April Dunford: belief

Transcript context

…The follow through. ... which is really focused on differentiated value. So in the second part, the first step is usually we introduce our stuff, which is where the market category is important. So we come in and we say, "Okay, can we agree that a really good solution should tick these boxes? Yes. Okay, good. Now let's talk about us. Okay, so we believe that. That's why we build what we build." So here I am, I'm Help Scout, we're customer service software for digital businesses or whatever our market category is. So we introduce it just to get people straight in their mind about what it is, and then we move to here's the value, here's how we do it. If we think about a typical sales call, like let's say a sales call is half an hour, 45 minutes, I would expect to spend more than half of the time in the sales call in this differentiated value phase. So if we're doing a demo, that's the demo, and we're saying, "Okay, step one, let me show you how we do this. So easy to use as an inbox. Here's the features. Never have to outgrow it, here's the features. Delivers amazing customer experience, here's the features." And so that's where we're getting to the meat of what you thought you were getting when you clicked on the button that said, "Give me a demo." So that's what we're doing there. And then we end with these three little pieces. One is generally I got to show you some proof that I can do what I say I can do. So if I'm claiming this thing delivers an amazing customer experience, how do I prove that? Well, I can prove it by other customers saying it was amazing. That's one way to prove it. If I had some independent third party data that proved whatever I was claiming, I could show that there too. But a lot of times what we're doing is we're like, "Let me show you how this worked in a company that used our stuff. So this is what the before looked like. They did this thing, here's the after." And so customer case study is usually good way to do that, but there's usually a step called proof, which is, I showed you the value, now here's the proof that I can actually deliver on that value and it's not just me blowing smoke. And then the step after that then is this optional objection step where they say, "Oh yeah, sounds good, but IT is never going to go for it," or "Sounds good, but maybe it's going to be too expensive," or something. And so you're going to handle that objection as best as you can. And then you finish with the ask, which is whatever the next step in your sales process is. So it's, "Hey, so what we have to do to get a deal cooking here, do we have to get IT involved? Does IT need to see it? Would you like us to come in and present with you with IT or do you want me to just help you work on some stuff for IT?" It's whatever your next step in the sales process is. Awesome. So let me read through this just to have it also succinctly here in case people are taking notes or trying to remember the stuff. So there's the setup, there's the follow through. Within the setup, you have the insight, the alternative approaches, pros and cons, in the perfect world. And then you introduce your product, talk about the differentiated value, share the proof of why it works, potentially handle objections, silent objections, and then the ask of what comes next.…

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