5 Ways to Find the Right Marketing Message for Your Consultative Sales Process

Your marketing message has the potential to make or break your sales campaign. If you don’t have just the right message, you simply won’t reach your prospects in the way they need to be reached. Not only do you need to find the right way to impart your product or service’s benefits, you may also need to fine-tune your marketing message for each prospect.

Luckily, this isn’t as difficult as it sounds. If you’ve paid attention during the first few phases of the selling process, you’ll know what your prospect needs – and this will give you the clues that are necessary to help you meet those needs.

The first step in finding the right marketing message is discovering what makes your product or service different from your competitors (as well as what makes your company different.) Find the differences that mean the most to your prospect; service, support, price vs value, and your track record. These key points weigh heavily in your prospect’s decision making process.

Be prepared with an argument should your prospect say, “Well, Company X has the same thing for less money.” This is when you need to start promoting value instead of price. Bring home the point that less is not always more and stress what makes your company well worth the money. People are willing to pay more for something provided that they have been sold on the value of what they are purchasing.

One pitfall in this process is the temptation to downplay your competitors, or worse, disparage them. This is something that should never be done. Always give credit where credit is due and refrain from speaking ill of any of your competitors. If you do, your prospect may actually end up thinking less of you and your product.

Your sales process management should include resources and training for your team members so that they are well armed with the right marketing message and that they know what they can and cannot do while marketing your products. All of your team members need to use a cohesive marketing message.

The next step in finding the right marketing message is preparing example Return on Investment (ROI) figures for your prospects. This helps underscore your value proposition, and puts what you are saying into real and tangible figures that your prospect can use.

Sales process management should always include training your team on how to create ROI reports and how to impart the information in the reports in the most positive light to your prospects. A good ROI report will immediately change how a buyer looks at your product or service. Suddenly, they are able to see, in black and white, just how much good you are going to do their company.

The last step in developing your marketing message is including testimonials from past customers. This will often be the final step in your prospect’s decision making process. If it worked for other companies in their sector, then, in their minds, it’s likely to work for them too.

Once you have created your marketing message, it needs to become an integral part of your sales process management. Your entire team needs to get behind it, understand it, and find the best ways to share the information with their prospects. Frequent team meetings and a high level of support for your sales team members will ensure that your marketing message is not only being used, but that it is being used correctly.