I’ve been in a sales groove, lately. And it’s all about the prospect.

I’m consuming sales books, listening to sales gurus, and hanging out with as many sales pros as I can.

It’s because the role of sales is changing. Just as the Internet changed the publishing and entertainment world, it shook up the business world with its instant access to information.

Now the consumer can learn about any business, any service, and any product with a few clicks on a keyboard. The job of sales isn’t just to convince a prospect that their offering is the best, but to first get noticed by the prospect in order to start the conversation.

I recently attended the Ohio Growth Summit in my hometown of Columbus, Ohio. This annual summit has enjoyed a few heavyweight speakers, but also includes plenty of local talent. The focus is on (as you may already have guessed), growing your business.

As I mentioned in [themecolor]a previous post[/themecolor], Anthony Iannarino was my favorite presenter. One of the things he said during his presentation was this:

What makes you different in a way that makes a difference for your clients?

 

Defining your differentiators

Whether you’re a business owner or an employee, you know you have to differentiate yourself from your competition. The prospect has to see something in what you offer that makes them pause and go, “Hmm.”

But in order to figure out the differentiators that will get that kind of a response, you have to dig deep to discover what is important to your prospect. It doesn’t make a difference if you’re the world’s best omelet chef and your prospect doesn’t like eggs.

 

Two types of messages that get a prospect’s attention

Put simply, your prospect cares about either saving money or making money.

So if you define your differentiators using those two metrics, there’s a very good chance you’ll catch their attention.

Here are some examples:

Saving Money:

• Cutting operating costs
• Decreasing employee turnover
• Eliminating down-time

 Making Money

• Increasing profit margins
• Improving customer retention
• Maximizing productivity

Your prospect may want their brand to become better known, but you need to play the long game: either get more people to buy what they sell or save them money with their operating costs.

Figure that out for your prospect and you’ll have them eating out of your hand.