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FEBRUARY 2005
Can you tell me what your business does?
In a workshop I recently conducted I asked several of the attendees, "What business are you in"? I received a number of replies; network integration, storage area networking, systems integration...Do economic buyers visualize something they need when they hear these answers? They might if they are in the market for more storage space, but they are also likely to refer you to their system administrator once they hear that answer. Michael Bosworth writes in his latest book, "Customer Centric Selling", you get delegated to the people you sound like". How can you avoid this problem?
Potential clients are confused when they hear these statements. To the business person, technology companies all look the same. As a technology professional, think about the financial consulting world for a moment. Unless you have received some training, it all looks the same. Somehow you need to find a way to position your company's services in the mind of your prospecitve client. You have to come up with something more interesting than "System Integration Services".
1. First you need a clear mission
If we are going to position ourselves as someone different, a trusted advisor in some area, we need two things. First, we have to be trusted, but we also have to have some expertise as an advisor in a specific area. That means we have to be perceived as an expert. Your mission is what you do, and it has to be business-centric. In August 2004, I wrote an article for VARBusiness on Business Strategies (Read the article). One of my key points called for developing a specific mission that would appeal to business people. An example might be, providing security assessment and planning services for banks or healthcare organizations, or providing a cost effective way to manage IT through remote managed services in the SMB market. This statement has to offer a benefit in the mind of your customer. Once it does, write it down and use it.
2. Develop interesting questions specific to your market
When you answer the question, "What do you do", what you really want is for the person you are speaking with to show some interest. You want them to say, "Tell me about that", or "How can I get some more information about that from you"? The problem is, "System Integrator" is not a very interesting answer to someone running a furniture manufacturing operation. Wouldn't it be great if you could get them to ask about it? Getting them interested requires a two part positioning statement. The first part is simply a question begining with the words, "You know how...". Here are some examples:
- "You know how businesses like yours depend on your ERP system being up and running everyday without interruption"?
- "You know how small business owners have to invest much of their energy into building their business and do not have time to plan, develop, and maintain their IT systems"?
- "You know how a medical organization would be impacted if patient health information (PHI) where to be misused or stolen"?
3. Answer the question
If your question is good, the prospective client will relate to it and a dialogue will begin. The second part of your positioning statement answers the question and begins the dialogue. It is a statement about how your organization addresses the issues you have highlighted through a process or offering your company has developed. Here are some examples:
- "What I do is help companies avoid unexpected downtime that could be caused by hardware failures, network outages, or data corruption".
- "What I do is work with small and medium businesses to help them plan, budget, build, and maintain their IT operation using a cost efficient program we have developed".
- "What I do is help medical organizations assess risk, mitigate liability, and comply with healthcare federal compliance regulations".
4. Refine it until it works
Next time you are in a clothing store that has a sales person greeting people as they come in, listen. Generally the sales person will say, "May I help you" (or something similar). But what does every customer say? In most cases the person will say, "No, I am just looking", even if they need help. Why is that? We are programmed to resist this "line". So why do sale people continue to use it?
As you develop questions and answers to build your positioning statement, take note of what is working and continue to refine it. Find ways to use this same approach in mailings, email letters, and other marketing materials.
For ideas on how to build an effective mission focus you might consider attending one of the Security Value Proposition Workshops. Contact us for details on how this can help you grow your business.
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