Who doesn't love a good story? The answer is your prospects....at least when your story is all about you and not about them.
Dean Schantz has an excellent article in the current edition of Selling Power Magazine in which he talks about the difference between brand messages and field messages. Brand messages are a company's corporate story - complete with a logo and a clever tag line that is given to salespeople to take to their prospects. It is included in every proposal and brochure. Of course the problem is that your prospects don't care about your story....they only care about their story.
Schantz talks about the importance of "field messages" and distinguishes field messages from brand messages. A field message is the customer's story which includes how the seller can impact their story. He correctly points to IBM - a company with an incredibly strong brand image. But the success of IBM has come not as much through selling the brand as it has come through its salesforce using a field message that says "nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM."
What is your field message? What story are you telling on your sales calls? Is it your company's story? Are your prospects listening?
An effective field message communicates how what you do solves problems and creates value for your customers. Leave your brochures at home. And start telling a story that prospects will listen to.
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