A recent conversation with a musician friend brought to mind something that is crucial in the business development and sales world. I won’t bore you with all the details; truthfully I couldn’t remember them anyway. Long story short we were discussing the difficulty that musicians- really good ones- are having getting gigs right now in restaurants and bars. Evidently owners are unwilling to spend the money to have live music in their establishments. After listening to him for a while, I see the same old problem that many of us have faced over the years with selling our services, maybe with a slightly different spin.
After much discussion about the issue, the message I had for my friend was that he truly must come up with a way to show his value to the owner of the prospective establishment. He doesn’t need to tell the owner about being a great musician. He is that. He doesn’t need to sell his sound. His sound is wonderful.
Similarly, most musicians, just as most consultants, layers and everyone else who delivers products or services, are intent on marketing their product or their service based upon being great, being intelligent, having a smooth sound, years of experience. All those things are truly wonderful, but the prospective client really doesn’t care. They have heard it all before. What the owner truly wants to know is: “what is in it for me?”
So how does the musician demonstrate value? What he must do is show the owner how he can deliver much more traffic to his establishment with his live music (his product/service). It is not enough just to say it. He has to be able to show it. He has to deliver. In the case of my friend, he has played sporadically at a club or two. He needs to find out what the traffic and the sales are the same nights of the week when he is not there and when he is there. If he can deliver profitability based upon his ability to draw people/sales to the owner’s establishment, that is something he can sell to other bar or restaurant owners.
Well what about the rest of us? How do we show value? First and foremost, it is not about you! Looking at this through the musician’s point of view brings to mind the Toby Keith song, “I Wanna Talk About Me”. In that song Toby is the potential client and each of us are the person to whom he is singing. As sales and business development folks, we must remember that we bring value to our clients by:
- Helping them defeat what concerns them
- Helping them to look good
- Helping them win
- Helping them come in on time and under budget
- Helping them make a profit
- Helping them make the sale
- Helping them get that pat on the back, that promotion
- Helping them help their client in the same way
In short, we create value by finding out what is important to the client, figuring out how to make that a reality and then delivering that reality in a meaningful, effective and profitable manner.
Stop beating your chest like Tarzan and find your value proposition and deliver!
James, this is a great encapsulated version of Marketing 101.
Your advertising always has to be about the customer / client and what he or she gets from using your services.
Unfortunately, most service providers don’t “get it” and they keep right on with a message proclaiming how wonderful they are rather than why the customer should care.
Every customer – every person – is tuned in to station WIFM (What’s in it for me?)
Failure to offer the answer is… failure.
Marte,
That is it in a nut shell. I have worked in the consulting engineering world for many years. By in large, the atmosphere has always been that the work should come because we are the best. Even if that is true, the clients don’t care. If having the best for you doesn’t get any different results why should you hirer the best. And the best almost always lament the fact that the industry is too commoditized. Price is only the deciding factor if you take the clients greatest concerns out of the picture.
James
I couldn’t agree with you more! Now, more than ever, clients care little about ‘branding’ or marketing vehicles. What they do care about is RETURN ON INVESTMENT. Most clients these days will tell you quite frankly—they don’t care how much they spend as long as they are seeing it PAY OFF.
As a sales & marketing executive with The Commercial Appeal and CA Media, I like to think that our suite of products is the best fit for any of our potential clients & customers. That only works when we deliver the results those customers are seeking! I like my reps to build a complete ‘story’ (presentation) that includes not only product selection and why but also marketing data to substantiate those selections along with one other important piece…..a reasonable expectation of return on investment.
Remember…it’s not the best firm who wins, it’s the best SELLER.
And the true winner of a proposal does not write to appeal to the true Needs of the proposal reviewer…he/she writes to the PERCEIVED needs of the proposal reviewer (and you have to know what motivates them…in a bunch of equally-qualified firms, it’s the consultant who is PERCEIVED better by location, local familiarity of the technical AND political, his helpfulness and knowledge of the reviewer’s expectations and insecurities (when possible to find out). It’s human to human. The technical and budget issues come after comfort. (Unless a Cost-Based proposal is expected…and you don’t want that reputation of being the lowest cost service provider, do you?)
Technical qualities are only part of what have to be perceived as top of the bunch. You want a friendship. Friends buy from friends. And those PERCEIVED as someone positioned in their corner.
Sell yourself…describe how YOU can make the reviewer’s LIFE better (take the pressures off the day-to-day concerns of how life will be during the progress of the project you are bidding on), then you can sell your service, how to make the reviewing agency better. (And you dang well better produce…on only sell yourself once. The product you deliver determines whether you get a second chance…and that becomes well known to others. Good and bad.
Joe Beim, the Word Maven of BeimCommunications.com
Joe, All your points are very valid. People don’t buy from companies, they by from people. We are all aware that when a good doer-seller leaves a company they often take work with them. It is because they seek to understand the real needs of the client not necessarily the ones they tell you about. By understanding the real needs we as professionals can craft our approach, proposal, and product/service in a way to meet those needs. It is only by knowing these hot button issues that we can hope to keep from becoming a commodity.
You correctly stated a final important fact. we must execute. Especially when begining the relationship. Those we have a long standing relationships and successful histories with will occaisonally allow us to come back from a mistake. That is only if there is enough credit built in that emotional bank account. Even at that it does create a serious with draw.
Thanks for the comments
Excellent post James!
The focus needs to be pointed right at the client. What do they need to solve there problem? What can I do to fix that for them? It needs to be followed up with action. That main problem or issue must be solved.
The musician most bring in the right customers to the event, or the delivery service must get the package there on time, or the contractor must convert that eyesore into a property that is sellable. If we can do this, than we have locked in a customer who WILL call us back. Not because we are the lowest price, got the fanciest business cards or any of that. But because we solved the clients problem.
Thanks again for the post.