THE BARD GROUP, LLC

OBJECTIVES

To make the client feel like there is total alignment between their challenges and your solution.
To make them believe that you are uniquely qualified to address their situation.
To create a clear and simple message that makes it easy for them to remember you later as they evaluate their options.

CHALLENGES

Your client’s attention span is short. We have all been trained by advertisements, speeches, and media to want information in sound bites, so our listening muscles have become lazier over time.
Your client is searching for the ways you are different, and they do not want to have to work too hard to figure this out.
Your client’s biggest complaint about sales meetings is that they are about the sales team and their pitch, not about the client’s needs and business challenges. This is a pattern they see time and again, so they expect the same from you and will make assumptions about you before you even start.

TECHNIQUES

A. Start with how you are different

1. As you prepare for your meeting, forget about your client for a moment and answer these questions to get at how you are different.

What do you believe are the key things that have driven your company’s performance?
What would your clients say makes you/your firm different and effective?
What are you most proud of?
Why do you think your product/service is better?
Why do you think you are different?

2. Take your time and get all of your thoughts down without judgment. We will narrow it down later to what is most relevant to your client.

B. Get clear on the client’s challenges

1. Identify the client’s business objective and the challenges that are making it difficult for them to achieve that objective.

Use what you have been told or what you have learned knowing there is always more you have yet to uncover.

Do additional research. The time you invest in learning more about them will pay off, both as you prepare for the meeting and during the meeting. Seek to learn more about:

The dynamics of the market they are in and their competition
Recent company developments and financials
The backgrounds and current roles of those attending the meeting

2. Summarize in writing both the client’s business objective and their challenges.

C. Build 3 key messages that align your solution with their challenges

1. The ‘Rule of Three’ is critical to differentiating yourself because your client’s attention span is short, and their memory is limited.

Research shows that our brains can comfortably process and store up to three ‘chunks’ of information in short-term memory. Any more than that is far more difficult.

Studies also show that three claims have a persuasive effect, but four or more tend to trigger skepticism or may even reverse an initially positive impression.

2. Go back to your differentiator statements from Section A above and see which ones pass this test. You must reply ‘yes’ to all three of these qualifiers:

Unique to you
Important to the client
Defensible (you can prove it)
3. Of those that pass the test, choose the three that will have the greatest impact on your client and their specific situation.

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These three statements are your differentiators for this client. They align the things you do well to what your client says is most important to them.

4. You will build your presentation around these 3 key messages resulting in a clean, simple, and highly relevant story.

D. Prove what you do works

1. Identify your proof points

Clients need facts to justify the emotions that drive their decisions. Now that you have your 3 key messages, identify supporting points for each. These can be:

Data points or statistics that show your results
Case studies
Anecdotes or stories — these tend to be more emotive, less fact-filled, but make what you do come to life in a real way

2. Write your 'So What' statements

Your supporting points, in whatever form they take, do not stand alone. Only when your client knows why the information you are sharing matters to them will they hear the value. We call this the ‘So What.’

The way to think about ‘So What’ is simple. Imagine sharing a proof point in the meeting and the client then asking, “So what?” You want to preempt this question. For every supporting point, write down why it is important to the client, or said another way, why they should care.

Examples:

“This is important to you because…”
"This gets to exactly what you were saying about X…”
"This will have a huge impact on you in that…”
"By doing this, you can…”
"The real advantage of this to you is…”

ADVANTAGES TO YOU

You are making it about THEM which is critical to winning them over. This alone will make you different.
Once you align how you are different to their business objectives, it is much easier to refine your presentation. You will know what information to include and what not to include.
You will make better use of the time you have during the presentation because your story will center around how your differentiators are relevant to THEM.

ADVANTAGES TO THE BUYER

They will feel like the presentation is all about them, not you.
You are making it easy for them to understand how you are different, and how you can help them achieve their business objectives.
You are making it easy for them to remember you and your key messages after the meeting ends.

EXERCISES

6-STEP DIFFERENTIATION WORKSHEET

1. The ways you are different

List all the ways that you, your product/service, and company are different from or better than your competitors. What has driven your company’s performance? What would your clients say? What are you most proud of?

2. Your client’s business objective and challenges

What is your client trying to accomplish? Use what you’ve been told and do additional research. What challenge(s) are making it difficult for them to achieve this business objective?

3. The differentiator test

Which of the statements from Step 1 pass this test. You must reply ‘yes’ to all three of these qualifiers:

Unique to you
Important to the client (based on Step 2 above)
Defensible (you can prove it through facts, figures, results, stats, etc.).

4. Your 3 Key Messages

Pick the top three messages from Step 3. These are your three key messages around which you will build your story and your presentation. These are your differentiators for this client.

5. Proof points

Find supporting points for each of your 3 key messages. Think about data points or statistics that show your results, case studies, or anecdotes/real stories. Clients need facts to justify the emotions that drive their decision making.

6. ‘So What’

Write the ‘So What’ for each proof point that tells them why it is important or why they should care.

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