Are You Speaking To The New Age Customer?
“Our proven ABC can leverage XYZ to maximize ROI.” This isn’t interesting, because every single vendor that contacts me is somehow a proven industry leader that can leverage something to maximize my ROI somewhere. If these are still very typical phrases in your sales vocabulary, your tactics are a bit “old school” and today you will have a hard time reaching the new age customer. If you bother using words like “proven” or “industry leader,” don’t. This is, unless you can actually tell me how exactly you are proven to be any sort of “industry leader.”
If these are the words you choose to use to explain your product/solution, chances are you have learned them from someone else. These phrases have been passed around too many times. What’s the point in taking someone else’s words to make your offering sound interesting? If this is still your lingo, you might be a little too late to the party. They only way to get the attention of the new prospect is to speak to them like a real human being and start talking facts.
I admit, there was a time when I thought these words sounded intelligent or industry savvy. Much like matching your handbag to your shoes – times have changed. If you want to get your audience’s attention, I dare you to remove all “marketing jargon” and phrases. As soon as the new age prospect sees an email with maximize, leverage, streamline, customize, comprehensive, blah, blah, and blah, they will most likely delete, trash, or spam you. I am constantly reminding myself and my reps that the best way to remove the fluff is to answer these top 3 questions:
What is your product/service?
Who does your product/service impact?
What is your product/service’s impact on business?*
This last question can be the toughest to answer without using old jargon. My best advice is to keep it simple and honest. The New Age Customer can see right through the vendor trying to over impress. I am more frequently seeing my reps getting hung up on the “what we do” statement. What seemed right a year ago just doesn’t resonate well with the new audience anymore. As soon as your prospect hears or sees you glorifying your product they will stop listening. The trick is to tell them what your product does without wanting to sell them a thing.
I dare you to stand out from the crowd and be different. The best way to give your prospect substance is to remove all the fluff and actually tell them what you do and what makes you different from anyone else in your space.