Presentation Skills: Value-Added Solutions

Congratulations on another graduation. You have successfully worked through the first five steps of the Sequential Model, doing the groundwork to meet and exceed your customers' expectations. This next step applies to potential new customers as well as existing customers to whom you are presenting a new product or service.

So what is a value-added solution? It means enhancing your solution by exceeding the expectations of your customers. It means going outside the traditional role of a sales representative to provide a solution that truly elevates you above your closest competitor. Customers buy differences, not similarities. The challenge is finding innovative, unique ways to exceed expectations. Cookie-cutter solutions and boring, ho-hum presentations are all too common. As Larry Wilson writes in his book, Changing the Game: "Instead of trying to find prospects who fit my presentation, what I needed to do was fit my presentation to the prospect I found. [1] A simple idea, but it changed selling for me." Unfortunately for customers, sales representatives continue to try to fit them into canned, rehearsed presentations. Or they try to close the sale based on price, instead of offering a value-added solution. Sadly enough, customers are often saddled with the burden of trying to differentiate among proposals that imitate each other—me-too, cookie-cutter solutions that seduce customers with little more than the lowest price. Your responsibility is to make it easy for your customer to decide, to remove the stress of uncertainty.

Why Should I Buy From You?
"Why should I buy from you?" is a universal question, one that "stalls the call" and puts salespeople into a tailspin, struggling with a response that does little to excite the customer. I've seen it happen far too often. Openly challenged, the salesperson retreats deep into his or her comfort zone responding with a well-rehearsed feature dump, hoping to avoid a crash and burn situation. We know the result all too well. Another presentation ending in tragedy, another lost sale.

The "Why should I buy from you?" question needs to be answered with a well-prepared presentation that addresses the benefits of both parties doing business together. Your success relies on how well you probed, identified expectations, and then satisfied those expectations by presenting the attributes your company can offer. Don't make the all-too-common mistake of telling your story from your point of view, but rather present your story from the customers' point of view. You must weave appropriate benefits into your presentation so that customers clearly see your solution as helping their business run more efficiently. True story: Two gentlemen were getting their hair cut. Person A was a VP at a large oil company and person B was the president of a different company. Person A knew B and introduced himself and his company saying, "My people were recently in to see your people." Person B responded by saying, in his Texas accent, "That's interesting. What you-all goin' to do for us?" I couldn't have said it any better myself. Customers expect innovative, value-added solutions that become assets to their business. If you are doing a good job, you should be aware of your customers' expectations. Your presentation does not happen in isolation. It is supported by the first five steps of the Sequential Model, including a thorough Discovery step, earning the right to present. Remember, your model allows for no missing pieces.

Here's how:

Neutralize the Competition
Ten Key Ingredients
Managing Objections: Friend or Foe?
Five-Step Strategy
The Price Objection
Bring It Forward