How to Talk About Your Product So People Will Listen

I’ve got a confession to make: sometimes my eyes glaze over when I hear more than 30 seconds of tech talk.

I say "confession" because I often train sales teams in the tech space. Shouldn’t I be jumping up and down with excitement to learn all about the details of your product?

No. And neither is your customer. Especially the actual person who signs the dotted line on the contract.

Let me tell you why: regardless of whether your customer is a technical person or not, your product only matters to them when you anchor it to a business problem that exists in their current state.

But most of the time, sellers focus on the technical details. Even if your buyer understands those technical details, they won’t see the value until you speak to their business problems first.

I just returned from the SaaStr conference, where I met brilliant people representing innovative solutions. 

Here’s the type of “tech talk track” I heard many times.

Tech talk track: “We offer an AI solution that detects and fixes problems in the software within seconds.”

Me: “Ok, so why does that matter to the business?”

Answer: “Because then the company doesn’t have to rely on a human to fix the software glitch.”

Me: “Ok, and why does that matter to the business?”

Answer: “Because sometimes the business loses customers because of excessive software downtime.”

Me: “I see! So your solution helps the problem of customer attrition by fixing the root cause issue of downtime due to software glitches?”

Answer: “Yes, that’s right!”

Me: “Ok, so how about transforming your statement to this: You know how some companies have high customer attrition due to the downtime caused by software glitches that can’t be fixed until a human gets to it? Our AI solution addresses that root cause problem in mere seconds, which improves customer retention rates.”

Do you see how important it is to anchor the customer to a real problem? This is a key concept in Gap Selling.

You may be thinking, “Yeah but my buyers are smart. They can connect the dots themselves.”

 Of course they’re smart, and yes maybe they’ll connect the dots. But they’ve got a million things on their minds, and they may or may not piece it together. Why not lead with what is most important to them?

Here are three questions you can ask yourself to start making your opening statements more impactful (regardless of whether you’re at a conference, or a networking meeting, or even cold messaging someone).

• What is the technical problem you solve?

• Why does it matter to the business? i.e. what business problems can arise from that technical problem?

• What other problems (impacts) might happen as a result of that business problem? For example, if customer attrition is a business problem, an impact might be negative reviews on social media.

Along these lines, another helpful tool is called the Problem Identification Chart. (If you’d like this tool, just comment below or DM me and I’ll send it your way.)

To sum it up: all software, products, and processes are just a means to an end. They only matter in what they can do for the business. Keep this in mind and contextualize your offering. Watch how this changes your conversations!

#sales #salestraining #gapselling

"How to Talk About Your Product So People Will Listen"