The 10 Modern Selling Competencies

When a prospect decides which vendor to contact, one of the criteria they use is customer experience. They'll ask themselves: 'What's it like to be their customer?'. Very few sellers mention customer experience on their website or in their collateral. This is where your business can stand out - it's a huge differentiator.

Key Benefits:

• Expertise: 'They know what they're doing' - I.e. they can help me
• Speed: 'They won't dillydally around' - I.e. they won't waste my time
• Results: 'They'll deliver' - I.e. they'll bring us success

When buyers don't understand what you're selling, they will not say so. Instead, they will make some excuse to just walk away and never shortlist you as a potential vendor: 'Thank you, it's not what we're looking for.'

Key Benefits:

• Eliminate buyer confusion
• Increase shortlist inclusion rates
• Improve initial engagement quality

Many business leaders THINK they have a unique value proposition (UVP) that differentiates their business. Unfortunately, most businesses don't. Even worse, many focus on what the business does, i.e. on its products and services. However, what potential buyers want to know most is how your business is DIFFERENT from the others, and what's in it for them.

Key Benefits:

• Stand out from competitors
• Focus on buyer benefits, not features
• Create compelling differentiation

You'll waste a whole lot of time, effort and money, if you do. So, it's critical that you define your ideal customer persona (ICP) before going out to promote your business and advertise your offerings.

Key Benefits:

• Save time and resources
• Improve targeting accuracy
• Increase conversion rates

Know where your ideal customers are, what they are paying attention to, either online or physically in-person, so you can reach out to them effectively.

Key Benefits:

• Efficient resource allocation
• Higher response rates
• Better ROI on marketing efforts

Unfortunately, most sellers still use lazy 'Spray & Pray' approaches to prospect engagement. Sending thousands of automated sales messages in the hope of catching a prospect just as they are looking for what you're selling.

Key Benefits:

• Create meaningful conversations
• Avoid being seen as spam
• Generate genuine interest

Instead, you'll have to beat any number of other businesses that are also competing for the same prize. We help our clients to discover what they can do to end up the last vendor standing, the one that wins the deal.

Key Benefits:

• Win more competitive deals
• Position against competitors ethically
• Become the preferred vendor

Most businesses have a sales process. However, very few have a sales proposal process, even though it gives them a huge unfair advantage. We teach our clients this very effective technique.

Key Benefits:

• Gain unfair competitive advantage
• Increase proposal win rates
• Secure larger deals

A great pre-during- and post-purchase experience is more than just a 'nice to have'. In fact, it will be a huge boon for your business as it turns first-time buyers into repeat customers, and it turns repeat customers into advocates who refer new sales opportunities to you.

Key Benefits:

• Increase customer lifetime value
• Generate repeat business
• Create customer advocates

According to IDC, 73% of buyer executives prefer to work with sales professionals who were referred by someone they know. What could be easier than engaging with someone who has already been pre-qualified by someone whose opinion you trust?

Key Benefits:

• Easiest way to gain new leads
• Higher conversion rates
• Pre-qualified prospects