’re not getting this kind of response to your elevator pitch, take some time to sit down and re-craft it. Describe who you are by describing the type of company you serve and a major symptom they might be experiencing, the concern they would typically be struggling with, and the value you can provide. Keep it succinct, as in Thull’s example. Then be prepared to listen and ask questions. When you follow these guidelines, you “build credibility in that initial contact, ensuring the conversation continues and deepens,” Thull concludes.
http://www.sellingpower.com
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