In the summer of 1996, I was on sabbatical in Guatemala with my family. We lived like locals, sharing a cramped four-bedroom, two-bathroom home with a Guatemalan family of twelve. Both my daughters attended the neighborhood school and made friends with the kids on our block. Before the sabbatical, our family only spoke English, so imagine my surprise when both my girls became confident Spanish speakers in a matter of weeks! My oldest, at eleven, could hold entire conversations in the language while my youngest, age three, became fluent. Their immersion in the local community allowed them to pick up Spanish with ease, clearly communicating with friends and learning alongside their peers in class.
My daughters’ language immersion experience perfectly illustrates the secret to creating a masterful value story. To maximize your impact, you have to immerse yourself in the customer’s world and learn their language. Become a student of your client, their company, and their industry. Research your clients’ words and numbers so you can think and speak like them.
Quantitative Analysis Tips
For quantitative analysis tips, check out my blog post The Most Important Client Document You’ve Never Read and register for the Sistas In Sales Upcoming Sales Mastery Webinar: Becoming An Empathic Seller Using Financial Insights.
For your qualitative analysis, search for themes, patterns, or movements, and identify the Pain, Opportunities, and Problems (POP). Find what POPs!
Here are easy three steps to start your journey into your client’s world:
- Client Research: Examine their social media profiles and posts. Follow them on Twitter, connect with them on LinkedIn, and check out their Facebook pages. Find and review executive leadership presentations. Research your client and key individuals across their organization, including influencers, decisionmakers, and end users.
- Company Research– For public companies, search for the “Investors” or “About” pages on their corporate website and download the CEO Annual Shareholder Letter.
- Industry Research– To expand your industry knowledge, become familiar with analyst reports and market trends that will influence your client and their decisions. A website like Value Line provides accurate and insightful analyst reports and research on companies and industries.
By immersing yourself in the customer’s world and understanding their perspective, you will learn to analyze and think like them. With this information, you can tailor and develop a killer value story. A powerful value story changes everything; it gives you the confidence to talk to anyone about what you do and sell into the C-suite.
Here’s to selling Mastery.
-Cherilynn
Head of Education and Growth, Sistas In Sales
Cherilynn Castleman, Sales Trainer/Executive Coach, has been a sales executive for 20+ years, a natural talent for teaching and a drive to sell, Cherilynn uses her skills to coach and train other sales professionals.
