Are you positioning your product or service as well as you can? Even if the answer is yes, read on and discover a facet of positioning that you may have missed. Positioning is loosely defined as “how a sales person presents a product or a service and how they compare it to other similar products or services.” However, when a prospect hears a positioning pitch from you (sales rep), they will base their opinion off of two things: their past experiences/knowledge and the evidence that you provide to suggest otherwise. Claiming that your product or service is the best or has unbelievable features is not going to sway anyone except the most fickle prospects; you need to provide facts and/or clear arguments and evidence as to why your product is valuable and how it beats out the competition.
Creating an argument to convince your prospect to buy depends on your product/service. If you have a great product that dominates the competition, you need to formulate an argument to exhibit this to your prospect. Demonstrate the value that your product will provide with real numbers if you have them; talk about the significant ROI that your product has shown vs. your competitors. Talk about how it drives revenue, productivity, pipeline, or whatever is appropriate for you. If your product is more in the middle of the pack, consider why your customers choose you over others. Is your product less expensive? Can you provide more ease of use than others? Figure out what advantage you have over others and create an argument around it. Again, demonstrating the value of your product/service is the key and you must do this through showing hard evidence or with a very convincing argument.
Positioning can be broken down into three categories: Attributes and benefits of the product, the user application of the product, and the how it compares to the competition.
- Attributes and Benefits: If you’re struggling to come up with substantial evidence that demonstrates your product’s value, list out the attributes of your product and the benefit to the user that each attribute gives.
- User Application: Then if possible, try and show how one or many of the attributes of the product contributes to the ROI for the user. Next, go into the user application of the product: Who are the users and why do they need your product? What do they find important about your product?
- Competition: Finally, once you have identified the users, take each of your major competitors and brainstorm a list for each on how your product is better.
Using this methodology will more than adequately prepare you to position your product. Combining proper positioning with knowledge about the prospect and the prospect’s organization is a sure-fire recipe for a successful sales call.
