Marketingprofs.com offers up an insightful article from Jeff Thull that deals with one of the most important aspects of selling – credibility. Here is the setup (emphasis mine):
Now the sobering question, “How different are your two best competitors’ credibility stories from your own company’s credibility story?”
Unfortunately, other than a few minor elements, they are likely to sound quite similar. Therefore, telling the credibility story suggests that you and your competitors are more equal than you are different. This type of credibility is what we refer to as “expected credibility.” In other words, people expect you wouldn’t be in business if you couldn’t provide the above credibility story. They really see it as table stakes. It’s expected, and they’d be surprised and quite skeptical if you didn’t have it.
To truly set you and your company apart, what needs to be developed with your customer is what we refer to as “exceptional credibility.” Expected credibility is what you know about your business and your solution. Exceptional credibility is what you know about your customers, their individual job responsibilities, their business objectives and performance, and their challenges.
How true. There is a threshold that all companies must pass to be in the market. If you stake your credibility solely on that threshold, you are in trouble. As he always does, Thull provides the solution:
The best way to develop exceptional credibility is through diligent preparation and thought-provoking questions.
I’ll leave the rest of the article for your reading pleasure. It is well worth the time to read and digest his approach. Thull’s dissection of “opinion-level” questions vs. observation questions is excellent. For my money, there is no better analogy for sales than medical practices (especially doctors and salespeople).