9 Speak the Customer’s Language

England and America are two great countries separated

by a common language.

—Winston Churchill

When salespeople say they hate cold calling, most of them

don’t mean the whole process of it. What they truly hate and

fear is the first minute of the call. Does this sound familiar?

It isn’t prospecting that I have so much trouble with.

It’s that first sixty seconds of a cold call. If I can get

a prospect’s attention, I can build rapport from

there, and I’m all right. But getting their attention is

a killer. How do I leave a brief voicemail that actually

gets the prospect to return my call? How do I

open a face-to-face conversation that the prospect is

willing to continue? That’s where it all falls apart for

me. The wheels come off before I can get the train

moving.

In business-to-business sales, the most common solution

to the “first sixty-seconds” problem lies in the fact that customers

in any organization speak three distinctly different languages—

and you’re probably speaking the wrong language to

the prospects you are calling.

The language of first-level managers and specialists is not

the same as the one spoken by vice presidents (VPs). And VP

lingo differs in turn from the language of CEOs and other senior

executives. The difference in these tongues is that their

whole basis rests on different values. That makes the disparities

hugely significant. The languages wind up being as different

as Spanish, Greek, and Russian.

TIP: : Know the prospect’s rank in the company before

you call. Then speak in the native tongue of

that rank.

Here are the three languages that business customers

speak.

Level 1: Feature/Function

At the first level are the prospects whom salespeople call on

most often. They typically have job titles such as:

_ Manager

_ Manufacturing Manager

_ Engineering Manager

_ Engineer

_ Marketing Manager

_ Purchasing Agent

_ Director

_ IT Manager

_ Office Manager

_ Buyer

These are users, professionals, and lower-level managers

in charge of specific business operations. They speak the language

of feature/function (Figure 9-1). It is based on their

value system—the things they care about. Things like the following:

_ Does your solution come with training?

_ Does the system have the latest features on it?

_ Can I get expedited delivery?

_ How does this compare with last year’s model?

_ Where can I see one working?

Feature/function language is very important. Salespeople

must be able to speak it fluently. That’s why salespeople attend

products-and-services training sessions ad nauseum—to

make sure they don’t look like idiots when they are unable to

answer customers’ questions at this level.

In the language of feature/function, customer values have

to do with:

_ Features

_ Feature/benefit statements

_ Feature/advantage/benefit statements

_ Competitive features

_ Unique features that no other provider can match

To get the serious attention of a feature/function speaker

in the first sixty seconds or to leave a compelling voicemail

message, you need to say things like this:

_ “Our product can do the job 20 percent faster than

your current way of doing things.”

_ “Using this new feature on the GL-3000 will lower

your risk associated with testing and integration.”

_ “By using our HHR, HHL, and PTSD modules, you

will be able to design those parts to more precise specifications

much faster than ever before.”

Speak the Customer’s Language 47

Figure 9-1. Customer languages.

Feature/Function

Increase Revenue

Market Size

Market Share

Feature/function is the most common language of the

sales world. Salespeople are embarrassed when they can’t

speak it well, so it’s the language in which they usually ask for

marketing help. And it’s the language in which they get most

of that help.

Level 2: Cost/Revenue/Value

There is a huge push nowadays to “call high.” Every sales guru

on earth will tell you to call on higher-level decision makers

in the target organization. But calling high is not the trick—

anybody can leave a message for an executive. The trick is,

when you call high in an organization, what do you say to persuade

the exec that you are a value-add and not just a salesperson

trying to peddle something?

The best feature/function statement in the world will not

get you a return call from a vice president. If you have learned

that painful lesson, but you don’t know why, here’s the reason:

Vice presidents speak another language altogether (Figure 9-1).

Try to hold a feature/function conversation with a vice

president, and this is what you’ll hear:

So, you are 20 percent faster than XYZ? I didn’t

know that. And you’re 30 percent smaller that previous

models? How very interesting. Oh, and you’re

X.556.75Z compatible, as well? My, my. Well, that’s

fascinating. Thanks for coming, really. BUT . . .

If you can’t make me money or save me money, why

am I talking to you?

Vice presidents are interested in one thing only. How are

you going to increase their revenue or decrease their cost?

That’s it! That’s the value system on which their language is

based. A vice president is chartered to achieve corporate goals.

Corporate goals are always stated in fiscal terms: earnings, earnings

before insurance and taxes (EBIT), net present value of investments

(NPV), revenue per employee, compound annual

growth rate (CAGR), and other fiduciary measurements. Vice presidents are responsible for the health of the business. Along

with that mandate comes the responsibility that all major decisions

that affect their organization be fiscally sound.

The point is not that Level 1 managers (feature/function

speakers) don’t care about making or saving money. They do.

The point is, rather, that Level 2 managers care about nothing

else. If you want to get the attention of a vice president or get

your phone calls returned, some of the first words out of your

mouth need to sound like this:

_ “I’d like to talk to you about a system that has cut inventory

costs in organizations like yours by 20 percent.”

_ “Our XYZ approach can boost your revenue by 10 percent,

realistically, before the end of this fiscal year.”

TIP: To get the attention of a buffalo prospect,

speak Value language, not Feature/Function language.

Level 3: Market Size and Share

The third language companies speak is reserved for the top or

senior management: presidents, CEOs, senior vice presidents,

executive vice presidents, CFOs, CIOs, and so on (Figure 9-1).

The value system that shapes and forms senior management’s

language is based on two things: market share and market

size. That’s about it. How big is the market, how big can it

get, and how big a share can I get? In other words, how much

sand is in the sandbox, and how much of it can I either grab or

hold on to?

Why Values Differ—and Why It Matters

Every year, and often every quarter, Level 3 managers must go

to their bosses—shareholders, the board of directors, or maybe

Speak the Customer’s Language 49

the private owners—to report on the state of the business as

well as current and future plans. CEOs cannot address their

bosses as follows:

“The market is growing at 14 percent CAGR over the

next three years. If you adopt and approve my plans,

we will grow the business by 3 percent over the next

three years.”

A CEO who said that would soon be out of a job. What the

CEO needs to say instead is:

“The market is growing at 14 percent CAGR over the

next three years. If you adopt and approve my plans,

we will profitably grow the business by 19 percent

over the next three years and take significant share

away from our competitors.”

That’s how the CEO keeps his job and gets funded for another

year.

The CEO then goes to the Level 2 managers (the VPs), gives

them budgets for the fiscal year, and tells them to manage to

those budgets—or, better, to come in under them. The CEO

says things like: “I want you to deliver 10 percent more top line

(revenue) while holding bottom line (costs) to budget.”

Now that Level 2 managers have budgets, they formulate,

re-examine, plot, manipulate, devise, and assign these budgets

to different departments in their organization. How do budgets

get allocated? Well, which Level 1 manager, who works

for the Level 2 manager, has the best ideas that are going to increase

revenue? The department that has the best ideas to help

the vice president hit business goals will get the biggest share

of available resources for the year. Level 1 managers who can

cut costs after receiving their budgets also become heroes.

TIP: : The best time to talk to Level 1 managers

about how your product can increase revenue is

before they have received their annual budget

appropriations. The best time to talk to Level 1 managers about how your product can help them cut

costs is after they have received their budget appropriations.

Think about it: Don’t you want the

biggest budget you can get before you have to

worry about how to come in under it? Level 1 managers

don’t get bigger budgets by telling VPs they

can cut costs and make do with less money, They

get bigger budgets by telling VPs how they’re going

to generate wads of new cash. Then, if they cut

costs to boot, they look like stars.

Again, the language salespeople speak most often and

most fluently is Level 1 lingo—the language of feature/function.

If you want to hunt buffalo, however, you need to become

multilingual. Which of these languages will be the most productive

for the Knock Your Socks Off prospector to know? The

answer is Level 2 language—the tongue of vice presidents.

When you’re prospecting in the Red Zone, where the buffalo

roam, the mother tongue is the language of cost cutting and

revenue generation—the language of value.

Three Languages: Becoming Multilingual

Because the languages are a concept that most salespeople are

aware of but don’t know how to use as a tool, we offer this

analogy.

There is a huge push nowadays to call higher in the organization.

But calling high is not the trick—anybody can do

that. The trick is—what do you say? What do you say to senior

level executives that will let them see you as a value-add, and

not just a salesperson who is trying to peddle something?

Worse, if they think you have little value, they will pass you

to a lower level and you will have to really fight and claw your

way back up to the senior level. How can you be a value-add

in these senior sales calls? You speak the right language.

Let’s assign a language to each of the three levels.

_ Level 1: the manager level, let’s assign “Spanish.”

_ Level 2: the vice president level, we’ll assign “Russian.”

_ Level 3: the senior manager level, we’ll call “Greek.”

We now have the three languages, Spanish, Russian, and

Greek that represent the three levels of management.

How many times have you prospected at the vice president

(Russian) level? You usually have one hour or less to impress

and generate interest for what you are selling. You have

your presentation material, your PowerPoint presentation,

you’ve rehearsed your speech, and you’re ready to go. The presentation

begins and you’re quite pleased with how well

things are going.

About ten minutes into the presentation, the vice president

asks a question: “Excuse me, but this presentation is in

Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish very well. Why don’t you give

this presentation to John and Mary who work for me, since

they speak Spanish much more fluently than I do?”

This is not exactly what he says, but it’s what he means.

You are still feeling okay because the vice president has told

you to call John and Mary and you can reference the vice president

to get the meeting.

But the bottom line is—you are speaking the wrong language.

If you don’t have a Spanish to Russian dictionary,

you’re out of luck and maybe out of a sale.

You prepared the call in Spanish, gave it in Spanish, and

delivered it in Spanish. You hang out with Spanish buyers all

the time, and you speak Spanish very well. That’s great, but it

doesn’t work at the executive level.

The trick is not calling high. Anyone can do that. The

trick is knowing what to say when you do call high. What do

you say to create value at the vice president level and above so

they won’t send you lower in the organization? Speak the right

language. Speak Spanish to a Spaniard, Russian to a Russian,

and Greek to a Greek!

Sell to Their Values,

Not Yours

Who asks a King for a penny?

—Vernon Howard

“Dad, I have to go to cheerleading practice and you

have to take me now!”

If you’re Dad, do you see any value for you in that statement?

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“But Dad, I have to be there early . . . . “

If you have kids, you know how it works. Eventually, Brianna

gets her way, drags you to the car, and off you go. She is

frustrated and nasty because she found you difficult to motivate.

You’re not in the best mood either, because you can think

of 1,000 things you’d rather be doing. No value has been added

on either side.

Well, after awhile she gets smart.

“Dad, it’s time for cheerleading practice. Mrs. Johansen

will be there early, and she wants to talk to

you about her taking us to cheerleading all next

week.”

What???

Now you’re on your feet and dragging your daughter out

the door because you sure don’t want to miss an opportunity

to run into Mrs. Johansen.

Value has been created. More specifically, the transaction

now meets what we call the Value Criteria.

The Value Criteria

This tool has three elements: value, action, and time (VAT).

1. The transaction must have value to both parties.

2. It must be actionable. There must be some action that

has to take place on both sides.

3. The action must happen by a certain time or within a

certain time frame. “Soon,” “ASAP,” “in the next few

months,” and “by yesterday” are not specific times.

They do not count.

“Time” actually figures into the VAT equation in more

ways than one, as we’ll see. Let’s look at the factors individually.

Value

Value, in the prospect’s mind, has five elements.

Return on Investment (ROI). Customers are greedy.

They want their money back. As a matter of fact, they

want more than their money back. They want two or

three times their money back. Prospects look at the financial

transaction first to see if it makes sense for them

to get involved.

Time. Prospects will always pay for time. Increase

uptime, decrease downtime, reduce overtime, speed up

time to market—time really is money, and if you can tell

a persuasive story about how you’ll save them time,

prospects will listen.

Risk. In Chapter 10, we discussed the values that

shape the special languages spoken by vice presidents

and senior executives—the languages of revenue, costs,

and market share. But there is one more value underlying

those. At the more senior manager levels, it is all about

risk. Everything is about risk. Make their decision more

sure or less risky, and you will turn a prospect into a customer.

Typical risks include:

_ Competitive risks

_ Pricing risks

_ Geographic risks

_ Political risks

_ Product risks

_ Delivery risks

_ People risks

_ Manufacturing risks

_ Engineering risks

_ Integration risks

_ Basic risks of the business

_ Legal risks

Risk is the sole reason for existence of an entire industry.

Why do you buy life insurance, health insurance,

car insurance, and homeowner’s insurance? To reduce

your risk.

TIP: Engage executives in conversations that focus

on reducing risk. Decisions at the lower level are

very black and white. At the more senior level, decisions

are fraught with risk, which is why they get

paid the big bucks. Ask the senior executive about

risk, and they don’t shut up.

Motivation. Understanding a prospect’s motivation

helps you create value. Motivation can be summarized as

a desire that pushes us either toward something or away

from something. Are your prospects running away from a

pain, fear, or uncertainty? Or are they running towards a

vision, a strategy, a goal? If they aren’t doing one or the

other, what do they need you for? You can find out their

motivation by asking “why” questions. Why is the

prospect taking the time to speak to you? Usually you’ll

get answers like these:

_ My old one is broken. (AWAY)

_ I want a new style. (TOWARD)

_ I like the new features. (TOWARD)

_ The one I have just doesn’t do what I need to do

anymore. (AWAY)

TIP: : Until you learn otherwise, assume that a

prospect is in AWAY mode. Fully 70 percent of all

prospects are motivated by AWAY reasons—

they’re looking to solve a problem that’s causing

pain, not to grasp a new opportunity. Sad, perhaps,

but true.

Brand. Brand creates value. Shoppers pay more for

Rolex, Polo, Ferrigamo, and Mercedes. Business

prospects pay more for Intel, IBM, Michelin, and Mont

Blanc, since brands create pull. What can your brand do

for the prospect? Better yet, what can your brand do for

their brand so they can sell more widgets?

TIP: : Value is NOT about spewing your “value

proposition” all over the table. Prospects don’t care

about your value proposition. What they care

about is their value proposition. Help them with

their values, and you have struck gold. The only

way to do that is to ask them about their values.

What is important to them about ROI, time, risk,

and brand? Your canned spiel describes these

things in your terms. Leave it in the can.

Action

“Yes, I can see your point and I agree it would make

me more money. I am just not in a position to do anything

right now.”

For value to be realized, there must be some action you

and the prospect can take to make it happen. Just to agree there

is value, and then agree that nothing can be done to achieve it,

does nobody any good.

No action, no value. Therefore, no action, no sale. Create

a sense of urgency, usually using time or risk, and then request

that the prospect do something to move the deal closer to

fruition—even if it’s only to agree to let you call back on a certain

date in the future.

Time

We said that to meet the Value Criteria, the action in a transaction

must take place within a specific time frame. We also

said that time is one of the building blocks of value—customers

will pay you to save them time. (That’s why FedEx

makes the big money.)

To take things a step further, time comes in three tenses:

past, present and future. Your prospect’s values in any situation

will have to do with one of those tenses. The prospect’s

motivation is either:

_ Restorative. The prospect merely wants to restore

something to the way it was in the past: “I just want to

get back to where we were before this computer virus

hit.”

_ Opportunistic. The motivation is to take advantage of

a present opportunity: “Well, since I’m buying these

tires today, getting the oil changed will save me another

trip . . . and it’s on sale.”

_ Forward Looking. The prospect wants to invest in

something now, so it will pay dividends in the future.

“I really don’t need these Happy New Year party hats

in March, but at 75 percent off, I’ll get them and use

them next year.”

Value, action and time are what prospects care about.

That’s what you should be selling to. How do you do it in a

cold call? By asking questions as soon as possible:

_ “What do you see as the biggest risk facing you and

your company in the next few months?”

_ “What are your current time problems in getting your

product to market? Do you see a value in getting to

market sooner today? What about six months from

now?”

_ “If you could save 20 percent of your inventory carrying

cost, would that be of value to you?”

Those questions are a heck of a lot better than statements

like:

_ “We can save you time and money.”

_ “We have the best product on the market and we can

boost your profits.”

_ “We have the hot solution that everyone wants now.”

Click. Dial toooooone.

England and America are two great countries separated

by a common language.

—Winston Churchill

When salespeople say they hate cold calling, most of them

don’t mean the whole process of it. What they truly hate and

fear is the first minute of the call. Does this sound familiar?

It isn’t prospecting that I have so much trouble with.

It’s that first sixty seconds of a cold call. If I can get

a prospect’s attention, I can build rapport from

there, and I’m all right. But getting their attention is

a killer. How do I leave a brief voicemail that actually

gets the prospect to return my call? How do I

open a face-to-face conversation that the prospect is

willing to continue? That’s where it all falls apart for

me. The wheels come off before I can get the train

moving.

In business-to-business sales, the most common solution

to the “first sixty-seconds” problem lies in the fact that customers

in any organization speak three distinctly different languages—

and you’re probably speaking the wrong language to

the prospects you are calling.

The language of first-level managers and specialists is not

the same as the one spoken by vice presidents (VPs). And VP

lingo differs in turn from the language of CEOs and other senior

executives. The difference in these tongues is that their

whole basis rests on different values. That makes the disparities

hugely significant. The languages wind up being as different

as Spanish, Greek, and Russian.

TIP: : Know the prospect’s rank in the company before

you call. Then speak in the native tongue of

that rank.

Here are the three languages that business customers

speak.

Level 1: Feature/Function

At the first level are the prospects whom salespeople call on

most often. They typically have job titles such as:

_ Manager

_ Manufacturing Manager

_ Engineering Manager

_ Engineer

_ Marketing Manager

_ Purchasing Agent

_ Director

_ IT Manager

_ Office Manager

_ Buyer

These are users, professionals, and lower-level managers

in charge of specific business operations. They speak the language

of feature/function (Figure 9-1). It is based on their

value system—the things they care about. Things like the following:

_ Does your solution come with training?

_ Does the system have the latest features on it?

_ Can I get expedited delivery?

_ How does this compare with last year’s model?

_ Where can I see one working?

Feature/function language is very important. Salespeople

must be able to speak it fluently. That’s why salespeople attend

products-and-services training sessions ad nauseum—to

make sure they don’t look like idiots when they are unable to

answer customers’ questions at this level.

In the language of feature/function, customer values have

to do with:

_ Features

_ Feature/benefit statements

_ Feature/advantage/benefit statements

_ Competitive features

_ Unique features that no other provider can match

To get the serious attention of a feature/function speaker

in the first sixty seconds or to leave a compelling voicemail

message, you need to say things like this:

_ “Our product can do the job 20 percent faster than

your current way of doing things.”

_ “Using this new feature on the GL-3000 will lower

your risk associated with testing and integration.”

_ “By using our HHR, HHL, and PTSD modules, you

will be able to design those parts to more precise specifications

much faster than ever before.”

Speak the Customer’s Language 47

Figure 9-1. Customer languages.

Feature/Function

Increase Revenue

Market Size

Market Share

Feature/function is the most common language of the

sales world. Salespeople are embarrassed when they can’t

speak it well, so it’s the language in which they usually ask for

marketing help. And it’s the language in which they get most

of that help.

Level 2: Cost/Revenue/Value

There is a huge push nowadays to “call high.” Every sales guru

on earth will tell you to call on higher-level decision makers

in the target organization. But calling high is not the trick—

anybody can leave a message for an executive. The trick is,

when you call high in an organization, what do you say to persuade

the exec that you are a value-add and not just a salesperson

trying to peddle something?

The best feature/function statement in the world will not

get you a return call from a vice president. If you have learned

that painful lesson, but you don’t know why, here’s the reason:

Vice presidents speak another language altogether (Figure 9-1).

Try to hold a feature/function conversation with a vice

president, and this is what you’ll hear:

So, you are 20 percent faster than XYZ? I didn’t

know that. And you’re 30 percent smaller that previous

models? How very interesting. Oh, and you’re

X.556.75Z compatible, as well? My, my. Well, that’s

fascinating. Thanks for coming, really. BUT . . .

If you can’t make me money or save me money, why

am I talking to you?

Vice presidents are interested in one thing only. How are

you going to increase their revenue or decrease their cost?

That’s it! That’s the value system on which their language is

based. A vice president is chartered to achieve corporate goals.

Corporate goals are always stated in fiscal terms: earnings, earnings

before insurance and taxes (EBIT), net present value of investments

(NPV), revenue per employee, compound annual

growth rate (CAGR), and other fiduciary measurements. Vice presidents are responsible for the health of the business. Along

with that mandate comes the responsibility that all major decisions

that affect their organization be fiscally sound.

The point is not that Level 1 managers (feature/function

speakers) don’t care about making or saving money. They do.

The point is, rather, that Level 2 managers care about nothing

else. If you want to get the attention of a vice president or get

your phone calls returned, some of the first words out of your

mouth need to sound like this:

_ “I’d like to talk to you about a system that has cut inventory

costs in organizations like yours by 20 percent.”

_ “Our XYZ approach can boost your revenue by 10 percent,

realistically, before the end of this fiscal year.”

TIP: To get the attention of a buffalo prospect,

speak Value language, not Feature/Function language.

Level 3: Market Size and Share

The third language companies speak is reserved for the top or

senior management: presidents, CEOs, senior vice presidents,

executive vice presidents, CFOs, CIOs, and so on (Figure 9-1).

The value system that shapes and forms senior management’s

language is based on two things: market share and market

size. That’s about it. How big is the market, how big can it

get, and how big a share can I get? In other words, how much

sand is in the sandbox, and how much of it can I either grab or

hold on to?

Why Values Differ—and Why It Matters

Every year, and often every quarter, Level 3 managers must go

to their bosses—shareholders, the board of directors, or maybe

Speak the Customer’s Language 49

the private owners—to report on the state of the business as

well as current and future plans. CEOs cannot address their

bosses as follows:

“The market is growing at 14 percent CAGR over the

next three years. If you adopt and approve my plans,

we will grow the business by 3 percent over the next

three years.”

A CEO who said that would soon be out of a job. What the

CEO needs to say instead is:

“The market is growing at 14 percent CAGR over the

next three years. If you adopt and approve my plans,

we will profitably grow the business by 19 percent

over the next three years and take significant share

away from our competitors.”

That’s how the CEO keeps his job and gets funded for another

year.

The CEO then goes to the Level 2 managers (the VPs), gives

them budgets for the fiscal year, and tells them to manage to

those budgets—or, better, to come in under them. The CEO

says things like: “I want you to deliver 10 percent more top line

(revenue) while holding bottom line (costs) to budget.”

Now that Level 2 managers have budgets, they formulate,

re-examine, plot, manipulate, devise, and assign these budgets

to different departments in their organization. How do budgets

get allocated? Well, which Level 1 manager, who works

for the Level 2 manager, has the best ideas that are going to increase

revenue? The department that has the best ideas to help

the vice president hit business goals will get the biggest share

of available resources for the year. Level 1 managers who can

cut costs after receiving their budgets also become heroes.

TIP: : The best time to talk to Level 1 managers

about how your product can increase revenue is

before they have received their annual budget

appropriations. The best time to talk to Level 1 managers about how your product can help them cut

costs is after they have received their budget appropriations.

Think about it: Don’t you want the

biggest budget you can get before you have to

worry about how to come in under it? Level 1 managers

don’t get bigger budgets by telling VPs they

can cut costs and make do with less money, They

get bigger budgets by telling VPs how they’re going

to generate wads of new cash. Then, if they cut

costs to boot, they look like stars.

Again, the language salespeople speak most often and

most fluently is Level 1 lingo—the language of feature/function.

If you want to hunt buffalo, however, you need to become

multilingual. Which of these languages will be the most productive

for the Knock Your Socks Off prospector to know? The

answer is Level 2 language—the tongue of vice presidents.

When you’re prospecting in the Red Zone, where the buffalo

roam, the mother tongue is the language of cost cutting and

revenue generation—the language of value.

Three Languages: Becoming Multilingual

Because the languages are a concept that most salespeople are

aware of but don’t know how to use as a tool, we offer this

analogy.

There is a huge push nowadays to call higher in the organization.

But calling high is not the trick—anybody can do

that. The trick is—what do you say? What do you say to senior

level executives that will let them see you as a value-add, and

not just a salesperson who is trying to peddle something?

Worse, if they think you have little value, they will pass you

to a lower level and you will have to really fight and claw your

way back up to the senior level. How can you be a value-add

in these senior sales calls? You speak the right language.

Let’s assign a language to each of the three levels.

_ Level 1: the manager level, let’s assign “Spanish.”

_ Level 2: the vice president level, we’ll assign “Russian.”

_ Level 3: the senior manager level, we’ll call “Greek.”

We now have the three languages, Spanish, Russian, and

Greek that represent the three levels of management.

How many times have you prospected at the vice president

(Russian) level? You usually have one hour or less to impress

and generate interest for what you are selling. You have

your presentation material, your PowerPoint presentation,

you’ve rehearsed your speech, and you’re ready to go. The presentation

begins and you’re quite pleased with how well

things are going.

About ten minutes into the presentation, the vice president

asks a question: “Excuse me, but this presentation is in

Spanish. I don’t speak Spanish very well. Why don’t you give

this presentation to John and Mary who work for me, since

they speak Spanish much more fluently than I do?”

This is not exactly what he says, but it’s what he means.

You are still feeling okay because the vice president has told

you to call John and Mary and you can reference the vice president

to get the meeting.

But the bottom line is—you are speaking the wrong language.

If you don’t have a Spanish to Russian dictionary,

you’re out of luck and maybe out of a sale.

You prepared the call in Spanish, gave it in Spanish, and

delivered it in Spanish. You hang out with Spanish buyers all

the time, and you speak Spanish very well. That’s great, but it

doesn’t work at the executive level.

The trick is not calling high. Anyone can do that. The

trick is knowing what to say when you do call high. What do

you say to create value at the vice president level and above so

they won’t send you lower in the organization? Speak the right

language. Speak Spanish to a Spaniard, Russian to a Russian,

and Greek to a Greek!

Sell to Their Values,

Not Yours

Who asks a King for a penny?

—Vernon Howard

“Dad, I have to go to cheerleading practice and you

have to take me now!”

If you’re Dad, do you see any value for you in that statement?

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“But Dad, I have to be there early . . . . “

If you have kids, you know how it works. Eventually, Brianna

gets her way, drags you to the car, and off you go. She is

frustrated and nasty because she found you difficult to motivate.

You’re not in the best mood either, because you can think

of 1,000 things you’d rather be doing. No value has been added

on either side.

Well, after awhile she gets smart.

“Dad, it’s time for cheerleading practice. Mrs. Johansen

will be there early, and she wants to talk to

you about her taking us to cheerleading all next

week.”

What???

Now you’re on your feet and dragging your daughter out

the door because you sure don’t want to miss an opportunity

to run into Mrs. Johansen.

Value has been created. More specifically, the transaction

now meets what we call the Value Criteria.

The Value Criteria

This tool has three elements: value, action, and time (VAT).

1. The transaction must have value to both parties.

2. It must be actionable. There must be some action that

has to take place on both sides.

3. The action must happen by a certain time or within a

certain time frame. “Soon,” “ASAP,” “in the next few

months,” and “by yesterday” are not specific times.

They do not count.

“Time” actually figures into the VAT equation in more

ways than one, as we’ll see. Let’s look at the factors individually.

Value

Value, in the prospect’s mind, has five elements.

Return on Investment (ROI). Customers are greedy.

They want their money back. As a matter of fact, they

want more than their money back. They want two or

three times their money back. Prospects look at the financial

transaction first to see if it makes sense for them

to get involved.

Time. Prospects will always pay for time. Increase

uptime, decrease downtime, reduce overtime, speed up

time to market—time really is money, and if you can tell

a persuasive story about how you’ll save them time,

prospects will listen.

Risk. In Chapter 10, we discussed the values that

shape the special languages spoken by vice presidents

and senior executives—the languages of revenue, costs,

and market share. But there is one more value underlying

those. At the more senior manager levels, it is all about

risk. Everything is about risk. Make their decision more

sure or less risky, and you will turn a prospect into a customer.

Typical risks include:

_ Competitive risks

_ Pricing risks

_ Geographic risks

_ Political risks

_ Product risks

_ Delivery risks

_ People risks

_ Manufacturing risks

_ Engineering risks

_ Integration risks

_ Basic risks of the business

_ Legal risks

Risk is the sole reason for existence of an entire industry.

Why do you buy life insurance, health insurance,

car insurance, and homeowner’s insurance? To reduce

your risk.

TIP: Engage executives in conversations that focus

on reducing risk. Decisions at the lower level are

very black and white. At the more senior level, decisions

are fraught with risk, which is why they get

paid the big bucks. Ask the senior executive about

risk, and they don’t shut up.

Motivation. Understanding a prospect’s motivation

helps you create value. Motivation can be summarized as

a desire that pushes us either toward something or away

from something. Are your prospects running away from a

pain, fear, or uncertainty? Or are they running towards a

vision, a strategy, a goal? If they aren’t doing one or the

other, what do they need you for? You can find out their

motivation by asking “why” questions. Why is the

prospect taking the time to speak to you? Usually you’ll

get answers like these:

_ My old one is broken. (AWAY)

_ I want a new style. (TOWARD)

_ I like the new features. (TOWARD)

_ The one I have just doesn’t do what I need to do

anymore. (AWAY)

TIP: : Until you learn otherwise, assume that a

prospect is in AWAY mode. Fully 70 percent of all

prospects are motivated by AWAY reasons—

they’re looking to solve a problem that’s causing

pain, not to grasp a new opportunity. Sad, perhaps,

but true.

Brand. Brand creates value. Shoppers pay more for

Rolex, Polo, Ferrigamo, and Mercedes. Business

prospects pay more for Intel, IBM, Michelin, and Mont

Blanc, since brands create pull. What can your brand do

for the prospect? Better yet, what can your brand do for

their brand so they can sell more widgets?

TIP: : Value is NOT about spewing your “value

proposition” all over the table. Prospects don’t care

about your value proposition. What they care

about is their value proposition. Help them with

their values, and you have struck gold. The only

way to do that is to ask them about their values.

What is important to them about ROI, time, risk,

and brand? Your canned spiel describes these

things in your terms. Leave it in the can.

Action

“Yes, I can see your point and I agree it would make

me more money. I am just not in a position to do anything

right now.”

For value to be realized, there must be some action you

and the prospect can take to make it happen. Just to agree there

is value, and then agree that nothing can be done to achieve it,

does nobody any good.

No action, no value. Therefore, no action, no sale. Create

a sense of urgency, usually using time or risk, and then request

that the prospect do something to move the deal closer to

fruition—even if it’s only to agree to let you call back on a certain

date in the future.

Time

We said that to meet the Value Criteria, the action in a transaction

must take place within a specific time frame. We also

said that time is one of the building blocks of value—customers

will pay you to save them time. (That’s why FedEx

makes the big money.)

To take things a step further, time comes in three tenses:

past, present and future. Your prospect’s values in any situation

will have to do with one of those tenses. The prospect’s

motivation is either:

_ Restorative. The prospect merely wants to restore

something to the way it was in the past: “I just want to

get back to where we were before this computer virus

hit.”

_ Opportunistic. The motivation is to take advantage of

a present opportunity: “Well, since I’m buying these

tires today, getting the oil changed will save me another

trip . . . and it’s on sale.”

_ Forward Looking. The prospect wants to invest in

something now, so it will pay dividends in the future.

“I really don’t need these Happy New Year party hats

in March, but at 75 percent off, I’ll get them and use

them next year.”

Value, action and time are what prospects care about.

That’s what you should be selling to. How do you do it in a

cold call? By asking questions as soon as possible:

_ “What do you see as the biggest risk facing you and

your company in the next few months?”

_ “What are your current time problems in getting your

product to market? Do you see a value in getting to

market sooner today? What about six months from

now?”

_ “If you could save 20 percent of your inventory carrying

cost, would that be of value to you?”

Those questions are a heck of a lot better than statements

like:

_ “We can save you time and money.”

_ “We have the best product on the market and we can

boost your profits.”

_ “We have the hot solution that everyone wants now.”

Click. Dial toooooone.