It’s a common thing when a business starts up. You are hungry, you desperately need your first clients, and you are willing to do and say anything to get them.
Do you feel yourself constantly re-wording contracts and removing terms and conditions to close deals? Do you struggle to get people to pay you at the end of the month? These may all be indications of a messaging problem.
How to Change Your Messaging
You need to stop, reflect and redefine the value of your offering.
If you cannot explain your value to the prospect, then you are either talking to someone who doesn’t need your services, or you haven’t realised the value of what you are offering (or haven’t been able to explain it in simple enough terms.) A tip, if you find yourself using industry jargon and acronyms, then you have a messaging problem.
It is essential at the end of the conversation that the prospective client feels you are adding value and that they are willing to pay for your services, because (and this is the important bit) that by using your services they will gain much more and what they end up paying you will be small in comparison.
If there is an imbalance in these criteria, then one party of the other will feel aggrieved and it won’t be a successful relationship.
Why is this so important?
Equity and balance of power. You want win-win clients, people that sing your praises and pay you on time. Customers that are your best sales force. Telling everyone they meet how amazing you are. That is the goal.
The Balance of Power
If an imbalance exists, there is generally disharmony.
This is where the worth comes in. Understanding the worth of what you are offering to others allows one to explain your value to the buyer and to price your product correctly.
The Value Proposition
Work out your value proposition. This is what you have to offer, a service, a product or what you as an individual are bringing to the deal. So when two people are negotiating a deal this is where the worth and the power come into it.
Ultimately some kind of trust needs to be established in order for any transaction to take place.
When it isn’t easy
IBM sales training taught me one important thing. Listen.
Just listen, not to the specific objections always, but to what is being said and how it is being said. In cases like this you are either trying to sell to someone who doesn’t need your product or services or you haven’t been able to communicate the value or fit to them correctly.
Communicating your Worth
In summary, I’d like to go back to where we started. Communicating your worth, or defining your value proposition.
Get your message right, don’t try to impress by switching subjects back and forth. Talk about one aspect and communicate it in the simplest language you can (no matter how complex the subject).
A longer, and more in-depth version of this article was originally published on Jon’s Medium page, read it here.