How to create distinctiveness and relevance for your customersamong, when act on commoditising and in a competitive in the market? Miwhat are the real spearheadskesi, which bring the customersi significant experiential and visionary issues raised? When you faceyou customersfrom with, whether this common time really meaningful and worth your customer's time? (Time well spent)
After more than 20 years of working in the B2B sales world, empirical and personal experience has shown that the world is quite boring and similar between different players and industries. Of course, there are always individuals who work through their personalities. They have an innate ability to use their personality to flavour, for example, the sales process of a company in order to build a strong trust with the customer. But can this experience (play) be managed and scaled up in the company so that more and more salespeople are able to experience it?at a common way of working (at least in part)?
That's the big question about it! As a sales or general manager, do you have the courage to start dramatically creating a common play between your team and your customers?
NTo build a play, you need a script, a director (sales manager), the choice of actors and dramaturgy, so that we can also get the character traits in sync with the whole. It takes practice to make the play work seamlessly, and collaboration to know how to create the scene and make the dialogue work with the audience. The stage in B2B sales is typically set at the customer's door, but it is certainly the stage to which the customer is invited that creates the greatest impact and experience. This could be your showroom or even just another inspiring environment to create magic. What kind of reception does presenting an offer as part of an art exhibition, for example, create? At least it will be memorable!
At its best in B2B sales, a salesperson prepares for a meeting like a big play. He or she works with colleagues to define the roles in the negotiation and designs a complete and coherent experience for the customer. It's important to understand who plays the biggest role, who supports the whole, and who each person is in their role - and who goes backstage to review their performance before taking to the stage!
Things a salesperson should consider when designing the dramaturgy of a B2B sale:
- How do we want this play to be with the client? Is the experience entertaining and at the same time insightful (edutainment) or what framework is sought?
- What kind of dialogue (battery of questions) do we create to really open up to the customer about their needs and concerns?
- How do we want the customer to participate in the dialogue?
- How do we plan the watering of the whole?
- How do we meet the individual in the crowd?
- How do we build trust between different individuals?
- How do we get our own message in rhythm with the audience?
- How do our expertise and solutions fit into the common bar?
- And what kind of feeling do we want to leave when we leave the stage?
- Do we want our story to be remembered? Shall we write a sequel to our story right away?
When we talk about sales in terms of acting, we understand that many people may find acting pretentious. We are, after all, a fact-based, concrete people. No BS! We want to understand the facts, but at the same time, we unknowingly make decisions based on emotion. However, applying the fundamentals of theatre in B2B is not a glued-on, pretentious exercise, but a way to create a memorable experience that speaks to the whole and actually adds value.
A clear competitive advantage can be achieved by building a stage with the customer for a shared experience and creating a framework for learning together, with the best end result being that the customer realises how to improve their own competitive advantage.
But how is such a play constructed, how is it directed and how is it performed day to day? We at More Than Training Company are happy to tell you more!
Time well spent together at Bro Hof Slott (Stockholm, autumn 2022), täme a shared moment had its timerti, great discussions in a great environment with a great person. Oh, yeah in the picture on the right Joseph Pine, who has written a book on the subject: The Experience Economy and on the left student Janne (Cole) Kolehmainen (Pine & Gilmore Certified Experience Economy Expert #295).
The blog's thought process is a synthesis of the work I have done Experience Economy certificate, my own B2B sales experience and great discussions with Mr. Pinene with.
