I want to share one of the most valuable lessons I have learned in my 15 years as a strategic marketer. Actually, I want to share a simple formula with you all — one that I believe can help profoundly improve business success, drive up thought leadership, and create a desire to buy.
In our respective firms, we each strive to innovate, to build market leading solutions, and to gain first-mover advantage. The path to success lies in the creation of something so compelling that it quickly gathers traction, driving a leadership position ahead of a maturing market. Our solutions work to solve a pressing problem with a rigorous Return On Investment and a powerful market message: working together to help assure success.
And yet, in the face of this alluring combination, we all deal with some common challenges: building a pipeline that doesn’t slip being among them. To address these challenges, we need to instill a sense of urgency and drive up an elevated message — one that has material value.
We have all been asked to produce competitive analysis and message playbooks, to try to establish the “compelling event,” but in a risk averse, at-will economy, the real competition isn’t some spunky little vendor sitting stage left; the competitor to fear is apathy, indifference, a compunction to “not rock the boat.” Gillette once declared the biggest competitor to the safety razor is “the moving fashion towards wearing a beard.”
Yet many teams assemble in large conference rooms pawing through opportunity scorecards, posting up large scribbled flip charts on walls, and draining the last of the coffee and stale donuts. Their mission is to get those deals over the line with improved margins while reducing churn. There are many books written on these topics.
What I want to share is the simple three-question test. It’s one I have used time and again, and it’s highly effective. As with Fight Club, or Asimov, there is a first rule when it comes to the three-question test. The rule is simple: If you only have the answer to two of the questions, you will fail.
Introducing The Three-Question Test
Sit down and think about the products and services your company sells today, and simply ask the following: Why will people buy? Why will they buy today? Why will they buy from us?
1. Why Will People Buy?
This is the easy one; most companies have a pretty good sense of this first question. In highly regulated markets or other areas of mandate, these are self-evident. In most markets, however, the answer lies in the resolution of an existing problem or current issue the customer may face. It can be everything from automating a cumbersome or laborious process, driving greater efficiency and scale, or building business intelligence around blind misgivings. This may be the cornerstone of your value proposition.
“Using our solution will make things better, cheaper, faster, more secure, etc., etc., etc..” Just make sure you have a compelling story to tell here.
2. Why Will They Buy Today?
The answer to this question is trickier. It leans directly into the cause of pipeline slippage: material articulation of the now. A measurable cost of inaction, some define this as the penalty of inertia. The key here is not ROI; ROI, in my view, has limited value.
Put aside for a moment the spurious claims and dubious findings. You need to be dealing with the most profound challenges a business faces, and that material impact needs to outweigh any apathy and fear. No one gets fired for doing something the way they have always done it. Many accept the status quo preferring to shave incremental benefits around the edges to slowly improve things — without risk or notice.
But entertaining an entirely new approach, almost certainly with a young market disruptor, does raise some questions. And those questions may hinge on the security of the individual and the real motivation to change. Therefore, the key here is to articulate a more profound cost of inaction. You need to frame what it is you do into an inevitable market trend: one that is all-consuming and one that quickly distinguishes the haves from the have nots.
If you think in these terms, you will achieve a couple things quickly. First, in the mind of the customer, you can elevate your proposition in a way that helps them make positive buying decisions that will surely drive up material value and propel their own business success as well as their own. It is important to realize and respect that your customer must share in the success here.
The articulation of material gain and inevitability are missing in most companies’ value propositions. These are primary reasons you see slippage in your pipeline: they buy emotionally, but there is no baked in sense of urgency.
3. Why Will They Buy From Us?
The answer to this third questions is an interesting one because most companies have tirelessly constructed classic approaches to articulate USPs. The Harvey Balls and battle cards work to codify what makes you different. The problem is these tools force your sales teams to have the wrong conversations, focusing on feature/benefit statements and you are invariably left wondering why you lose deals, or at the very least lose margin in those deals. The fact is that in most markets, the capability parity is very real. So why will people buy from you?
As a vendor it’s important to do a couple of things in your messaging and operational make up. If you look and act like a transactional vendor, you will struggle here. If, however, you begin to truly think about your domain expertise and thought leadership, you differentiate yourselves not due to the things you sell, but the partnership you provide.
Today’s customers don’t want to be sold to. They want a partner they trust to deliver knowledge, guidance, support, and success. They want you to stand shoulder-to-shoulder and demonstrate empathy and precedent. They need to believe that you are building a strategic relationship: one that is entirely committed to their success.
And you know what? That has to be true inside your business. Every single employee must be one hundred percent committed to the success of their customers’ business. I am not talking about some value or mission statement posted up in reception; I am talking about an innate sense of pride in your customers’ success. The best sales people know the products well, but they know the market and their customers much better.
So there you have it: one of the most important lessons I learned in my 19 years in marketing and a formula I would urge you to apply to your businesses. I believe it can really help drive a bigger, more accurate pipeline and more meaningful customer relationships.