A business colleague recently sent me an email very concerned about her value proposition. She runs a promotional products firm and has always told prospects, "Our business is to promote your business." But after reading Selling to Big Companies, she got concerned because it didn't sound strong enough.
Her target market is the media – TV, radio & print. She asked if she was on the right track with statements like, "We can help you increase viewers, ratings, readers or listeners." She also wondered about differentiation, saying that she really cared about helping them reach their goals and that she donates a percent of profits to good causes.
So what do you think? Would it tempt a corporate decision maker from a decent-sized TV or radio station to take her call? Would it entice a prospect who works for a major newspaper to meet with her? If it's not strong enough yet, what suggestions would you make to help her get her foot in the door?
I think the key is to really speak to their specific needs.
Maybe they need to achieve a specific goal.
Maybe they want to beat a specific competitor.
If she really can help them in a concrete way, the sale is halfway made.
Posted by: Chris Yeh | 03/09/2006 at 01:57 PM
Ideally she would know her prospects' viewers, readers, ratings (whatever the relevant stats are for the particular media) and be able to compare them to their nearest competitors. She would also know how these relate to attracting advertising dollars or other sources of revenue.
Then she could use examples of the improvements achieved by her clients to demonstrate the kind of concrete results that she can assist the prospect to achieve.
Posted by: Connie McCandless | 03/09/2006 at 03:46 PM
I prefer language more to the effect of "We have a proven record of increasing viewers, ratings, etc." Differentiation is great but I think it should focus more on your business methods rather than the things you listed. It's obvious that she cares about their goals or she would be in a different business. Donating to charities is wonderful and I personally do it but that doesn't tell my prospects how I am going to help them. That's something great to work in where you can at a later point but tell me what you know or can do that your competition can't.
Posted by: Cliff Hudson | 03/09/2006 at 10:23 PM
How about : We are in the business of promoting your business... AND INCREASING VIEWER RATINGS,LISTENING AUDIENCES AND GAINING NEW CUSTOMERS!
By using and...you can easily clarify and add to the value prop, elevator speech with a most direct tie-in to your specific client's business.
Posted by: Bob VL | 03/10/2006 at 08:16 AM
I would tell her to say to them that she got them to listen to her message and she can do the same for the customers there trying to get there message across to so please call me back so you don't have to keep dealing with other so called promotional companies!
Posted by: mike checko | 04/04/2006 at 07:10 PM
I think her collateral is just fine. When she presents it to a prospective customer, she will amplify those areas where she can really help them, and thereby move forward in the sales process.
Tell her to focus on the most pressing customer problem at hand and her ideas to solve it. That usually works.
Posted by: Arun Sadhashivan | 04/07/2006 at 10:05 AM