You need to tailor your story for each listener.
Company: Avchem, Inc.
Industry: Supply chain & material management.
Situation: Defining and selling a new material management service into a conservative industry where bureaucratic levels have a vested interest in the status quo.
Success measure: Achieve a transformative sale that will lower the bar on material management cost for the industry, making the client's approach the de facto standard.
BentonsEdge collaborated with Frank Kimball, VP of Sales for Avchem, to develop its Value-Story Selling approach.
At first, Avchem told the same story to everyone: corporations would save money in the long run because the total cost of ownership would be lower over time. Prospects listened with fascination, but no one bought. Avchem’s Board of Directors grew impatient.
BentonsEdge helped Avchem see that each corporate official needed a story highly tailored to their point of view. For example, corporate procurement officials were most concerned about getting each item on their shopping list for the lowest price, regardless of potentially higher operating and waste costs…after all, operating costs come out of someone else’s budget.
BentonsEdge helped Avchem dissect its sales cycle, identifying each influence and approval step. Clearly, mid-level procurement officials were most concerned with decreasing procurement cost, and plant managers wanted to improve material availability and improve safety. C-level executives wanted overall cost reduction, but they also wanted to maintain harmony among their direct reports and were loath to mandate change.
How will you sell ‘total cost of ownership’ when procurement cost is all that your customer thinks about?
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