Special Delivery: How to Make Your Value Proposition Stick Blog Feature
Molly D Protosow

By: Molly D Protosow on January 24th, 2014

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Special Delivery: How to Make Your Value Proposition Stick

sales | Sales Tips | Sales Training | business | building client relationships

By Buff Parham/Parham & Associates LLC

A carefully crafted value proposition is of no value if the recipient doesn’t see the value!make_money_keyboard_button

Far too often, we take the “Field of Dreams” approach that assumes that our prospective buyer will easily recognize the benefits or our proposal and act accordingly. This leads to a tendency to hold back when we present, for fear of insulting that person’s intelligence. “I’ve made this so obvious that they’re bound to get it, and make the desired commitment”—famous last words!

Think of your value proposition as the first draft of an agreement.

If you can look at it that way, then it’s only natural to work toward getting buy-in on each and every aspect of your proposition. The only safe assumption is that your client doesn’t perceive what you’re proposing to be of compelling value. If you start from there, then the presentation becomes a process of building layer upon layer of agreement with your client about the contents of your value proposition.

The best way to find out if a client agrees with your proposition is to ask them!

While that may sound incredibly simplistic, it’s absolutely true. For a variety of reasons, we as salespeople tend to “work around the edges” as opposed to asking direct questions about the validity of what we’re proposing. Not asking a direct question allows us to delude ourselves into thinking that the client is buying what we’re selling. That feels good, but can lead to a very uncomfortable outcome. Checking for understanding and agreement should be done in a tactful and professional manner—and by doing so we show that we salespeople really do care what our clients think!

A well-delivered value proposition stimulates a great conversation instead of a bad argument.

The easiest way to avoid the latter is to not think about who’s “right” or who’s “wrong”. This is when the spirit of “give and take” should be top of mind. Sometimes we act like a defense attorney delivering his/her closing remarks in a jury trial, railing on and on about the rightness of our case. In sales, we can be absolutely “right” and have nothing material to show for it. Most sales managers are more concerned about how many orders we’ve written as opposed to how many arguments we’ve won.

Success happens when your value proposition becomes your client’s value proposition.

The goal of your presentation is “transfer of ownership” of the proposal from you to your customer. There will be a discernible change in their choice of words when that “golden moment” occurs. Listen for it! As soon as you hear it, start talking about it, recognizing that the proposal has a new happy home! Now we begin to reinforce the idea that our buyer has made the right decision. And don’t be offended if your client makes it sound as if your proposal was their idea—that really was the original goal, right?

Here’s to great delivery of great value propositions!

About the Author:

Digital Media Training is excited to announce the addition of Buff Parham, a widely recognized thought leader and outstanding coach in the media sales and sales management field. With 35 years of sales experience, Buff has worked at Univision, FOX, Belo, ABC and CBS. He started in the mailroom at CBS, but quickly moved on to selling locally at KABC/Los Angeles and nationally for ABC Spot Sales in San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Buff then continued on to spend almost 12 years with Univision, first as General Sales Manager at KUVN/KSTR in Dallas, and then 5 years in New York as SVP/Sales. Buff will be contributing a new blog article to Digital Media Training once per month about various sales and sale management topics. Stay tuned!

Connect with Buff via LinkedIn
Check out Buff’s Blog www.BuffParham.com
Follow @BuffParham

 

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About Molly D Protosow

Molly Protosow is the COO and Training Strategist for DMTraining. She manages the day-to-day business and training operations while helping research and develop new training programs as well as refreshing signature programs to reflect the newest sales trends, technology, and best practices. Molly utilizes her wide-range of skills to create sales and marketing assets focused on delivering value to DMT’s clients. Molly has a passion for learning and leveraging new knowledge and experiences. Outside of DMTraining, Molly is a hard core Pittsburgh sports fan, enjoys staying active by running and golfing, and unwinds by reading and playing the piano.

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