“If you’re pitching your product to corporates, should you highlight their negatives, such as bad reviews on TripAdvisor for a travel company, or focus on positive solutions in order to explain true product benefits?”
This was an actual question on Quora.com I bumped into this morning. I thought it was a terrific question by the way, one that will come up time and time again if you make presentations to sell your products or services.
Here’s my answer –
[ I would approach it from a general viewpoint, yet addressing the issue:“…one of the many special benefits this “widget” provides is reducing the customer service calls turn-around-time. A huge and usually justified source of customer discontent in over 90% of companies in your industry. This is currently costing your peers over 1 Billion in repeat business. Whomever can fix this issue the fastest, will most likely emerge as the market leader”
I usually stay away from indirectly blaming or pointing sticky fingers to the very people I’m trying to sell my services to.
Beside, many times the real issue is not what they think it is anyway. Usually the issue they tell you they are having is a symptom of the real problem. So if they bring up their pseudo-problems to the table, sure address them in the same way, but be empathetic in your approach and believable in your solution regardless.
When you focus on commonalities, benefits and solutions you can bring your point across in a more constructive and in a “let’s-get-you-in-front-o
What would your approach be?
Would you focus on positive solutions to make a sale or would you point out defects and weak links to sell such solutions?
