In my business I see a lot of customer communication materials. Unfortunately, I see too many customer presentations whereby you finally understand what company does and what benefits they deliver to their customers somewhere around slide 7 of a way-too-many-slides presentation.

No long ago I was leading a sales and marketing meeting, discussing with a management team launch of a new product line. We were reviewing new product's positioning, competitive environment, pricing methodology, and sales collateral. While reviewing customer presentations I noted there were continuous questions:

"What does that mean?" "What do we mean by that?" "What are keys things I should say about this slide?" "What is point we want to make on this slide?"

As these questions were asked several times it become obvious..."Why don't you just say on slide what it is you mean and what it is you want customer to know about benefits they'll realize as a result of employing your solution?" The question was simple enough and left meeting participants looking around room at each other.

It's amazing positive impact you can have on your sales efforts by simply communicating with your prospective customers clearly and directly about value you offer. To greatly impact your revenue there are really only a few things you have to do...

Don't Make Your Customer Translate Your Offering into Something They Value - A huge mistake in marketing and sales is to unwittingly make your customer translate everything you say into something they value.

Regardless of your market, customers of all types have similar buying processes. Customers evaluate you offering by first asking themselves two questions - "Why do I need this product/service? What do we get (benefit) out of using it?" No matter what you say, write or present; this is first and only thing going through mind of a buyer.

A great number of vendors (technology companies tend to be greatest offenders) make mistake of communicating with prospective customers from "love" they have for their product or service. Their typical communication is driven from speeds-feeds-features-functionality of their offering. Their big mistake is not realizing customers never buy speeds-feeds-features-functionality; they only buy benefits they can realize from employing your speeds-feeds-features-functionality. If you communicate from your speeds-feeds-features-functionality you force your customer to translate them into meaningful benefits they value. Remember, customers only buy benefits. It only makes sense then that you should lead your communications with benefits they want, expect, and will enjoy.

"But aren't speeds-feeds-features-functionality necessary?"

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======================================== Summary: Brent Filson observes that sales people often achieve a fraction of results they are capable of because they neglect to apply a powerful leadership tool that can be used in many sales processes. It's a tool he has taught to thousands of leaders worldwide for past 20 years, and when used in sales, it can substantially step up results. ======================================== How To Use A Powerful Leadership Tool To Step Up Sales Results by Brent Filson

Good sales people can close, but few "step up" for even more sales from that close. Yet stepping up should be one of easiest accomplishments in sales — that is if you know how to build staircase.

Do it by applying a leadership tool I have taught thousands of leaders worldwide during past 20 years. The tool is simply to foster a particular viewpoint, which is this: Challenge people not simply to do a task but to take leadership of that task.

The difference in results-producing effectiveness between doing a task and taking leadership of a task is difference between lightning bug and lightning.

This change in viewpoint may seem simple even simplistic; but when put into action many times daily, it can work wonders.

For instance, I worked with a manufacturing leader whose workers were constantly falling short of productivity goals. I told him he was leading workers in wrong way; he was ordering them to get productivity advancements. I told him that he should have workers sign on as leaders of productivity advancements. When workers began seeing themselves as such leaders, they started hitting goals consistently.

Now, let's apply this leadership tool to sales process. I'll show you how to get step-ups in results that go far beyond results achieved from closes. Here are three ways to do it.

(1) Don't Just Sell Products, Get Cause Leaders: Salespeople often fail to get step-ups because they have a short-sighted view of customer. They view customer as only a customer! Whereas, if we want to get step-ups, we must see customer not just as a customer but as a "cause leader," one who can lead our cause both inside and outside their company. Instead of aiming just to sell a product, to get a close, aim to turn your customer into your cause leader. For instance, I consulted with a materials supplier that wanted to acquire new customers in computer industry. The salespeople of materials company not only worked diligently on closing with engineer-customers but also on creating step-ups by persuading those engineers to be cause leaders for their materials within company.