PPB September 2018

E very day, salespeople commit professional suicide. The scenario goes something like this: Skeptical Customer: “So, why should I buy from you? We’ve been buying from (company X) for years.” Earnest Salesperson (smelling the sale): “But, we have great service!” Or, if Earnest Salesperson decides to put a little extra oomph behind it, he adds, “We have the best service in the business!” Earnest Salesperson confidently smiles at Skeptical Customer, knowing that at any moment Skeptical Customer is going to reach for his checkbook. Instead, Skeptical Customer yawns and says, “Yeah, but everybody says that. Why should I buy from you?” And another sale dies before its time. Why do we do this to ourselves? Because we may not have a better answer. The truth is, almost every company says they have the best service. When everybody says it, it’s meaningless. And yet there are businesses—many of them—where service is the main differentiator between competitors. There are also buyers—again, many of them— who make service the main criteria in their buying decision. Sales result when salespeople communicate their great service to a buyer to whom that’s important. Making your service proposition stand out from your competitors—and making it mean something—requires a three-step process. Define your service offering. Preferably, you’ll do that by offering something your competitors don’t. Start this way: get your key people together— include salespeople, customer service people, department managers and anyone else whose primary responsibility is dealing with the customer. Go around the room and ask each person to come up with one specific thing your company does to add value to its product or service offering. List them one by one on a flipchart or whiteboard and next to each one, note the benefit to the customer. Make this a no-B.S. discussion—only list those things So, Why Should I Buy From You? Use A Three-Step Process To Help Define And Communicate Your Service Promise by Troy Harrison 70 | SEPTEMBER 2018 | GROW