Who is the target audience?
Different audiences result in a breadth of views on how a product can solve their need. The conversation for a CEO, the CFO or the consumer of a product or service will all have different messages. Your potential customer or partner can be broken down into three categories:
The decision maker is the one that decides what gets approved
The economic buyer is the person who manages the budget or pays for the product or service
The end user is the person that is directly using the product or service
In some cases, all three may be the same person. However, more complex offerings involve multiple people in the interaction. Be mindful that a CFO (economic buyer) may not be particularly interested in reducing the weight of a vehicle, but are more interested in increased gross margins. An engineer (end user), however, may be much more interested in vehicle weight reduction.
What is the customer pain that I’m eliminating?
Your potential customers are frustrated and your product or service is meant to alleviate their aggravation. The pitch needs to identify the exact pain points felt by your target audience in a manner that’s well understood. Take the following statement as an example of identifying the pain point of an end user:
“Sales personnel lack efficient tools to understand and track their customers’ needs, resulting in lost sales and customer dissatisfaction.”
The pain of the end user is identified – current customer relationship management tools on the market inhibit sales staff to effectively sell their product. The statement is clear and provides a cause and effect.
What product or services do I offer?
In a few short words, describe what you are offering to potential customers. The target audience needs to understand how your product or service works from a conceptual standpoint. Delving too deep into the specifics of your offering may lead to confusion, especially for more technically advanced offerings. If you have multiple ways to service your customer, be sure to convey a statement that encompasses these services. The audience will appreciate you providing a clear message of all that the company does. Also, their interest may be peaked enough to ask specific questions pertaining to their needs, creating a more focused dialogue.
What are the key benefits of my offering?
A customer needs to see value in the work that your company provides. In your message, identify the key benefits your audience finds of greatest importance. Specifically, how does the product address their pain points? Keeping the list short and to the point will have a greater positive impact on the conversation. Expanding on the numerous benefits not related to the audience’s needs can be distracting and less engaging.
How is what I offer different than the competition?
At some point, you’ve learned your competitor’s weaknesses and made them your strengths. The audience needs to know what makes your product or service different. Is it better quality? Lower price? New and disruptive technology? Succinctly identifying significant differentiators will go a long way in showing what unique value your company can provide the audience. Include the type of competition or specific well-known competitors, as your listener may have identified those same weaknesses through prior engagements. Hopefully they finally found the company (yours) that can meet their needs.
As you tweak the message, you’ll see your conversations have greater quality and clearer outcomes. And if you don’t know the answers, that’s fine! PCS Insight can help guide your organization towards a better understanding of what makes your company unique.