2 of the 3 tech unicorns I've worked at train their AEs on 2 core concepts that typical salespeople don't ever learn:
--> Towards v. Away language
--> Above the Line (ATL) v. Below the Line (BTL)
1) Towards v. Away language
-> 80% of people are motivated by moving Away from Pain (more people would run from a German Shepherd than towards a Gold medal*)
-> But sales reps talk about Gain, aka moving Towards: “time back in your day“ & ROI
-> Towards sounds like, “Because my product automates XXX your sales reps will save 30% of their time and you'll see a 300% ROI.“
-> Away sounds like, “What goes away [by using my product] is sales rep's spending hours on manual research, the low morale from not seeing results, and the frustration of your team missing their number. Again.“
->>>TL;DR = talk about what problems go away
2) Above the Line (ATL) v. Below the Line (BTL)
-> “The Line“ is the 'power line', so Directors, VPs, CXOs = Above the Line
-> BTL thinks about their team v. ATL thinks about market share & risk
-> BTL value prop sounds like, “What goes away [with my product] is worrying about too little pipeline, missing quota & sales reps quitting.“
-> ATL value prop sounds like, “With [my product] you reduce 3 risks: Your top competitor doesn't get in the door first, you don't lose any more market share, and you don't have to explain your inaction to investors.“
->>> TL;DR = choose the right language for your audience
It takes time and effort to wrap your head around these.
But there's a reason the unicorns teach them.
They win deals.
* Both concepts from Skip Miller’s book Proactive Selling. Credit for “German Shepherds v. Gold Medals“ comes from the book Secrets of Question-Based Selling by Thomas Freese
Both have unfortunate covers. But.
Don't sleep on those books...
#sales
#onboarding
#enablement
#pipelineanxiety
--> Towards v. Away language
--> Above the Line (ATL) v. Below the Line (BTL)
1) Towards v. Away language
-> 80% of people are motivated by moving Away from Pain (more people would run from a German Shepherd than towards a Gold medal*)
-> But sales reps talk about Gain, aka moving Towards: “time back in your day“ & ROI
-> Towards sounds like, “Because my product automates XXX your sales reps will save 30% of their time and you'll see a 300% ROI.“
-> Away sounds like, “What goes away [by using my product] is sales rep's spending hours on manual research, the low morale from not seeing results, and the frustration of your team missing their number. Again.“
->>>TL;DR = talk about what problems go away
2) Above the Line (ATL) v. Below the Line (BTL)
-> “The Line“ is the 'power line', so Directors, VPs, CXOs = Above the Line
-> BTL thinks about their team v. ATL thinks about market share & risk
-> BTL value prop sounds like, “What goes away [with my product] is worrying about too little pipeline, missing quota & sales reps quitting.“
-> ATL value prop sounds like, “With [my product] you reduce 3 risks: Your top competitor doesn't get in the door first, you don't lose any more market share, and you don't have to explain your inaction to investors.“
->>> TL;DR = choose the right language for your audience
It takes time and effort to wrap your head around these.
But there's a reason the unicorns teach them.
They win deals.
* Both concepts from Skip Miller’s book Proactive Selling. Credit for “German Shepherds v. Gold Medals“ comes from the book Secrets of Question-Based Selling by Thomas Freese
Both have unfortunate covers. But.
Don't sleep on those books...
#sales
#onboarding
#enablement
#pipelineanxiety
