At one time or another, everyone in sales and marketing has shared something in common with the character Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory. Although you might not be a former child prodigy with a genius-level IQ, I’m willing to bet that you’ve created marketing materials or had conversations with customers that sound very similar to this:
I’d like to focus on how you can systematically create great content in your sales proposals. After all, even the most beautiful and well-designed sales proposals will fall flat on their face if they’re not backed by well-written content.
People in positions of power often ask tough questions. In our experience, this is certainly true of anyone on the financial team who has the ultimate say over purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, salespeople are rarely invited to the internal budget meeting to discuss a potential purchase. Typically, you work with your stakeholder to prepare a business case, and the stakeholder attends the meeting. That’s why it’s crucial that you prepare your stakeholder to anticipate the kinds of tough questions that decision makers usually ask about benefit dimensions in a standard business case.
What are two words that get every salesperson’s pulse racing? Budget approval. Want to know the secret to securing budget approval? Simple. Create the right kind of business case to include with your proposal. The right kind of business case will win the respect and approval of the CFO (or whomever your stakeholder/prospect will request budget approval from). However, not every selling situation requires the same kind of business case. In general, there are three levels of selling situations, and each requires a different kind of business case: simple, standard, or in-depth. Here’s a breakdown of each one.
Presentation is everything, especially when it comes to sales proposals and quotes. Getting it right can make the difference between fully engaging with prospects and closing the deal or boring them with lackluster proposals that read like white papers. Yes, it's that important.
Do you use a business case as part of your sales process? If not, you should seriously consider it, because any solution-based or consultative-based sale will benefit from providing buyers with the business case.
When customers ask for new products or features, should you jump to fill the request? These situations can help you deepen your relationship with your customer. On the other hand, you could also end up wasting time and resources creating a new offering that they're not willing to pay more for and that no other customer needs.
When you make the decision to target market segments strategically, you can create significant profitable growth opportunities for your business. But what happens when the sales team fails to embrace those new segments?
Recently I asked my blog readers to share opinions about the great "quality vs. volume" debate. That is, if you had your choice between a high volume of leads and high-quality leads, which would you prefer? Here's the feedback I received from readers -- 71% chose quality, while 29% chose volume.
Does your value proposition articulate how your offering solves a customer’s business challenges or is it a jumble of features/benefits? The sophistication of a value proposition ranges from being stuck on feature selling to one that’s fully developed and helps win business. To find out if you’re at square one or doing pretty well, think about your value proposition in terms of the continuum below.
