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what he or she is
really
trying to do from a
branding and positioning strategy? If our
industry is going to survive we must move
from commodity order takers to promotional
consultants. When selling solutions, and not
just products, we increase our value to the
client—and not just for the short-term. This
is what I call outcome selling.
Let me break down the process of out-
come selling and explain why these steps give
me results:
1. Probe to determine your customer's
needs.
In order to get to the root of the
client’s needs you must ask the questions
that will help you build lasting solutions.
By understating their desires you will know
how to manage their expectations. Ask
questions that give you the ammunition to
build a program. For example: How does
this new product or service affect the com-
pany in terms of growth, profit and brand
position? Make sure you are talking to the
economic buyer—the person who is
responsible for the outcome and has the
authority to buy.
2. Ask the right questions.
Ask questions
that will reveal your client’s pain points
and lead to an outcome statement or posi-
tion. At this point, you need to ask about
the budget available in order for you to
accomplish this project. Without a defined
amount, you are just working in a vacuum.
Avoid accepting this answer from your
client, “Tell me what it costs and I’ll tell
you if I can afford it.” This will not help
you manage your client’s expectations.
Here’s a good way to ask about the budget:
What can you invest in this project imme-
diately
and
over the next 12 months?
3. Offer a campaign or continuity program
to deliver the outcome.
First, be sure you
are developing a plan or campaign that will
consistently promote and support the
expected outcome. Be careful not to build a
program that is full of many deliverables
but has no effect on the outcome. Try to
build in some form of measurement to jus-
tify and confirm the results. Increased sales
are often a desired outcome from the client
but can backfire when the results are heav-
ily dependent on sales efforts. Remember,
you are not hired to sell for your clients.
You must learn their expectations first so
you and the client are both on the same
page. For example: The client is promoting
a new product and has a defined timeline
by which the product must get into the
marketplace. Your solution might be to
develop several roll-outs during this period
and continue to measure and narrow down
the potential customer contacts. Using sev-
eral marketing disciplines, such as print,
web, trade show, direct mail and publicity,
and multiple touches can increase your
success and separate your company from a
“product-only” sales organization. The pro-
motional products selected may fit all or
part of the campaign. This approach also
increases the value-added appeal allowing
you to charge for other services beyond the
promotional products.
4. Build the program or campaign.
When
building a campaign, the first thing you
have to ask yourself, and ultimately convey
to the client, is the answer to this question:
Is this achievable? Items to consider
include event dates, creative and produc-
tion deadlines, and availability of products.
Also, in a multiple-touch campaign you
may have to coordinate with other players
such as public relations and ad agencies,
and coordinate media deadlines and ship-
ping times.
You will also need a theme for the
campaign. If one does not exist, then you
have to offer up creative concepts that will
carry over with the entire program. The
duration of some campaigns is short while
others can be as long as several years. An
example of a short campaign can be
wrapped around a new product’s roll-out
date or a trade-show event. A long-term
deadline could be a sports theme where
you introduce sub-themes such as base-
ball, football, basketball and soccer at
intervals throughout the year under the
master theme.
Keep in mind that you are the general
contractor and need to assign roles to
your outside contractors and any media
partners. I always recommend that clients
also have designated roles in the cam-
paign. This way they are also responsible
for the outcome and will work for the
success of the campaign. When brain-
storming with your team, try to include
the clients at some point as this also
cements the relationship and gives them
ownership in the plan.
Working with the budget is a crucial
step of any campaign and neither you nor
your client should take it lightly. If you
don’t have enough money in the budget to
accomplish the tasks decided upon, discuss
it with the client at the beginning and re-
purpose your plans if necessary.
5. Consider price, bidding and competi-
tion.
When pricing out these projects
don’t treat them like you would a transac-
tion or product sale. For example, don’t
price the campaign per item. Instead, the
value-added approach would be to price it
by the total amount needed to achieve the
outcome and align it with the client’s
budget. This is especially important if
your client is working within a bid situa-
tion. One way to work the budget so the
client can easily understand it is to
express the cost in terms of cost per con-
tact. The contact is who your client is try-
ing to educate, inform, sell or influence.
Clients should always know what it costs
to reach their prospects or customers, and
you can work from the same perspective.
By changing your mindset on how you
present pricing
before
you start any work
on the project, you will elevate your com-
pany to a higher level and will help your
client respect the process.
44 •
PPB
• JANUARY 2015
GROW
If our industry is going to survive we must move from commodity order takers to
promotional consultants. When selling solutions, and not just products, we
increase our value to the client—and not just for the short-term.
“
”