Education Drives Sales Success
Increasingly the conversations I’m hearing are around how to grow business given the current economic situation – perceived or otherwise. Being able to educate your customers about how you will help them grow is key.
Many businesses will be looking at cost saving initiatives and may be reluctant to invest where they don’t perceive, or yet understand, the potential return. For those in sales the challenge is educate customers how you can help and that they won’t be the first to do so successfully. This is particularly important for those in Agribusiness where farmers like to know what the neighbours have done.
Personally, I think now is a great opportunity to enhance and fine tune sales capability and marketing activity – controlling what you can.
Marketing is attraction, sales is conversion; and marketing and sales should work in unison. Given that, those in sales must have an understanding of the basic principles of marketing.
In my book I introduce those basic principles starting with traditional, product focused 4P’s of Marketing, as popularised by Dr. Philip Kotler:
Traditional 4P's of Marketing.
Building on this is the S.A.V.E model introduced by Harvard Business School as a modern alternative to the traditional 4Ps model – sometimes referred to as the Marketing Mix. Motorola are credited as being one of the first companies to pioneer what is now accepted as a more appropriate model for B2B marketing.
S.A.V.E Marketing Model for B2B
The S.A.V.E model refocuses the 4Ps model. It shifts from product-focused to customer-focused and is more educational than promotional in its approach. I really like this and think it’s a brilliant way of truly understanding what it is you really do for your customers and of centring your sales approach.
In this way:
Product becomes Solution
Place becomes Access
Price moves to focusing on Value
Promotion becomes Education
In the S.AV.E model Education focuses on educating your customer about the value of your solution, specific to their needs, and informs them about issues relative to their needs. Increasingly for me education is also about being able to articulate just how your product or service will improve their business to help them grow, justifying the investment.
Educate your customers:
How your problem solving solutions will improve their profitability and productivity - using their language.
How other customers in their industry have done just that.
How working with you will be a partnership worth investing in.
Here’s some tips:
Work on your story telling; articulating how what you do helps make your customers lives easier, citing real world examples.
Build social proof; develop and share case studies & testimonials. Ensure they focus on the positive customer impact.
Continue educate yourself about the challenges your customers are facing and how your products or services can help them. The more you understand the better placed you are to help.
Talk with your current customers about what they are achieving as a result of working with you, and what else they need. This educates but also builds advocates and referrals.
For more insights and tools check out my resources page here.