How to Make Your Value Proposition Stronger?

How do you know if your value proposition is weak? An easy telltale sign is that virtually no one responds to your emails or gets back to you on the phone.

One other key indicator is that prospects quickly brush you away with statements such as:

• We've already got that handled
• We're working with someone else already that's handled this for X years

It's already hard to sell after getting through the door, but it's even harder to sell if you can't even get through the door. The top salespeople always quote, "you can inspire buyers to take action unless you focus on what's important to them".

Without the right approach, sales would be downright impossible.

Is there such a thing as a strong value proposition?

Here's a case study. A large corporation is introducing a new system into the printing market. The place was buzzing because of the extraordinary capabilities it had that far exceeded anything else out there.

They were thinking that with these which printer company wouldn't jump in to order it? But as life would have it, nothing comes easy. Sales stalled after the early adopters have converted over to this new feature.

Here's what some research found:

• One printer had metrics on every aspect of their business, and it was able to:
• Cut the prepress staff by 33% while still handling the same amount of workload.
• It helped to cut overtime costs
• Reduce turnaround by 2 to 3 days
• Balance their workflow and enabled them to delay the purchase of an expensive new press machine.

These were the true value propositions. And these were really strong, as it related and focused on what was important to the customers.

The secret to your value proposition is with your customers

The case study above has shown that one of the best ways to discover the value proposition of your product or service is to actually ask your customers.

When you're struggling with sales, working with a new industry, or talking to different buyers this will be your golden ticket to finding out what value you actually offer.

Beware because this does not apply to all customers. The worst customers to interview are your long-term customers. Because they can't remember the issues and challenges they faced before they switched over to your company.

Choose more recent customers. Because they would know about the difference you've made and share with you exactly how it has impacted their business results.

When you go into these conversations always remember that you are there just to ask questions and to learn. Do not sell under any circumstance, because this would result in future opportunities being lost.

Conclusion

Knowing your value is essential to your sales success. Don't underplay it.

Remember no one wants to buy whatever product or service you offer. They're only interested in what problems they are facing and if you have anything that you can do for them.

The more clearly you can articulate your value proposition, the easier it will be to set up meetings, create momentum and close more deals.

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How to Write Catchy Headlines Customers Can't Resist [6 Secrets]

Writing great content is a good starting point, but getting it to be read is another. This is where a good title comes in. 

Titles are what helps to sell the content that you spend hours painstakingly creating. Titles are represented in search engines, email, and social media. It comes as no surprise that searching for ways to write and craft titles is on everyone's list as their number 1 concern.

Here are some of the frequent questions that are asked. How long should my headline be? What words should I use? What words should I avoid? Should I optimize it for search or for social or both?

Here's where this article comes in. We've come up with a quick formula that makes this method easily repeatable. This is a valuable resource for our team and it will be a valuable resource for anyone who's just starting out.

The secret to writing catchy headlines your customers can't resist.

1) Start with a working title.

Start with an idea / a rough draft. This is your working title. This is a stepping stone for you to come up with your perfect title.

Don't confuse a working title with a topic. Topics are general ideas, and how a writer chooses to tackle the direction of the topic can affect the outcome.

A working title on the other hand is very specific. It serves the purpose of guiding the creation of a single blog post. 

Here's an example

A topic covering:

1. Sales. 

You can come up with the following working titles:

1. How the Right Tools Can Help You to Sell More
2. The Ultimate Guide to Sales Tools
3. 5 Crazy Tips to Help You Close Sales Quickly

You would have noticed by now that each of these working titles are different, it also shows that none of those titles is perfect. But it does serve as a specific enough guide for your upcoming content.

2) Stay accurate

Accuracy is extremely critical. Don't downplay this. It sets the expectations of what a reader expects to see. Don't do this. Don't overkill and overwrite a claim in your title. Unless, of course, you have evidence for it in your content.

For example, 10 Crazy Solutions That Give you Instant Sales, All Other Sales Methods Fail to Compare. Unless, of course, you really have the suggested 10 crazy solutions, if not you're likely to create more distrust in your brand and organisation than what was initially intended.

One way to be accurate is to add a bracket with the following few words [New Report], [Latest for 2021]. This sets a clear expectation and readers know exactly what they are getting themselves into. 

3) Make it sexy

Being accurate does not mean you can't find ways to make your title pop. There's an art to language and you should not be afraid to use it.

• Have some fun with alliteration
• Use strong language
• Make values clear
• Make it visual
• Focus on the "who" not the "why"

4) Keep it short

There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution to how long or short your title should be. All we can suggest is it depends on what your goals are. Knowing your goals will guide how and where your headline would appear.

There are many suggestions as to how title length will have an impact on email / social / search / etc. So it really depends on what your objectives are. A great way to learn what works is to run a few tests to see what works best for the particular audience you are targetting.

5) Try to optimize for both search and social at the same time

It's very hard to optimize one asset for everything. But there's nothing stopping you from being able to deliver for both.

The secret? Focus on keywords you know your audience is already searching for and find what works across different channels.

One great tip is to make sure that your headlines are tweetable. Try keeping it within the 120-130 character range if possible because this leaves so much space for people to include a short comment if they choose to manually retweet and cite you.

6) Brainstorm with someone with a fresh outlook on your title

Sometimes looking at things too long can lock you into a perspective that is sometimes difficult to break out of. The goal is to get another person to mutually agree on a title for that content that you are publishing. This doesn't need to belong. All you need to make sure is that you have a few ideas on a list for you to discuss things together.

Conclusion

Titles are integral to sales. It leads the person's interest in content to allow for information to be communicated.

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The 8 Best B2B Marketing Content That Will Help You Generate More Leads

There's something magical when we get to take new product features for a test run. It's the ability to transform something that's imagining into something more. We squeal with excitement typically reserved for new Netflix series, or iPhone launches for new product features instead.

This is something we're really excited to share with you and with other marketers as well. I'm sure you've probably come across some form of content at least once in your internet life. The point is marketing content can be uninteresting if you tackle it from one angle but if done right, your B2B content marketing can certainly match -- or even rival -- the creativity and appeal of some of the best B2C campaigns.

Here's a list of some of our favourite. Examples below:

1. CB Insights Newsletter

2. Mattermark: Raise the Bar

3. MYOB Tax Time

4. Deloitte Insights

5. First round magazines

6. NextView Ventures: Better Everyday

7. Zendesk Engineering

8. Hexagon: Annual Report

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3 Proactive Value Driving Revenue Operation Projects

For years, revenue operations have been largely determined by immediate customer needs. And typically projects address a problem that's already happened with the goal of ensuring that it never happens again.

The reactive approach is natural and necessary, but as the organisation matures, shifting to a proactive approach promises to deliver a strategic advantage and even more value.

To ensure continued success, teams must deliver ongoing value by anticipating and addressing roadblocks. And sales, marketing teams must work more closely together. 

It's not easy to get out of being reactive to becoming proactive

With no clear role dedication, independent teams will work exclusively which will result in common challenges

1. Inconsistent process
2. Insufficient data
3. Disparate systems

The friction and inefficiency of these internal problems will result in a disjointed customer experience. Which leads to an impact on revenues.

This, however, is a double-edged sword as it serves as a perfect catalyst for decision-makers to look into this matter further.

How to make the proactive approach a priority?

1. Develop and deliver an insightful RFP template for customers

There's one thing that all departments can agree on. RFPs tend to be poor. They're time consuming and repetitive. This can be a roadblock to closing a deal, and it can be difficult to scramble, review and revise required collaterals while verifying brand consistencies. But it's important to the customer.

To ensure that the RFP is relevant, all departments should work together to develop and issue a comprehensive RFP template. With this in mind, your team has an opportunity to make a big impact and lead the conversation by proactively providing customers with an RFP template.

2. Bring customer success into the process

A customer journey for most businesses looks like an assembly line. This linear process often creates a disjointed and disappointing experience for customers.

Often prospects have specific questions related to any one particular topic. For example,

• onboarding
• implementation
• customer use cases
• and more

Salespersons usually only provide the surface information and often moves on too quickly. This leads to the inability to develop a stronger connection with the customer. The opportunity to provide them with helpful insight has been missed.

Involve the customer success earlier in the process. This will help you to demonstrate your unique proposition and position your company's competitive advantage right in the minds of the customers. This will help to build rapport, and it will provide an invaluable mix of insights, use cases and deep product knowledge which will boost your organisation's reputation.

3. Conduct regular reviews

Sales direction that drives growth is important. And it's the responsibility of the team to receive input from various members, to interpret the information, understand the impact and make a plan to address it.

Don't make the mistake of operating independently because these processes are interelatted and making decisions without understanding the interdepartmental dependencies can prove to be a very expensive mistake.

Set regular strategy sessions to help you get ahead of any issues and provides a forum for feedback to improve. This platform will give way to potential changes, chances for brainstorming of ideas and a clear way to address concerns early and cohesively.

Conclusion

Shifting from reactive to proactive supports sales growth. Which results in an improved customer experience. This, in turn, reduces churn and increases customer referrals.

Make a positive impact to be the bottom line, because it will ultimately result in a positive sales result.

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How to Make Sales and Marketing Meetings More Effective and Impactful

There's a common misconception that both sales and marketing are not equally important. But in reality, this is can result in marketing and sales realignment. When aligned well, there will be a special cohesion that will allow a business to flourish.

How to ensure effective sales-marketing meetings

Now with the new normal, and the internet becoming more mainstream, buyers have more information at their fingertips. This wasn't the same previously.

This makes it even more necessary for marketing and sales to be aligned so that buyers can efficiently buy without any messaging misalignment.

Initial prep

When planning for a meeting between sales and marketing teams, it's important to prepare. First, think of the items which need the most priority and what role each person will play in the meeting.

To filter down on how to do this, you can consider what type of meeting is currently taking place. For example, would this meeting be taking place to analyse competition or to focus on revenue?

Second, organise your topics. Do this by asking all the attendees to submit any questions prior to the meeting. You will want to filter questions to see if there are any overlaps. This also helps you to manage the meeting to avoid any unexpected concerns to arise spontaneously.

Third, manage time, by placing a length of time on each segment to avoid the meeting taking unnecessary amount of time, and appoint someone to keep track of time.

Fourth, appoint someone to take notes. This represents key items discussed during the meeting and will serve as a good reference and follow up to the meeting.

Sales-Marketing = Smarketing

Foster an environment for exchange of ideas to be freely exchanged by everyone. Always remember that neither department carries more weight. Every contribution carries equal weight to the collective goal the company wishes to achieve.

First, ensure space of contribution for each attendee. Show everyone that your ideas are valuable. And this will foster a proactive and positive collaboration amongst team members.

With a positive environment, meetings can be used to identify weaknesses and blindspots without affecting the overall morale of either team. With an honest and open discussion you will be able to promote the ability to close gaps between marketing and sales. Which will result ina seamless customer experience

Facts not just perceptions

Don't spew perspectives. Be objective and only cover meaningful data. This will help to keep the meetings in line and manage expectations on the delivery of solutions that are not skewed towards a personal opinion.

Keeping the goal in the forefront will ensure the right focus.

A tip to do this is to go back to the customer. Understand the persona. This will serve as a good reminder to both teams on who they are reaching out to, and how they can agree on a solution together.

Conclusion

Although there are various tips discussed above, the common thread for a more effective sales and marketing meeting is communication.

Improving morale of both teams will ensure that customers benefit from an overall better experience.

Plan, communicate, discuss, and be open about meeting topics to discover great ways you can increase sales and conversion to help both teams deliver on their expected results.

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The Most Shocking Statistic That Affects Sales

This has shocked many. And you should be shocked too.

When you get a big alert, do you always open your email for a quick look?

No big deal, right? Wrong! This is a big deal.

Here are the stats

According to Judy Wajcman, 70% of emails received are usually attended to within 6-seconds of arrival.

There's a compelling feeling to check it out. 

This is because we are addicted to our email. We just don't want to miss anything. Especially when the potential message could be from a very important prospect.

Why is this such a big deal? 

According to Jonathan Spira, a person's recovery time from any interruption is 10-20 times the length of the interruption.

Now let's extrapolate to see what it mean for you. If you check an email once every 10 minutes, 6x an hour. 

"You will end up with 30 minutes of distraction!"

Shocking isn't it? When you're distracted you can't do your best job. It's impossible. You won't be able to function at full capacity. You're less able to adjust to changes. And this is a study that's widely agreed to by Neuroscientists.

The worst part is everything will take longer. And in today's business world where everything is moving at a tremendous pace, you know you can't afford that.

What's the answer?

It's simple, just do these two things:

1. Turn off email notifications on all your devices.
2. Check your email only at pre-arranged times.

Conclusion

Over time, I suggest you extend the intervals. See if you can go without 30 minutes without checking messages.

Because there's absolutely no reason whatsoever to check email every time it comes in. Even if it feels good doing it.

It's actually hurting us. Take action on this today, right now. It'll make a big difference on the quality of your thinking and your productivity.

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Fixed Sales Slides Are Losing You Sales

Slides are meant to serve as a guide. Flexibility is key to conversational sales. And it's one of the main drivers to how you can transform stale business presentations into visually engaging stories.

Corporate slideshows are not designed for best practice sales techniques. They are designed to be corporate slideshows.

Stale presentations actually hurt your chances of success. Because they're long, and they only talk about your company and your products. 

It doesn't talk about what your customers find important to them.

What if slides could be more flexible?

You've been in a meeting before, where the PowerPoint was linear, prescripted and did not align with the dynamics of a consultative sales meeting. Didn't you want out? Didn't you feel like it was a waste of time?

Precisely.

To beat this, you will need to reimagine your corporate slideshow. From one long narrative into a series of bite-sized mini-presentations that can be selected based on a prospect's interests.

Don't go through your slides in order. You can add navigation options to help you to jump to different parts of your presentation.

The goal of your slides should be to ...

Deliver the best of both worlds:

• Highly relevant
• Engaging slides that complement the sales conversation

Here are three great examples of how you can do this:

1. Does your company offer three services? Show a slide with all three and ask which slide your prospect is interested in and jump into that.
2. Have a success story that would address your prospect's question? Show the slide with all your success stories.
3. Is your prospect running out of time? Jump straight to the section to close the deal!

Great news! Any presentation software can do this

There's the hyperlink function. It helps you to move quickly to the desired slide with a click.

How do you create content optimised for this dynamic approach?

Consider how your sales consult flows. A great way to start is to start with a list of what you offer and see where the customer chooses to go.

Other possible pivot points include:

1. Deeper dives
2. Decision-maker types
3. Industry insights
4. Success stories
5. FAQs

Conclusion

You'll notice once you start building corporate presentations using the Flexible Slides approach your value proposition becomes even clearer. This helps you to go beyond relying exclusively on a pre-meeting discover because you can adapt the slides to your prospect's interests on the fly.

This will also help you to deliver the right presentation iteration without having the need to reassemble one for every opportunity.

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