Present
“SWAT Team Selling – Leading Your
Team to a Competitive Advantage”
Questions? You may contact Jim at:
952-913-8998
jim@pancero.com
Name __________________________________________________________
© Copyright 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc. Dallas TX
www.pancero.com
ABOUT JIM PANCERO
Jim Pancero has the most advanced, leading-edge "business-to-business" sales and sales
management training available today. Everything he does is extensively researched and has one
bottom line focus...to increase an organization's strategic competitive advantage and market
uniqueness.
Jim's work focuses on sales organizations with high priced, large and/or competitively complex
products and services. His information-intensive keynote speeches, training programs and indepth consulting work detail his innovative selling processes and strategies for the new economy
and global marketplace.
Even during a sixty-minute keynote, Jim provides the most experienced members of his audience
with proven, immediately usable advanced ideas to increase their competitive advantage and
enhance their selling processes. His combination of humor and real-world examples evolved from
his experience researching and training in over 80 different industries.
Jim has been directly involved in "business-to-business" selling for over 40 years. Six of those years
were spent successfully selling the largest computer systems for the Data Processing Division of
the IBM Corporation. During Jim's prestigious IBM career he earned several awards including the
coveted "Golden Circle" designation annually awarded to the top 5% of their international sales
force.
In 1982, Jim founded his advanced sales training and consulting company. Since then, Jim has
conducted over 3,000 presentations or consulting days for 600 companies providing a career
average of five events per client. Over 90% of Jim's clients utilize his services more than once. You
can learn more about Jim at Pancero.com as well view video clips on YouTube®
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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HARDI
PROGRAM AGENDA
SECTION I - An Overview of "SWAT Team Selling" - Are You Good Enough to
Get Better?
SECTION II – Increasing Your Competitive Advantage by Communicating a Stronger
Philosophy/Positioning Within Your Markets
SECTION III – Tools and Suggested Next Steps
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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SECTION I
An Overview of "SWAT Team Selling" Are You Good Enough to Get Better?
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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SUCCESS IN SELLING TODAY IS BASED ON CONSISTENCY
- What is your definition of a professional? ___________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
- My definition… A professional is defined by their ___________________________
___________________________________________________________________
- Problem of “Sales Painters” (less effective) vs. “Sales Printers” (More effective)
- Painters (less effective) – Salesperson treats each customer or selling situation
as a unique selling opportunity.
- Each customer gets their own unique “painting” sales presentation.
- Nothing is learned or gained from either a win or loss since the next
customer will get their own unique painting anyway.
- Printers (more effective) - Sales team defines and then follows a consistent
multi-stepped selling process.
- What is learned through the win or loss of an individual sale provides
learning, input, and value to the entire sales team helping all make
the next selling opportunity even more efficient and successful.
- How consistent are you when presented with selling “windows of opportunity?”
- “Window of opportunity” – Any selling or customer satisfaction opportunity
that is present every time you talk or contact a customer.
- Also called “selling moments of truth.”
- How consist are you when you get an “At bat” to sell? (Windows of opportunity)
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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SELLING BEST PRACTICES
Intuitive
Structural
Reactive
Proactive
“Only One Move Ahead”
Focused Selling
Planned “Multi-Stepped” Selling
Strategies
“Memories of Customers”
Control of Customer Information
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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SELLING SKILLS REQUIRED FOR SELLING SUCCESS
Strategic
Focus and Positioning
- Communicating Your Philosophy and Market Position
- Answering the Question "Why, based on all of the competitive alternatives
available to me, do I want to buy from you?"
Tactical
Tools and Controls
- Understanding and Controlling Your "ID to Close" Selling Process
- How to Call "Higher and Wider" Within a Customer's Organization
- How to Utilize the Rest of Your Team in Your Selling Process
- Time and Territory Management Skills
- Effective Negotiation Skills
Operational
Skills and Abilities
- Steps of a Sales Call
- Personality Awareness Skills ("Why people buy")
- Persuasive Communication Skills
- Product and Industry Knowledge
Attitude & Energy
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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INCREASING YOUR SELLING SKILLS
- What to expect from strengthened strategic selling skills
- The ability of your sales team to sell at higher margins because they
understand you are not in a price driven market
- The ability to answer persuasively a customer asking them “why, based on all
the alternatives available to me do I want to buy from you?”
- What to expect from strengthened tactical selling skills
- Sales professionals planning their daily and weekly activities or travel
schedules in advance and in a logical way that is visible to everyone
within your sales team.
- Sales professionals better able to answer where any customer currently is and
what they have planned to maintain or grow their business
- Sales professionals being more proactive and initiating competitive protection
activities sooner and with a higher degree of effectiveness
- More ongoing new business prospecting efforts
- What to expect from strengthened operational selling skills
- A more consistent and persuasive sales professional able to handle a wider
range of customers, their concerns, their needs and expectations.
- A sales team who will come across to your customers as more customer
focused, more professional and of more value than your competition.
- What to expect from strengthened attitude and energy selling skills
- A sales team who has earned customer's loyalty due to their proven professionalism,
values, and commitment to helping.
- A more energized, excited and harder working sales professional.
- A "coachable" sales team open to your suggestions and guidance.
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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INCREASING YOUR TACTICAL SELLING EFFECTIVENESS

With prospects and new selling efforts.
Close
Identify

With existing customers, you want to maintain and grow.
January 1st

December 31st
Within your larger customers.
- How do you get “Higher, Wider, and Deeper”?
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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WHERE DO YOUR CUSTOMERS SEE YOU?
Trusted Advisor
- Increasing customer order size and loyalty
Business Growth and Profit Generator
- Offering new ideas and suggestions
PROACTIVE
REACTIVE
"Specials" Presenter
- Covering as many "special deals" as possible
Order Taker / Problem Solver
- Taking care of your customer's problems
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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SECTION II
Increasing Your Competitive Advantage
by Communicating a Stronger
Philosophy/Positioning Within
Your Markets
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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YOU ARE NOT IN A PRICE DRIVEN MARKET
- Price is never the primary determinant in a customer’s competitive
buying decision
- #1 Determinant – _____________________________
- #2 Determinant – Price Differential
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IF I’M NOT IN A PRICE DRIVEN ENVIRONMENT…THEN HOW COME
THERE IS SO MUCH PRICING PRESSURE?
- Buyers will negotiate:
1) Because they can.
- The more vendors calling on me the more I’ll try negotiating better terms or a
better price.
2) When they see little to no value differential between vendor alternatives.
- The greater the differential in value perceived then the greater the differential
in value that will be paid.
3) When they receive demands or pressure from their bosses.
4) When they are not getting what they really want or need.
5) When your price is significantly higher than what they have paid in the past.
6) When they perceive weakness in the seller.
7) When they personally view negotiating with a vendor as a sport or game.
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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DO YOU HAVE A STRONG STRATEGIC MESSAGE OF
COMPETITIVE UNIQUENESS?
- How Are You Answering the Question, “Why Based On All Of The Competitive
Alternatives Available To Me, Do I Want To Buy From You?”
1. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
2. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
3. ___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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THE FOUR CONSISTENT PROBLEMS WITH A SALES TEAM’S
MESSAGE OF UNIQUENESS
Problem #1 – Everyone’s Saying the Same Thing…
- Four most common answers:
- “Our high quality products or services”
- “Our strong level of support”
- “Our competitive prices”
- “You get me”
Problem #2 – Everyone Has Different Answers (when they aren’t saying
the four same points).
- How many different responses did your team generate?
Problem #3 – Sales Reps Only Talk About Themselves.
- Give your answers the X’s and O’s test…
- “X” out every time you say “us,” “we,” “our,” your name, your
company name or your product/service names
- “O” circle every time you say “you,” “your,” or mention the customer
by name or use their company name
- What is your balance of “X’s” to “O’s”?
Problem #4 – Your Answers Assume You Are Alone in the World.
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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USING THE “FOUR CORE VALUES” ON A DAILY BASIS TO INCREASE
YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
- Focus On Core Values, Not Just Product Intangibles.
- Why do your customers really buy?
- The closer you identify to your customer's core values, the stronger
your position of uniqueness.
- Positioning Your Product vs. Your Competitors.
- How Can You Incorporate The Four Most Critical Core Values Into Your
Selling Message?
- “Lower my risk”
- “Make my life or work easier”
- “Lower my total costs or increase my profitability”
- “Increase my competitive advantage”
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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COMMUNICATING YOUR MESSAGE OF UNIQUENESS AND VALUE
Level 1 – Your “umbrella”
statement of uniqueness.
2
1
- Less than 2 minutes.
“Core Value”
- Use “core values” for points 1 & 2.
“Core Value”
- Suggested language – “We’re likely not going to be a lower price,
but we can offer you a lower total cost by helping you
[core value] and [core value].”
Level 2 – How/why you can
achieve your “umbrella
statement.”
3
4
5
- Less than 5 minutes
- Describe the best things you do
for your customers.
- Suggested language – “We can help you achieve these [core values] through our
ability to [points 3, 4, and 5].”
Level 3 – How/why we can
deliver on these promises.
- Detailed points of how you can fulfill points 3, 4, and 5.
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
_______________ _______________
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_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
SECTION III
Tools and Suggested Next Steps
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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KEYS TO COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND INCREASED SALES
1) Strong response to “Why buy from you?” consistently delivered by your entire
team.
2) Defined (and coached to) “Selling Process Best Practices.”
- “ID to Close” new business selling process.
- “1/1 to 12/31” processes to support your best customers.
- Operational “Steps of a Sales Call” and “personality flexibility” skills.
3) Proactive “Selling Process” coaching to all team members.
- Twice a month, (for each assigned sales person), discussing “Future Focused”
account and territory planning and strategy.
- Free up time to coach.
- Each sales person prepares written plan for his or her five most important accounts.
- Break up the year into 2-4 month selling campaigns.
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“SWAT Team Selling – Leading Your Team to a Competitive Advantage”
"Is your sales team functioning as a collection of independent gun fighters each choosing
their own targets or a trained unit with process, structures, strategy and direction?"
- Step 1 – Senior/Executive level – Commit to a more “Selling Process Coaching”
style of sales management.
- Who will take responsibility for actively coaching each sales team member?
- How will you free up sales management time and responsibilities so they have
more time to coach and lead their sales team?
- Step 2 – Senior/Executive level (with input from selected sales managers and
senior sales reps) - Identify & develop your team’s “Selling Best Practices”
- Account planning forms and coaching process – Standardized account
planning/coaching forms to help your sales reps prepare for their
management coaching sessions
- “Why buy from me” messaging - Having a brief message of strategic
competitive uniqueness and value being consistently delivered by all
members of your sales team
- “ID to Close” new business stepped selling process - Multiple-stepped plan to
proactively strategize and implement when selling to a new prospect or
selling a new business opportunity to an existing customer.
- “1/1 to 12/31” plans to support and grow your best customers - Multiple-stepped
plan to proactively maintain and grow an existing customer.
- Step 3 – Front line Sales Managers - Teach your sales managers how to shift
from being “Transactional Managers” to “Selling Process Coaches.”
- The average sales manager today does little coaching or leadership but instead
focuses all of their efforts on merely supporting their sales team with
special pricing, expediting, problem solving and customer thank you calls.
Time, and coaching skills, needs to be committed each week to get more
involved as a coach and strategist to each member of your sales team.
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“SWAT Team Selling – Leading Your Team to a Competitive Advantage”
Page 2
- Step 4 – Sales Reps and their Sales Managers - Teach your sales team how to best
utilize your defined “Selling Best Practices” and account planning.
- The marketplace has changed. Customers are less loyal, more demanding and
are more price sensitive. Your competitors are effective selling
professionals with a solid set of existing customers, offering proven
products at a very competitive price.
- Your ability to win competitively in this intensive market will be based on your
capability to consistently implement all areas of your selling expertise,
functioning with your team (and sales manager) to apply the
“SWAT Team Selling Best Practices” and proven philosophies that can
best increase your competitive advantage and selling success.
- Goals/outcomes from completing these four steps toward “SWAT Team Selling”
- Sales professionals utilizing a “SWAT Team Selling” multiple-stepped thinking,
planning, and selling approach
- Sales professionals better maintaining and growing their important customers
through structured account planning and coaching from their sales manager.
- All sales team members communicating a consistent and stronger message of
competitive uniqueness when any customer asks “Why do I want to buy
from you?”
- All sales team members understanding and following a consistent set of
“Selling Best Practices.”
- All sales team members gaining an understanding of how to sell, as a team, a
single solution of customer-focused value through all departments within
your organization.
- All sales team members gaining an appreciation and confidence that they are
“good enough to get better.”
Watch my SWAT Team Selling videos at Pancero.com or
YouTube.com/2sellmore
Still have questions? 800-526-0074 or jim@pancero.com
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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THE SIX SKILLS TO SELLING SUCCESS SALES TOOLS NEEDED TO LEAD A SALES TEAM
OPERATIONAL SKILLS
1 – Steps of A Sales Call – Operational selling structures to help each sales professional
increase their sales consistency and selling professionalism.
2 – Personality Flexibility Skills – Operational selling structure to help each sales
professional increase their persuasive communications skills with a wider range of
customers.
TACTICAL SKILLS
3 – New Business Selling Plan – Multiple-stepped plan to proactively strategize and
implement when selling to a new prospect or selling a new business opportunity to an
existing customer.
ID
Close
4 – Maintain and Grow An Existing Customer Plan – Multiple-stepped plan to proactively
maintain and grow an existing customer.
January 1st
December 31st
STRATEGIC SKILLS
5 – Political Strategy – Having a plan for each important account of how your sales
team can get “Higher, Wider and Deeper” within the political structures of your largest
customers.
6 – Message of Uniqueness – Having a brief message of strategic competitive uniqueness
and value being consistently delivered by all members of your sales team.
“Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available to me do I
want to buy from you?”
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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TEN QUESTION ADVANCED SALES TEST
Evaluate a salesperson (or yourself) assigning one of five scores to each question:
5 – Consistently excels and demonstrates an advanced effectiveness at this skill.
4 – Occasionally succeeds at demonstrating control and mastery of this skill.
3 – Shows some control and understanding of this skill.
2 – Show weak or little control or understanding of this skill.
1 – Has low to little awareness or attempts to utilize this skill.
Personal Persuasiveness
Q1 - Personal Persuasiveness With Customers?
- “Good on their feet” in front of customers. Persuasive no matter how brief their selling time.
- Ability to build strong relationships with a full range of personalities, ages, and job positions.
- Strong product/industry skills. Helps customers improve their business and equipment usage.
Q2 – Effective Customer Information Controls?
- All customer contact information kept accurate and up to date.
- Strong history notes on all significant customer activities in your computer system.
Tactical Control Of Your Assigned Territory and Selling Processes
Q3 – Actively Prospecting For New Business?
- Ongoing efforts to discover and sell new applications/equipment to existing customers.
- Ongoing efforts to discover and sell applications/equipment to new or competitive customers.
Q4 – Ability to Maintain And Grow Existing Customers?
- Ability to maintain high customer satisfaction ratings and feedback.
- Successfully handles customer problems and inquiries in a timely and persuasive manner.
- Has developed strong, long-term relationships with majority of customers.
Q5 – Proactive Control of New Business Selling Processes?
- Thinks and plans multiple sales moves ahead with majority of selling opportunities.
- Has a written “selling game plan” in place for all major selling opportunities.
- Can explain next three planned account selling moves or actions at any time for any account.
Q6 – Accurate Forecasting & Ability To Predict Sales Results?
- Develops and maintains a full year sales forecast for assigned territory.
- Ability to predict upcoming wins and losses with a strong degree of accuracy.
- Keeps management updated with ongoing accurate and timely sales forecasts and reports.
Ability to Communicate, Position and Sell Your Uniqueness and Value
Q7 – Ability To Win “Higher Priced” Business?
- Ability to sell your value and competitive uniqueness so you can win a customer’s business
without being the lowest price or without significantly cutting prices or profit margins.
Q8 – Ability To Communicate and Position Competitive Uniqueness and Value?
- Briefly and persuasively communicates your messages of competitive uniqueness and value to all
customer selling opportunities.
Q9 – Strong Competitive Awareness?
- No major competitive losses in your territory.
- Demonstrates strong awareness of competitor’s products, pricing, and selling messages.
- Ability to proactively neutralize and sell against competitive selling messages and strategies.
Commitment to Being “Good Enough To Get Better”
Q10 – Is Coachable With A Positive Attitude And Work Ethic?
- Is a “Student of Selling” trying new ways to sell and seeks coaching advice from others.
- Helps improve others selling skills.
- Committed to helping our team become stronger and more competitive.
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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TWENTY QUESTION SALES LEADERSHIP EVALUATION
Evaluate yourself by circling a number for each question:
1 Non-existent
2 Weak
3 "Just Average"
4 Leading
5 "Best Practice"
Your Role as an Administrator, Problem Solver and Disciplinarian
1
2
3
4
5
#1 - Your skills as an organized administrator are…?
1
2
3
4
5
#2 - Your skills coaching your sales reps through problem solving are…?
1
2
3
4
5
#3 - Your skills managing and coaching the pricing and profitability decisions of your teams are…?
Your Ability to Build and Retain a Sales Team
1
2
3
4
5
#4 - Your “new sales person” searching and interviewing skills are…?
1
2
3
4
5
#5 - Your “new hire” sales training program is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#6 - Your “Performance Plan” program in place for each member of your team is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#7 - Your ongoing “experienced sales team” training process is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#8 - Your accessibility to your sales force is…?
Your Ability to Lead
1
2
3
4
5
#9 - Your sales team would rate their satisfaction level working for you as…?
1
2
3
4
5
#10 - Your amount of “positive focused” communications with your team is..?
1
2
3
4
5
#11 - Your ability to initiate new ideas and account planning conversations with your team is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#12 - Your ability to delegate to your sales team is…?
Your Ability to be a Coach & Strategist of Your Selling Process
1
2
3
4
5
#13 - Your ability to organize and lead your team as a single market force is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#14 - Your team’s ability to communicate a single message of competitive uniqueness
and market leadership is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#15 - Your ongoing new business prospecting process currently in place is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#16 - Your marketing and promotional skills are…?
1
2
3
4
5
#17 - Your ability to commit time to individually coach and strategize with each of
your sales reps is…?
1
2
3
4
5
#18 - Percentage of time spent talking “future focused” with your reps is...?
1
2
3
4
5
#19 - Your ability and time committed to talking “tactical and strategic focused” with
your sales reps are…?
1
2
3
4
5
#20 - Your ability to communicate with customers to help your sales reps get “higher,
wider and deeper” is…?
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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VISIT PANCERO.COM TO ENHANCE YOUR
SALES AND SALES MANAGEMENT TRAINING
- Blog Articles for Sales Pros and Sales Managers to help you with In-House
training. Each article has a "Print & PDF" button that will format the article for
your printer or create a PDF, your choice.
http://www.pancero.com/articles/
- MP3's - MP3 audio training by Jim that you can listen to while on the go, can be
played from your phone or tablet.
http://www.pancero.com/free-resourses
- Videos - Watch training videos from Jim. Sales and Sales Management topics
are covered, including new videos covering SWAT Team Selling and more
coming so bookmark the site.
http://www.pancero.com/free-resourses
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
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“You Can Always Sell More, By Strengthening Your Strategic
Selling Skills” by Jim Pancero
How strong are your strategic selling skills? Strategic selling involves increasing your competitive advantage by
strengthening your ability to communicate your uniqueness, value, and competitive differential to a customer or
prospect.
How successful have you been explaining your competitive uniqueness and differentiation to your potential
buyers?
What is Involved With Strategic Selling?
So what is Strategic selling? Strategic selling involves your ability to communicate your value and competitive
uniqueness to a prospect or customer throughout your entire selling process.
Strategic selling includes starting each call with a strong strategic uniqueness or philosophy statement about you
and your company that takes less than two minutes to present. It also involves you developing a more strategic
or “big picture” focus to your selling messaging, selling language, and overall philosophy or approach to a
customer’s business.
The toughest single question asked by customers today is “Why, based on all the competitive alternatives
available to me do I want to buy from you?” How successful have you been persuasively answering this question
from your customers or prospects?
Most sales reps would answer this “Why buy?” question with a presentation detailing their products or services
best “features and advantages.” It is then up to your buyer to organize and sort everything you have covered so
they understand the overall value and impact of doing business with you. However, this also means that your
success is completely dependent on your buyer’s ability to summarize and interpret everything said so they can
understand the overall value of buying from you and your company.
Allow me to share my strategic selling message that I use to begin a sales call. As a sales and sales management
consultant and trainer my answer to a prospect asking me why they would want to buy from me would be, “I have
a very specific niche in the sales and sales management training environment. I only work with experienced
“business to business” sales professionals who already know how to sell, the managers who led them and the
executives who direct them. Everything I do has one bottom line focus, to increase your competitive advantage
so you can increase your profitability and selling success. I have the most advanced sales training available in
North America today, and I can prove it!”
So what did you think of my message? Notice how customer focused my message hopefully appears and how it
talks about how I want to help solve a customer’s sales issues instead of the traditional selling approach of just
talking about the features, and customer benefits of my various products and programs.
Strategic or philosophy selling is not in conflict with “feature-benefit” selling. Both need to be utilized by you in
your persuasive selling. However, most sales reps spend all their time on a call only focusing on explaining their
features and advantages, and spending little to no time positioning their philosophy or approach.
Strategic Selling Is Based On You Being Able To Prove a Difference in Your Value
A foundation of successful strategic selling is an understanding and belief that you are not in a price driven market.
Here’s the simple reality of selling, if you’re working as an outside sales rep then you’re NOT in a price driven
market, never have been and never will be, even in a tougher market or economic slowdown.
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“You Can Always Sell More, By Strengthening Your Strategic Selling Skills” (continued)
It is not that you are in a price driven market it is that all markets are value driven with pricing only being a distant
second. There is a real simple concept in strategic selling, “the more of a differential you can show me in value
the more of a differential I’ll be willing to pay in price.”
Now the reality is price will always be a factor or component in any buyer’s decision, but the challenge for buyers
is not based on getting the lowest price, the real buying challenge is being able to find the vendor with the best
value offering so that you then do not mind paying a higher price. In fact many buyers have told me they and their
company cannot afford to buy the lowest price available due to the usually also lower value being provided.
Strategic Selling Focuses On Your Customers Instead Of On Yourself or Your Products
An important component of Strategic selling is your ability to focus on your customers and what they want and
need. Too many sales people only sell to one person, themselves! The sad reality is most reps spend all their
selling time only talking about their products and themselves.
Customers are not actually buying your products or services that have no real value or benefit to them. What they
are buying, and find profound value in, is what your products or services will actually do for them.
So how are you answering a customer or prospect asking you why they should buy from you? The foundation of
strategic selling is to not spend the majority of your selling time talking about yourself, your company or why your
stuff is so competitively superior but instead to focus the majority of your selling message on how your customer’s
are going to benefit and receive greater value buying from you compared to anyone else.
In addition, make sure you do not do all the talking in your sales calls. Most experienced sales pro’s I’ve ridden
with do all the talking on their sales calls. Customers might spend as little as 10% of the call actually talking!
What percentage of your sales calls are you talking vs. listening? And what can you do to make sure you focus
your discussions and selling efforts on your customer and what you can do to address their challenges?
Strategic Selling Involves Selling As a Single Team with One Voice and One Message
A critical key to increasing your strategic success is to sell as a single team with one voice and one message. Do
you and your fellow sales pros work as a team? The reality is…most sales teams do not.
Do you want to test to see how independent the members of your team really are? Individually ask several team
members how they would answer a prospect asking them “Why, based on all the competitive alternatives available
to me do I want to buy from you?” If your team is similar to most you will discover that each member will have
completely different answers to this question.
Moreover, it is not just your fellow sales reps we need to worry about. How many different people from your
company will communicate with a prospect or customer before they say yes and sign an agreement? Most
companies have several people talking to their customers including service and technical people, management,
credit, and your administrative team.
With all the different players from your company communicating, and hopefully, persuading your customers, it is
critical you have a single, simple and focused uniqueness message that is discussed and confirmed by all
members of your team.
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“You Can Always Sell More, By Strengthening Your Strategic Selling Skills” (continued)
Decide to meet with your entire sales team to begin defining why someone would want to buy from you and your
company, and then work to train and coach anyone who is communicating, and persuading your prospects and
customers to want to buy from you.
Strategic Selling Incorporates the Four “Core Values” Selling Language into Every Sales Call
Strengthening your philosophical or strategic selling language is also based on your understanding of the core
values or driving philosophies of why buyers buy. These terms are referred to as the core values of buying because
they are the central themes, philosophies or driving justification of why a buyer likes you over all other alternatives.
Whether you are buying for your personal consumption or buying for your company there are only four reasons,
or core values, as to why you would select a specific vendor from a field of competitors.
Why would you choose that vendor? I chose them because #1, they did more than anyone else to lower my risk.
Alternatively, #2, I chose them because they did more than anyone else to make my life or work easier. I chose
them because #3, they did more than anyone else to either lower my total costs or to increase my profitability,
and the fourth and final core value, I chose them because they did more than anyone else to increase my
competitive advantage.
That is it! Those are the four overall reasons or core values why all buying decisions are made. All other buying
reasons from customers fit into or will be a sub-set of these four core drivers of buying behavior.
These core values are such powerful selling terms because they parallel the thinking and reasoning of your
buyers. In addition, these four core values are just not terms utilized by most sales people. How exciting is it to
have selling language that is both customer focused and not being used by your competitors?
Set a goal next week of finding excuses to drop at least one of these four terms into your conversation with every
customer to see if you notice any difference in your buyer’s responses or questions.
Final Comments
So how strong are your Strategic selling skills? Moreover, what can you now do to increase your and your entire
sales team’s ability to sell as a single team with one voice and one message? In addition, what can you now do
to increase your ability to communicate effectively your uniqueness, to focus more on your customers than on
your self and your products? What can you do to stay focused on the “Big Picture” philosophy of why your buyers
want to buy from you and to incorporate the four “Core values” selling language into every sales call you make.
We know you’re good, now the question is are you good enough and committed enough to increase your strategic
selling skills and to communicate a simple, brief and effective strategic message of competitive uniqueness on
every call so you can accelerate your competitive advantage and selling success?
Jim Pancero
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
HARDI
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“You Can Always Sell More, By Utilizing the Four Core Values
of Buying” by Jim Pancero
Business-to-business buyers are influenced by your overall philosophy or approach much more than
they are by the “parts and pieces” details of your actual products or services. Strategic selling involves
continually communicating your overall philosophy, positioning or selling approach throughout your
selling process and ongoing support efforts.
One of the most effective ways to increase your customer focus and language is to better understand
and utilize the core values or driving philosophies of why buyers buy. These terms are referred to as
the core values of buying because they are the central themes, philosophies or driving justification of
why a buyer likes you over all other alternatives.
Whether you are buying for your personal consumption or for your company there are only four reasons,
or core values, as to why you would select a specific vendor from a field of competitors.
Why did you choose that vendor? You chose them because:
#1 – they did more than anyone else to lower your risk
#2 – You chose them because they did more than anyone else to make your life
or work easier
#3 - You chose them because they did more than anyone else did either to lower your
total costs or to increase your profitability
and
#4 - The final core value, you chose them because they did more than anyone else to
increase your competitive advantage
That is it! Those are the four overall reasons, or core values, why all buying decisions are made. All
other buying reasons from customers fit into or will be a sub-set of these four core drivers of buying
behavior.
These core values are such powerful selling terms because they parallel the thinking and reasoning of
your buyers. In addition, these four core values are just not terms utilized by most sales people. How
exciting is it to have selling language that is both customer focused and not being used by your
competitors?
“Lower My Risk”
Are you the “least risk” alternative for your customers? Of the entire core values, “risk” is the strongest
and most influential driver of customer behavior. How much risk does a customer take buying from you
compared to any of your other competitors?
Risk, or really “risk avoidance,” is the most important component of “branding.” Why are you so loyal to
specific brands when buying? Well branding is really just predictability. The stronger your brand the
more predictable I expect my experiences will be with that brand.
If Apple announced a new line of television sets, would you immediately have a set of expectations of
what their new TV’s would have and do?
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
HARDI
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“You Can Always Sell More, By Utilizing the Four Core Values of Buying” (continued)
Look what would happen to your opinion of the Apple brand if their new TV product line were not
innovative, simple to use, more advanced and expensive.
Branding is the existence of already defined or clarified expectations by our customers. How much risk
would you feel you were taking as a buyer if you perceived Apple’s new TV line as not being advanced
or innovative? Do you think you would still feel Apple was the lowest risk choice for you if these new
TV’s did not fulfill your pre-conceived branding expectations from Apple?
Why would I want to buy from you? If you manufacture or distribute products you might communicate
your lower risk due to your increased inventory or manufacturing capacity (a lower risk of being out of
stock); your multiple locations; accelerated delivery schedules; or special last minute delivery options
(a lower risk of running out of product). If you sell services or support you might talk about the greater
training, experience or accreditations of your service technicians (a lower risk of getting someone who
doesn’t know what they’re doing).
How much risk are your buyers taking when they decide to do business with you compared to all of their
other alternatives? What can you and your teams do to lower your perceived risk in the market and
increase the predictability of your brand in your buyer’s eyes?
“Make My Life/Work Easier”
A second buying core value is based on you doing more than anyone else to make my life or work
easier. How much of a hassle is it to do business with you? Are any of your competitors easier to work
with when compared to you?
Look at the car rental market. Even though all the major car rental companies offer the same brands
and models of cars to rent, why is Hertz successful at charging more than any of their competitors?
When I rent from Hertz I know I am going to pay more but I also have greater expectations of them
doing more to make my rental and travel experience less hassled. I expect them to be running more
shuttle busses than their competition, to get in and out of the airport faster, to expect fewer hassles,
and to receive faster solutions when there is a problem or a screw-up. As one of their target customers,
the frequent business renter, I am happy to pay a higher price to insure both a lower risk and less
hassled experience.
Why would I want to buy from you?
You can talk about how you make your “business-to-business” customers lives and work easier due to
your assigned account support team (offering more consistent support), or having your order desk
staffed more hours (easier to place an order whenever it’s convenient to you). You can talk about having
a more complete website (easier to search out products, pricing and questions), or about having faster
problem-resolution response times (easier to get your problems fixed faster and with less interruptions).
What can you do to make it easier for your buyers to do business with you compared to your
competitors? Moreover, what can you do to improve the predictability of your buyer’s experiences with
you, your company, and your products or services?
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
HARDI
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“You Can Always Sell More, By Utilizing the Four Core Values of Buying” (continued)
“Lower My Costs or Increase My Profitability”
A third buying core value is based on you doing more than anyone else either to lower my total costs
or to increase my profitability.
We are not just talking about if you have a lower quoted price or not. You can sell something at a higher
price yet still be a lower total cost when you include and evaluate all of the costs and savings associated
with your buyer’s time, usage, hassles, and possible disruptions to their business.
Michelin tires are some of the most expensive car tires sold when you only look at their “per tire” price.
However, they can be considered some of the lowest total cost tires when you also consider they can
be safely driven almost twice the distance of other tires. There is a saying used by strategic sales people
to communicate this lower total cost philosophy… “You can buy lowest price in our industry and you
can buy lowest total cost. But I’ve not seen any industry including ours where you can get both from the
same vendor!” Would that message help strategically position your higher prices, but lower total costs
of the products you sell?
Why would I want to buy from you? What do you do or provide as a manufacturer, distributor or services
provider, to show all the extras and added value savings or cost reductions possible with your solution
compared to your competitors?
How strong are your sales team’s financial justification skills? Are all members of your sales team able
to sit down with their financial buyers and prove all of the savings and revenue increases they can
generate compared to your competition? Is there anything else you can be doing to improve your ability
to justify financially, your higher prices, but lower total costs to your buyers?
“Increase My Competitive Advantage”
The fourth and final buying core value centers on you doing more than anyone else to increase your
buyer’s competitive advantage.
You can communicate your ability to increase your customer’s competitive advantage due to your offers
of: free use of your application experts (showing them how to lower their operating costs or safely reduce
their inventory levels making their prices more competitive); your ability to propose a more durable
product (to increase the durability of your customer’s products, increasing their competitive edge); or
your ability to help them open new markets for their products.
Is there anything you do for your customers, or could do in the future, that could help them increase
their competitive advantage over their competitors if they bought from you?
How to Use the Four Core Values in Your Selling Efforts
The four core values define the major philosophical, emotional, or strategic reasons buyers buy. The
power of these four values to increase your selling success is based on three realities.
The first reality is the four core values talk to the driving justification and motivation of why buyers buy.
Incorporating these four core values into your daily selling efforts means your selling language will better
parallel the thinking and reasoning of your buyers.
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
HARDI
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“You Can Always Sell More, By Utilizing The Four Core Values of Buying” (continued)
The second reality of the four core values is that these are not common terms utilized by sales people.
Most reps are afraid to use such realistic terms as “risk” or “competitive advantage” fearing their buyers
would perceive what they were saying as negative selling terms.
However, those terms drive buyer’s decisions to buy. Effectively using those terms can help you project
your concerns for the realities and challenges your buyers are facing with their buying decision.
The third reality of why the core values are so valuable to your selling efforts is these terms of lowering
my risk; making my life or work easier; increasing my profitability or lowering my total costs; or increasing
my competitive advantage; are all “hot button” terms to your buyers. I constantly have sales people
telling me how their customers have interrupted them in the middle of their presentations by saying
things like… “What do you mean you can lower my risk?” or “Walk me through exactly how you can
prove you’re a lower total cost to me even though you’re quoting a higher price?”
Testing the Four Core Values for Yourself
Do you think these four core values can work for you and your sales team? All you have to do to validate
or disprove the effectiveness of these core values is for you and your sales team to start using them
and see if you notice any difference in the way your customers respond.
Decide next week to look for ways to drop in at least one of these four core value terms into every
customer sales call or conversation. See if you notice a stronger reaction or interest from your buyer.
Can You Do More To Utilize The “Four Core Values” Of Buying On Your Next Sales Call?
How are you increasing your competitive advantage and ability to communicate your uniqueness and
value? The “four core values” of buying can significantly increase your customer focus and ability to
better relate to your buyers and their needs.
We know you’re good, now the question is, are you good enough and customer focused enough to
consistently utilize these “four core values of buying” in your daily selling efforts?
Jim Pancero
© 6/2014 Jim Pancero, Inc.
HARDI
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