The Absence Of Value

We’ve been working on this value topic because it is the single, most important aspect of any sales position.  A company that lacks a value proposition is destined to stumble through the market while being commoditized on price. I saw this effect 6 years ago when doing sales calls in the field with a company’s reps.  After spending a couple days in a couple different cities, it became clear that they had to value proposition to offer the market.  This absence of value led to one consistent outcome – they had to compete on price.  Granted, some companies are positioned to compete in this format.  The company I was working… Read More

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Value Proposition-You Don’t Have To Be Different

MarketingProfs.com has a superb, thought-provoking article regarding value propositions.  If you have read The Hire Sense of late, you know this is a topic we are exploring in many facets of sales.  I have to confess, this author’s take is completely different (irony there) than the other points I have read on this topic. Here is the gist of his commentary: So be different: Stop listening to the continuous pleas from consultants, marketers, and textbooks to be different… one of a kind.. .a shining beacon of newness in a sea of same-old same-old. Focus instead on actually delivering the value to the market that you say you deliver (which, in… Read More

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Know Your Value

I was meeting with a VP of Sales yesterday discussing the onramping program for the new salesperson we found for them.  He brought up a good point in that his new salesperson was spending time researching their competition.  Unfortunately, they are in a commoditized market with many – many – competitors.  The VP told the salesperson that there are too many competitors to research since they do not have a specific, common competitor. This led to a discussion that I heard regarding federal authorities and counterfeit money (a common topic this morning).  There are far too many counterfeiters with different techniques to know all of the scams.  So instead, the… Read More

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