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The second sales-related attribute is the ability to differentiate.
The ability to differentiate follows closing because you need to be able to obtain commitments in order to have the opportunity to differentiate. Really, these two attributes enable each other, as often your ability to differentiate yourself and your company is what allows you to obtain the commitment.
What is Differentiation?
To differentiate is to stand out in a crowd. It is to be different in way that distinguishes you and separates you from everyone else. But it isn’t enough just to be different; it is to be different in way that makes a difference. The difference has to be meaningful.
Differentiation in Sales
There are two areas in sales where differentiation is necessary. First, a salesperson must be able to differentiate their product or their service from their competitor’s offerings. Second, and more important, the salesperson has to differentiate themselves from their competitors (this is why the foundational attributes precede the sales-related attributes; it is rare enough to find the combination in a single person that possessing them provides tremendous differentiation).
Great salespeople have the ability to differentiate their product or service from their competitor’s offerings. They have the ability to frame their product or service in a way so as to highlight the differences. They highlight the differences to demonstrate how those differences translate to the improved results that they obtain for their clients.
Great salespeople have the ability to differentiate their product or service by giving it meaning, making it stand for a point of view or a belief system. They leverage this meaning-making to separate their offering from the crowd.
Differentiation is what allows great salespeople to avoid being commoditized, even when what they sell is in fact a commodity.
Great salespeople know that they are, in part, what the customer is buying. They know that because this true, they have to differentiate themselves from their many competitors.
Great salespeople differentiate themselves by demonstrating the value that they personally will create. They differentiate themselves with their subject matter expertise. They differentiate themselves with the books they read, and the result that reading has on their thinking.
They differentiate themselves with their ability to build consensus with all of their client’s stakeholders.
They differentiate themselves with their creativity and their imagination in building solutions. They differentiate themselves with their professionalism in orchestrating their team.
They differentiate themselves with their personal commitment to ensuring that their client achieves the outcomes that they have sold.
When Differentiation is Missing
When differentiation is missing, the salesperson has a hard time responding to, “You are all about the same,” or “We have never realized any difference.” When salespeople lack the ability to differentiate, they struggle obtaining the commitment to open the possibility of a relationship. They cannot pull themselves out of the pack, and they cannot gain attention.
When salespeople lack the ability to differentiate their product or service, it is difficult to gain commitments to move the deal forward. It is difficult to create a vision of how the client’s situation will be improved, and more difficult still to make the case that their situation will improved over their competitor’s solution.
When differentiation is missing, sales are harder to make and often based on price alone.
When the salesperson cannot differentiate themselves, they fail to create the lasting relationships on which sales (and long-term success) are built. If you are no different than anyone else, there is little reason to choose you over anyone else.
Conclusion
Success in sales is dependent upon your ability to differentiate your product or service in a crowded field. More important still is your ability to differentiate yourself as a salesperson. This is accomplished first by possessing and developing the ten foundational success skills, and then by developing your own personal brand.
The first thing that a customer buys is you!
Questions
1. How do I differentiate my product or service? What does my company brand stand for?
2. How do I differentiate myself as a salesperson? What does my personal brand stand for?
3. What are the differences that make the differences in my product or service?
4. What are the differences that make the differences for my clients when they choose me over my competitors?
5. How do I ensure my prospects and clients feel the differences that distinguish me and from my competitors?
6. What else could I develop that would create greater differentiation?
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Hi,
This is the first time I have visited this blog, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of this article.
This subject is awfully important.
All to many salesmen still live in the old days where you could let the product speak itself. Today we have much too much competition to get that chance.
You have to catch the attention of the customer quickly and keep it to even have a chance to present your product.
I think you have some good ideas on how to stand out from the crowd.
The important this is to always do something that others don’t expect.
Thanks again for the article and I look forward to reading more.
//Daniel M. Wood
Looking To Business
Anthony, you’ve hit it right on the head. Beyond direct selling, it’s something I see missing from proposals by both small and large companies. I help bidding companies write their proposals and also help buying companies evaluate RFP responses, so I’ve seen it all.
Time and time again, I see lots of chest thumping and horn tooting, talking about how great they are and why they are the best and should be selected. What’s missing is the details – the evidence that truly differentiates them from the others. Not just talk, but as your point #4 suggests, “What are the differences that make the differences for my clients when they choose me over my competitors?”
First, you need to know what the client cares about, then you need to prove you are different in the areas that matter. Bidders who prove it and don’t just deliver marketing fluff in their proposals have more credibility.
It’s one of the things I talk about in my book “Win More Business – Write Better Proposals”. It’ll be available on Amazon.com by the end of February 2010 – for more info, check out http://www.howtowinmorebusiness.com
Michel.