A version of this post was published at agencyside in January 2011.
Let’s face it—most of your sales materials are all about you.
The sales rainmakers say, “I need a brochure about Product X.” Or “When can you get me a case study on Project Y?” Or, “I need a think piece on Topic A.”
Or the marketing team gets together, and decides that you need a new intro video, or a redesign of your website, or a clever new marketing piece on this clever new program you’re offering.
In each case, something about YOU is your company’s motivation for the new piece.
How can you turn that around and develop sales materials that are all about them–your clients and prospects?
The Whale Hunters have a method that we call “whale fears.” The premise is simple. If you are a small company, big companies are afraid of you. (Small and big are relative terms, but I mean a company MUCH bigger than yours that does business with companies MUCH bigger than yours.) Big company buyers and end users fear four major things:
- Change—no matter how bad their current circumstance, changing it will be painful. Will it be more painful if they choose you?
- Work—if they choose you, will they have extra work to bring you up to speed and teach you how their company operates?
- Conflict—will their internal constituents nag them for choosing an unknown rather than a name brand?
- Mistakes—if they hire you, will they get fired if you fail to deliver?
You can develop a clear understanding of these fears and use them to develop great sales materials. Here’s how:
- Bring your team together to brainstorm what the big companies might fear (or usually fear) about you. Use the categories of change, work, conflict, and mistakes to prompt your thinking.
- Identify tangible materials (“fear busters”) that you have or could develop that would allay those key fears.
- Rate your current fear busters as follows: + (we have one and it’s great); 0 (we don’t have anything like this) ; – (we have one that needs work).
- Assign priorities to improving existing materials or creating new ones based on your team’s work.
- Develop materials, test them out with prospects and current customers, and bring the team together to revise and improve on a regular basis.
Let’s see a few examples from an advertising/marketing agency that completed this activity.
Fear of Change: Clients express fear, “Do they know how we do things here?”
Fear Buster: Agency creates a detailed process map documenting the working relationship. This reduces fear because big companies operate from documented processes.
Fear of Conflict: Client expresses fear, “Will we lose decision-making power?”
Fear Buster: Agency updates its Statement of Partnership, which clearly specifies points at which the client owns decisions.
Fear of Work: Clients fear, “Will we get the A Team or the B Team? “ Presumably, there is an inferior team that will require much more work on the part of the client to bring them up to speed.
Fear Buster: Agency develops multiple fear busters. One is to introduce the actual team members during the sales process. No substitute for this! Second is an illustration of how teams are assigned and how newer team members are paired with veterans on every engagement. Third is a set of brief bio statements delivered with each proposal, focused on the team for that contract.
Fear of Mistakes: Client expresses, “Can they really deliver?”
Fear Buster: Agency reviews and refines client testimonials and case studies with a focus on bottom-line results.
To sum it up, the best sales materials come from careful consideration of what frightens clients about choosing your company. Instead of building your sales collateral around your advantages—your bells and whistles, your cool offerings—focus on their fears. Once their fears are alleviated, they will be ready to listen to your advantages. And I’ll bet you have great sales materials on those!
