At the Meeting MP 3 Steps

The big moment is here. You are ready to decommoditize your selected solutions by showing how, feature by feature, they achieve the measurable benefits of the customer's goals. (See Exhibit 7-4.) The final three MP 3 steps are as follows.

Exhibit 7-4: MP 3— Cement Solution (at presentation).

Step Four: Purpose and Summary

You are in front of the customers again—and eager to make great product presentations. You are sitting on G waiting for O, just rearing to GO! Leading with open-ended dialogue questions, you are ready to shift to business mode when customers indicate it is time. You still do not ask about the sailboat pictures on the wall. The customers let you know they are eager to see what you came up with. Go (slowly)!

Confirm the purpose of your meeting. Let customers know you are going to explain how the products you selected achieve their goals within their purchasing requirements. Do a summary of their goals, measurable benefits, and conditional commitments.

Wait for them to confirm your details as accurate. Before you proceed, make sure you built your proposals on valid information. If any goal, measurable benefit, filter, or system of evaluation has changed, qualify your proposal against these new requirements before beginning the next step. If you find any new misses, understand whether they prevent either you or customers from achieving their goals before you proceed.

Note

Do not mention any products by trade name. You want to focus on the customers' goals. Trade names surface during the next step, Connect the Dots.

Step Five: Connect the Dots

This step makes or breaks the sales. Either you explain how the features of your products achieve customers' measurable benefits and conditional commitments—or you do not. When you are explaining highly technical features, verify that customers agree it produces benefits by asking, "Have I explained that so it makes sense?" Take responsibility for customers' comprehension.

Explaining is one of those sales skills you usually take for granted. Most salespeople consider explaining a reflection of their technical expertise and product knowledge. They also like the fact that it is more of a monologue than a dialogue. Customers find it hard to interrupt them as salespeople tick off their features and benefits. Sometimes, product monologues tick off customers who think they are on the receiving end of a technical feature dump.

Yet, explaining is about thinking like customers. Your explanations will be well received if customers accept that at the feature level, your products fulfill their conditional commitments.