Tom Knight
Axiom Consulting Partners
Sales forces find it more difficult than ever to get their message heard in a cluttered and competitive marketplace. In the consumer packaged goods industry alone, 60,000 new products were introduced to grocery store buyers since 2000 – each with presentation materials that average 16 pages apiece. That’s 960,000 pages of “stuff” thrown at buyers, who are understandably forced to tune out all but the most compelling pitches.
But companies can prepare their sales forces to sell in today’s environment. The key is to communicate the full value of their firms’ offering in ways that buyers can truly hear and act on. Effective sales organizations do this not simply by quantifying their products’ and services’ value – but by doing so within the context of what matters most to buyers: the economic drivers of profit relevant to the customer’s firm. Advantage dramatically accrues to sales organizations who demonstrate value in this fashion – particularly if the economic drivers of a customers’ business are changing.
How do firms build this discipline into their sales forces? In this paper, Axiom Consulting Partners’ Tom Knight suggests the blueprint begins with:
- Educating the sales force to weave key performance claims into compelling statements for each specific buyer and influencer; and
- Ensuring that the sales force starts the sales process early enough and high enough in the customer’s organization to make a difference.
Using illustrative process diagrams, diagnostic tools, and case examples, this paper explores how high-performing sales organizations make impactful performance claims, craft compelling value statements, and connect their firms’ offerings with customers’ economic priorities.
