By Jill Konrath

If you’re selling to the corporate market, one of the biggest challenges you encounter is getting face time with decision makers.

Corporate buyers, after years of continual down sizings and reorganizations, have way too much work to do and not nearly enough time to do it in. Under constant pressure to deliver “results,” they zealously protect their schedule, refusing to meet with anybody who can’t help them achieve their business objectives.

And what do they usually hear from people like you who are trying to get in and sell their products or services? A typical phone message sounds like this:

“Hi Mr./Ms. Decisionmaker. This is Tony from Super Duper Products, Inc. We specialize in leading-edge financial software applications and have been rated as having one of the best software by Krumstock Research.

“The reason I’m calling is that I’d like to set up an appointment with you to introduce myself and to tell you more about how we might be able to help your company speed up your reporting capabilities.

“I’ll be in your area in two weeks and was hoping to sit down with you for about a half hour. Please let me know if that will work for you. My number is …”

Why in the world would corporate decision makers take time out of their already overcrowded schedule to meet with this seller? They wouldn’t. Pure and simple. Even though the seller mentioned a benefit, it was weak – very weak.

Weak Value Propositions Are Ineffective and Unappealing.

One of the biggest reasons businesses struggle in today’s market is because they have weak value propositions. Over and over again, I hear people who sell deliver ineffective statements about the value customers get from working with their organization. It doesn’t matter if these sellers are from big companies, small firms, or are independent professionals. They just aren’t saying things that get prospective buyers to say, “Come on in. We need to meet.”

For example, in discussing their company’s products, many people use weak value propositions such as:

*It’s the most technology-advanced system in the market today.
*We offer the most robust enterprise system with the widest range of capabilities available.
*Our system was rated best-in-class at the recent Big Deal Conference.
*We are the low-cost provider of this kind of product/service.
*We offer one-stop shopping.
*We have a full range of products to meet your every need in the manufacturing area.

BORING! If you’re like most people, you’re saying, “So what? Why should I waste my valuable time talking to you?”

Plus any time people hear words such as best, leading, superior and so on – they
immediately dismiss them as self-promoting aggrandizement. These words are simply
not believable and detract from your message.