MP 1: Spark Interest


Creating interest levels in existing customers, let alone new ones, is a formidable task. It is easy to understand why sales training programs start you off in front of customers. The tough part is how to get in front of the worthwhile ones. You need answers to the following three questions to know how to get in front of them:

  1. How do you make customers feel your potential to provide value to them is worth a sales call?

  2. How do you ensure that their potential to provide value to you warrants a sales call?

  3. How do you accomplish this feat within the first thirty seconds of your initial phone contact without mentioning a specific product?

To make life easier, all three questions have the same answers. You plug information from the appropriate Market Profile sheet into the following MP 1: Spark Interest step. This helps you to qualify whether specific customers are bona fide members of your targeted market segments and share general goals that interest them. It is premature to try to make customers' goals measurable in this phase; you save that task for MP 2: Measure Potential. If your Market Profile sheets are accurate, your unique strengths or strongest features should connect to their goals. If they do, you are off to a good start.

Unless you do a lot of in-person cold calling, you usually conduct MP 1: Spark Interest over the telephone. Its purpose is to ensure customers and you that it is worthwhile for you to continue on to the second phase, MP 2: Measure Potential. If you and the customer decide it is worthwhile, you have reached MPC 1: Interest Confirmed. Another objective is to provide the basis to seek measurable specifics during MP 2: Measure Potential. You conduct MP 2 in person at the customer's place of business. (See Exhibit 6-2.)

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Exhibit 6-2: MP 1— Spark Interest.

Step One: Research and Membership

You want to demonstrate your understanding of your customer's business as quickly as possible. When you mention details of organizational characteristics—such as operating hours, number of employees, importance of downtime, code sensitivity, growth rates, and size—you build immediate credibility. After considering the characteristics of the organization and the customer's position, you suggest goals that should interest him or her. Customers know you did not randomly pick them out of a hat, off a mailing list, or because they have a pulse. You eliminate the common tension that occurs when no clear understanding exists for why you made contact.

Note

A sure-fire way to demonstrate your knowledge of the customer's company or industry is to point out a goal that might make the customer more competitive against a specific competitor (just make sure it's one that you don't work with).

You confirm that the customer's company has the appropriate organizational characteristics to qualify it as being in your targeted market segment. You also confirm the customer's position and responsibilities. Make sure any suggested goals fall within his or her area of expertise and responsibility.

Note

Use the sources of information discussed in Chapter 3 under "Organizational Characteristics Affect Customers' Goals'' to understand potential customers' goals.

However, no one should feel your research is invasive. You do not want anyone feeling that you violated his or her privacy. For instance, if you sell diet programs, you certainly would not start a sales call by saying, "Our records indicate that you are thirty pounds overweight. Is this correct?'' Restrict your comments to ones that are indicative of hard work researching public knowledge.

Note

The more market details customers confirm as being accurate, the more likely that your suggested goals will be relevant to them.

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Case Study

Steven Smartsell is a sales representative for FutureTech, which sells highly sophisticated products and services to personal computer manufacturers. Does this sound familiar? You reviewed his Product Profile sheet and Market Profile sheet in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3. Steven is about to contact Olivia Ontime, vice president of manufacturing for Positron, a personal computer manufacturer. The stage is set for the forces of positions, organizational characteristics, goals, measurable benefits, filters, systems of evaluations, and features to come together under Steve's guidance to create compensated value.

Using the Research and Membership step, Steven immediately mentions to Olivia why he contacted her. He stresses how FutureTech works exclusively with personal computer manufacturers. Specifically, companies that have more than five production facilities, sales of more than $1 billion, 20,000 employees, and operate around the clock (the organizational characteristics from his customer's Market Profile sheet). He just described Positron to Olivia. He then confirms with Olivia her position and that Positron shares these characteristics. Once confirmed, Steven continues to the second step.

Note

While Steven told Olivia the type of companies FutureTech works with, he did not mention specific products that would box him in prematurely. He does not want the initial contact to be product focused.

Note

This step combined with the next two, Take Your Pick and Track Record, creates your Spark Interest Statement. Use this scripted icebreaker for the first twenty seconds of contact with customers. You develop one Spark Interest Statement per market segment but get to use the same ones repeatedly. You do not have to reinvent the wheel; you benefit from the power of market segments sharing the same organizational characteristics and goals. With enough practice, you will not sound like you are reading it. Your Spark Interest Statement is the most important fifty words you will use with neutral and negative customers who do not know you or favor competitors. It also helps to decrease the time it takes to generate qualified interest with positive customers who do know you. Most of the information comes from the Market Profile sheets you developed in Chapter 2. See Exhibit 6-3, whose template can also be downloaded at www.measuremax.com.

Spark Interest Statement

Market Segment:

Position:

Key Organizational Characteristics:

Last Three Successful Projects In Same Market Segment:

Potential Customer Goals

Past Benefits Achieved

Systems of Evaluation

1.

2.

3.

Notes:

MP 1: SPARK INTEREST STATEMENT CHECKLIST

: Step 1 Research And Membership: Immediately demonstrate and verify that research on targeted market segment applies to customer. Also, verify position of the contact.

: Step 2 Take Your Pick: Have customer select one or more potential goals you suggested. Suggest goals in the form of a question. Mention any new industry-specific systems of evaluation to spark interest.

: Step 3 Track Record Provide success stories in same market segment.

Spark Interest Statement (via telephone):


Exhibit 6-3: Spark interest statement template.

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Step Two: Take Your Pick

In this step, you mention two to four goals (or a compelling industry event) that should interest members of this market segment. You do not want to box customers in by only giving them one choice that requires a yes-or-no answer. If your Market Profile sheet is accurate, they should be interested in achieving at least one of your suggested goals. Ideally, these suggested goals or compelling events—such as changes in local, state, or federal regulations that would be costly to comply with, but which you can help them address—should connect to your unique strengths. If not, you gain a competitive advantage by demonstrating measurable value. In either case, you will be dealing from a position of strength if competitors arrive on the scene.

In this step, you also confidently state that if certain conditions exist, you could help the customer achieve goals that produce significant benefits. You highlight the general benefits you achieved with other customers in the same market segment. Be prepared to provide measurable and documented benefits when asked or if customers would consider your previous results as dramatic by market standards.

As both a seeker of long-term customers and an honest person, you shoot straight from the very beginning. You clearly inform customers (no small print allowed) that you are not guaranteeing the same outcomes, only their possibility. Let customers know up front that you cannot make broad-based claims without more facts.

You know you are not for everybody. Hey, that is why there are market segments. However, when customers' goals and your unique strengths match, no one can provide more value. In addition, determining whether these conditions exist provides the valid business reason to meet. It also provides the reasons for asking questions in MP 2: Measure Potential.

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Case Study

Steven Smartsell mentions to Olivia Ontime that if certain conditions exist, FutureTech, with its wide range of manufacturing products and services, has had significant successes in preventing unscheduled production stoppages, reducing operating costs, increasing productivity, and eliminating the potential for code violations.

He then asks Olivia which one of these goals interests her. In addition, are there others she would like to pursue?

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Note

If customers ask you what those "certain conditions'' are—always tell them. Inform customers these conditions range from technical to operational to financial considerations. Again, you want to meet (if you get MPC 1: Interest Confirmed) to explore these considerations (filters, measurable benefits, and systems of evaluation) in detail with them.

Step Three: Track Record

Verify that customers have an interest in at least one of the goals. Whether they select a goal or not tells you whether your Market Profile sheet is on target or needs reassessing. It also indicates whether a cost-of-doing-nothing situation or create-and-wait situation exists. Once they select goal(s), you can reference documented successes in their market segment.

When you provide references from only their market segments, customers view you as a leader in their industry. For instance, do not use office buildings, schools, and hotels as references for hospitals. Review your reference lists and see if you segregated them by market segment.

Note

A word of caution: If you mention customers' competitors, make clear that each company is unique in its own way. Stress that your success with their competitors is due in part to your ability to keep trade secrets strictly confidential. Finally, point out that your expertise also lies in solving common industry problems.

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Case Study

Olivia Ontime confirms that her interest lies in reducing downtime. Would you really expect any other goal from a vice president of manufacturing in a critical application where downtime has huge lost-dollar implications?

Steven Smartsell mentions how FutureTech helped vice presidents of manufacturing companies similar to Positron to achieve the same goal. He references companies such as Advanced Computer Co., Star Computers, and PC Power Ltd.

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The Science of Sales Success(c) A Proven System for High Profit, Repeatable Results
The Science of Sales Success: A Proven System for High-Profit, Repeatable Results
ISBN: 0814415997
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 170
Authors: Josh Costell

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