Browse by title articles:

The Secret to Account Penetration and Development

by Paul Goldner    

I’m sure that you’ve heard the old saying that most sales take place after the fifth call and most sales people quit after the first?  Old selling lore tells that most sales people quit after the first call due to the fear of rejection.  Let’s face it, nobody likes to get rejected.  While rejection certainly plays a part in the process, I often wonder how many sales people quit simply because they do not know what to do on the second and third calls?

Your Unique Selling Points are the answer to this challenge.  In fact, your Unique Selling Points are the foundation for your entire business development strategy.  They are the greatest strengths of your organization and are specifically designed to answer the question “Why should some one do business with you?”

I first learned the power of Unique Selling Points when I started my first business, a computer training company.  I was lucky enough to be the first company in a new market.  Initially, I had no competition and selling was quite easy.  However, when competition entered the market, I soon had to answer the same question we all do; “Why should I do business with you?”.  I found this to be a difficult question to answer and went to a friend of mine for counsel.

My friend was the chairperson of a major advertising agency in New York and obtained her apprenticeship under the great David Olgilvy.  She told me that when she used to take an advertising campaign to Mr. Olgilvy for approval, he would always ask just one question.  The question was “What’s the banner?”  What Mr. Olgilvy wanted to know was what the advertising program stood for.  If you could answer this question in one sentence or less, he would approve the campaign.  If you could not, you were sent back to the drawing board.

In sales, we also need to define what we stand for in the marketplace.  However, because most sales take place after the fifth call, we need more than one banner with which to work.  By developing a series of five Unique Selling Points, you have an opportunity to bring something new to your customers and prospects at each point of contact.  By introducing something new and valuable into the sales cycle, you enhance your chances of success.  You also enhance your chances of penetrating those “tough”, key accounts.

The first time you meet a customer, it is OK to introduce yourself, introduce your company and understand the customer’s needs.  However, if you repeat the same process during your second and third meetings, you will start to sound redundant.  Your Unique Selling Points give you a new point of discussion for each customer contact.  On your second meeting, you can focus on the first of your five Unique Selling Points.  On your third meeting, you can focus on the second of your Unique Selling Points, and so on.

Your Unique Selling Point system gives your customer a new reason to talk to you on the telephone, a new reason to meet with you and most importantly, a new reason to buy from you.

There are two other benefits to defining your Unique Selling Points. 

First, effective use of your Unique Selling Points will create what I call “A Rolaids Effect”.  I’m sure you are familiar with the Rolaids’ commercial, “How do you spell relief?”  The answer is of course, “R O L A I D S”.  Through repetition, an entire nation has learned how to spell relief. 

If your Unique Selling Points permeate everything you do; your letters, your telephone calls, your proposals, your face to face meetings and your presentations, you, too, will create a Rolaids Effect.  A Rolaids effect will cause customers to come to you to gain access to your company’s Unique Selling Point offerings.  In other words, you will have created your own, proprietary market position.

Second, if you construct your Unique Selling Points in a conceptual manner, you will have a business development system that will last forever. 

For example, suppose that the first of your five Unique Selling Points was that your company was consistently first to market with new products or services.  Imagine that you have had six consecutive meetings with a potential customer over a period of one year and have not made a sale.  A number of months ago, you would have presented a first to market product or service in an effort to do business with the prospect.  Having gone through an entire sales cycle, you now have the opportunity to use the first to market capability again, but this time with a different angle.

The product or service that you presented as first to market one year ago is no longer first to market today.  However, today, you have a new first to market product or service to present.  In other words, you have the opportunity to present the first to market concept a second time and still make it sound new. 

As you can see, sales is a process, not an event.  In order to be successful in sales, you must learn to bet on the process.  A sound process will always lead you to selling success.  You Unique Selling Point system is the best business development strategy I have ever seen since it allows you to cultivate your key accounts in a very professional and consultative manner.


-----------------