Sales Intelligence Blog by Lattice Engines

In a recent posting, technocrat blogger Geoffrey James has taken on the topic of differentiating roughly commoditized offerings. He summarizes the winning options facing sellers of identical products as thus:

“There are five other differentiators that you can put into play which will keep the customer buying from you at a higher price.  They are:

1. Convenience. If your product is easier to purchase than the competition’s, the customer may pay more for it.
2. Tradition. If purchasing your product is a well-established habit, the customer may pay more for it, at least for a while.
3. Perceived Quality. If your product is perceived to be better made, the customer may pay more for it (even if in fact it is identical).
4. Your Personality. If the customer personally likes you, the customer may be willing to pay more to keep you “on retainer.”
5. Mutuality. If you are involved in a partnership with the customer that’s crucial to his business, he may pay more for your product.”

All of the options on this list are viable ways to get your product (or keep your product) in the customer’s hands. Certainly, brand-driven values, such as “Tradition” and “Perceived Quality”, are a very real reason for customers to choose a good. Of his other options, “Your Personality” and “Mutuality” are roughly approximate to “Relationship value”, both leading a buyer to stick with a given seller. And I tend to agree with his closing sentiment that “’Convenience’ is the one that’s the most powerful (and the most commonly neglected by sales professionals).” But again, that is really part of the product offering (meaning they weren’t truly identical in the first place).

Unfortunately, if you don’t already have a relationship with a buyer, most of these options (other than “Convenience”) won’t be as available to you. Moreover, you will likely be on the other side of some of these options, looking in.

One differentiation that he may have left out is the ability to build expectations in your customers without an existing relationship. While charm is one (possibly antiquated) way to do this, an easy way to elevate your pitch is to avoid the product offering completely; instead, tell the buyer what you know about them. With more information available every day, a fast way to breed confidence in your customers and elevate your brand is to show what you know about their environment, challenges and goals, and implicitly their needs. When you prove you know what a client needs, you become trusted, and can help them make a product decision, rather than keeping them from going with the known quantity.

A simple analogy exists in Internet radio. There is a glut of online music options, but with a growing number of what I’ll call ‘intelligent stations’ (such as Pandora and Grooveshark). These are ones in which your past listening preferences determine your future playlists, based on a combination of data being gathered on your listening patterns and explicit preferences. While they are playing ‘exactly what you want to hear’, all they are really doing is telling you that they know what you like. In particular, you will end up choosing the one that “knows you the best”.

In the same way, if you, as a seller, can read back all the things you know about what your buyer is seeing day-to-day, your recommendations will have much more weight; even if you are proposing the same good as your competitors.

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Once upon my career, I was a B2B buyer and met with sales reps on a regular basis.  Much like a salesperson’s time, my time was limited. To maximize meetings, I did the research upfront.  Before the salesperson walked in the door I already knew what they were selling, what it promised, who was using it and how they liked (or didn’t like) the product.  But all too often, a salesperson would come in and spend half of our meeting telling me and my team things we already knew.  They’d prepare elaborate presentations with beautiful graphics, hand out promotional items, even bring in baked goods.  Despite the clear effort they put into producing what they, the sales reps, felt was a great meeting, we, the buyers, left the meeting with questions unanswered, forcing us to have yet another meeting and extending the buying cycle.  And so, at the request of my boss, the following term started making its way into our communications: “please don’t bring us the dog and pony show.”

B2B buyers want to know why your product or service matters to THEM – how do you serve their immediate and future needs?  B2B buyers are looking to shorten their buying cycle, which will help you shorten your sales cycle.  To make the most out of meetings with potentials buyers, sales should focus on three points:

• Ask open-ended questions before the meeting. Buyers know you can’t read their minds.  Ask them what they’re looking for or what problem they’re trying to solve.  If you come prepared to talk about “everything but the kitchen sink” you may never get to what they actually need.
• Apply context and relevancy to your messaging. Research the customer to find out what’s happening in their organization, how it is affecting their part of the business and specifically what you can do to help.
• Leave the ‘dog and pony’ show at the door.  An elaborate presentation may catch a buyer’s attention, but it may also distract from the sale.  Stay focused on the customer’s needs and how you can help them.

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