B2B Sales Positioning

I came across an interesting article the other day titled, “3 Approaches for Effective Sales Positioning.” This article was mostly geared toward B2B sales, but are strategies that can be applied to many situations. It talks about how even after a salesperson uncovers their prospect’s needs, they often position the product on basis of features and functionality. Salespeople often try and sell a list, attempting to match features with the needs they perceive the prospect has. Often this approach fails. Instead, focus on the features but change the context of the discussion in one of these ways:

Convenience | Think about what your product can remove from their life, easing workload and making life for convenient. How can you give them more TIME – which is often of more immediate impact than money, depending on the customer. For example, if you are selling to a C-level executive, time saved is money earned and is very important.

Vision | Don’t just focus on needs, understand the prospect’s business and what drives it. What is their values, their vision, their business model? What trends affect them? Your goal should be to position your product not only as the solution to their current needs but also as a stepping stone to the future. In order to be successful, you must align this to their company values and vision…embed it into their business model in a powerful way.

Effects | Most of the time deals aren’t lost to competitors but to inactivity. Sometimes prospects need to make a change, just not “right now.” This could be because of a number of reasons: they’re resistant to change, timing is never right. If this situation arises position yourself in a slightly less positive way in order to make them fully aware of the effects (short and long-term) of continued inactivity. Follow with the vision approach after this.