Salespeople Positioned As Experts

Salespeople Positioned As Experts
By Bill Brooks

“We’re just not positioned well in our market,” a salesperson recently told me. When it comes to positioning, too many salespeople feel it’s a pre-determined ranking that’s out of their control. In some cases salespeople think good positioning just happens, when in reality there are aspects they actually have substantial control over – and in some cases, total control.

Before we go further and discuss how you can help your salespeople gain that control, let’s quickly define “positioning” as we’re discussing it in this article.

Positioning is your prospect’s level of awareness and recognition of your organization, your product and your salespeople, relative to that of your competitor’s.

It’s important to realize that your salespeople are creating a position in the market whether you – or they – know it or not. That position can be positive, negative, or neutral. Your job is to make sure your salespeople positively influence their position.

When your salespeople get in front of a prospect there are 3 key components that need to be positioned:

1. The product

2. The organization

3. The salesperson

Let’s take a look at all three of these, one at a time.

Positioning the Product

Let’s quickly consider two popular, yet very different wristwatches: Rolex vs. Timex. Rolex is considered the ultimate timepiece, an heirloom, a symbol of success. A Timex on the other hand is a reasonably priced, solidly constructed watch which comes in several models that’ll fit just about every need a wearer could have.

That type of basic understanding of how each watch is positioned is extremely important for a salesperson to have. The product position serves as a base on top of which improved positioning can be built.

But what if you have poor product positioning, or none? Then at least you know where you’re beginning.

For your salespeople, a major part of positioning your product well in the mind of the prospect is not demonstrating how much they know about the product, but rather, how well they can articulate what they know to the prospect in a meaningful and relevant way. Their ability to apply the uses and benefits of their product in such a way that it “clicks” with the prospect will set your product apart from all the other similar offerings and can even help improve your product’s positioning.

Consider some of the following questions about your product or service:

· How does its price compare to similar products and offerings? Why?

· What kind of track record does it have? What kind of quality?

· Who else uses it?

· Is it new?

· Are you offering a product or service?

· Who is the end user? And are they different from the person who buys it?

· Is it a specialized product or service?

· Are there frequent upgrades? Why?

· Is there a guarantee?

· What’s its availability?

· What does buying this product or service imply about the decision maker?

Now to the best of your ability, answer those same questions about your competitor’s product.

Having your salespeople answer these questions will help them recognize your product’s position in the market. Furthermore, be sure they don’t try and put spin on the product to justify any shortcoming they feel about the product. You want their mental picture of how the product is positioned to be true and stripped down to the essential question, “Is the prospect’s awareness and recognition of our product potentially positive, negative or neutral?” That kind of objectivity will allow salespeople to make an application-based sales presentation.

Positioning the Organization

There are a wide variety of factors which contribute to the positioning of your organization. Marketing, sales, service, technology, history, research and development, and operations all contribute to an organization’s position in the market. Your salespeople can have a direct or indirect impact on some or all of the factors; however, for the purposes of this article it’s up to you to a) define your organization’s current position in the marketplace as best you can and b) define which variables your salespeople can impact most directly.

Here are some questions to consider which will help you define your organization’s position:

· What is the history of the organization?

· How big is the infrastructure? Are you small, mid-sized, or large?

· Is your organization a trendsetter in the market?

· Do you have a niche market or particular segment you’ve had success with?

· Do you have local, regional or national presence?

· How would you define your organization’s culture? Are you sales oriented?
Customer service oriented? Technology oriented? Operations oriented?

· Who has the greatest share at the boardroom table? Does the company reflect
their philosophy?

· How would your customers define your organization’s culture?

· How is the organization run (union, non-union, collective, private, public, family
owned and operated)?

· Do you have a flagship product offering? If so, what is it?

The answers to these questions all have a significant impact on the level of expectation and awareness the prospect has about your organization. While they’ll be buying from your salesperson, they also want to feel good about the organization they’re about to buy from.

Your salespeople can have a tremendously positive effect on the overall position of the organization because to the customer, the person they interact with IS the organization.

Positioning the Salesperson

The salesperson’s personal positioning is the most important of the three and in most cases can easily override the other two. The reason this is so critical is because this is what your salespeople have the most control over.

Here’s the key to personal positioning for your salespeople: people will listen to those whom they believe have something important to say to them. For example; a doctor, a lawyer, a veterinarian, an architect are all credible sources of information about their respective fields.

The salespeople who are the best at positioning themselves with the same credibility are those who create a type of pseudo-celebrity status in their market. They’re the sales professionals who read industry magazines, attend seminars and join associations. They also write columns for industry magazines, speak at the seminars and actively participate in their association and associations in adjacent markets.

Here’s a secret. Those “celebrity” salespeople are no different than those on your sales team. The only thing they do that most salespeople don’t take the time or effort to do is to leverage their intellectual capital.

They take what they know about their product or service and what it means to their customers and they use it to educate their prospects by writing articles or “Top 10” lists, or giving presentations, demonstrations or lectures.

To be sure, these “celebrity sellers” aren’t writing masterpieces for the Harvard Business Review. They’re writing short, four or five hundred word articles about the single most important thing a customer has to know before they buy the product – or any similar product on the market. Or they’re delivering that article as a short speech during an association meeting or as a guest speaker at an industry seminar.

What’s more, the material is completely objective. The salesperson is positioning him or herself (and perhaps, to some degree, the organization). They’re telling potential prospects, “Hey, this is what you need to know about the kind of product I sell. Whether you buy it from me or not, you should really be knowledgeable about these few facts before you make a decision.”

To be honest, your salespeople don’t even have to get that article published in an industry or association magazine. All they have to do is write it and include it in their sales material with their name on it and they’re going to elevate their position in the prospect’s mind. Why? Because they’re sharing unsolicited, unbiased information that will help the prospect make a decision. And that is often what prospects really want; a strong validation from an expert that they are making a smart purchase.

Here are some questions your salespeople should consider as you show them how they can positively influence their own positioning in the market:

· Do you use a linked, sequential sales process to apply application-based
recommendations?

· Do you get referrals?

· Do you use referrals?

· Do you belong to an association?

· Do you read any industry publications?

· How well do you understand the job, environment, industry, culture and life of
our customers?

· On a scale of 1 to 10, what level of importance does your product have in those
areas for your prospect?

· What are the very most basic features and benefits of your product? Are your
prospects also aware of those features and benefits, or do you assume they are?

· How hard are you willing to work to establish your personal definition of
success?

The salesperson who recently complained, “We’re just not positioned well in our market,” happened to work in the assisted living or nursing home industry. She went on to explain that a local law firm was positioning itself as a watchdog for nursing home malpractices. They were distributing a Top 10 list about what potential nursing home residents should be wary of in looking into a facility.

“What questions should a prospect or a prospect’s family members ask you to find that information?” I asked. The salesperson didn’t blink. She started listing off highly relevant questions that only an industry insider such as herself would know to ask. It was as though she were interviewing a nursing home representative for her own family member.

“You need to write those questions down and make sure every prospect you come in contact with knows those are the questions they have to ask before they choose a facility for a loved one,” I told her. “Make sure that information is available in all of your facilities with your name and contact information on it.”

Today’s salespeople have the unique opportunity to position themselves as a beacon in the hailstorm of marketing messages – as more than just another voice urging prospects to “Buy Now!” Your salespeople can be those experts, establishing themselves as that one person a buyer can turn to for unbiased guidance. The truth is, your salespeople know and understand their customers. Many of them just don’t know how to leverage that knowledge. Now you can help them do that.

Bill Brooks is CEO of The Brooks Group, an international sales training and business growth firm based in Greensboro NC. For more information and to check out his newest book "How to Sell at Margins Higher than Your Competitors" click on this link: www.thebrooksgroup.com.