In our sales messaging practice, we frequently find ourselves helping clients take technical solution capabilities and translate them into business-level conversations.

Essentially we work with salespeople and teams, turning techno-speak into a brief, benefit-oriented and engaging talk track for a less technically oriented executive prospect.

Techno-speak is an easy trap, and not one limited to companies selling complex solutions. In the May 21, 2010 edition of the Chronicle of Higher Education the author Dennis Meredith explains in an interesting way the failure of scientists to persuade the American public on key issues. Meredith writes that science suffers from its lack of a “culture of explanation,” preferring to remain comfortable in small silos surrounded by jargon. One of the unfortunate effects, according to Meredith, is that scientists “miss even the simplest and most obvious opportunities to advance the scientific point of view in the public mind.” You and I might call those obvious opportunities an elevator pitch or two-minute drill.

Too many technical experts also fail to adjust their messages, even slightly, according to the audience. Meredith writes, “Rather than tailoring their arguments to their audiences, they tend to believe that merely presenting the facts of their work will lead audiences to see the light.”

I believe many companies selling complex technical solutions can learn from the mistakes of these university scientists. 

We find that, with executive-level prospects, engagement in an interactive discussion is far more effective than feature-laden demonstrations or attempts at “educating the buyer.”

Is there a culture of explanation in your company, including both the sales team and subject matter experts?

People make up their minds about a lot of things within 60 seconds. Research across a variety of disciplines shows that professionals make quick judgments about interest and acceptability, even for important decisions such as hiring and big-ticket investments.

And yet…we have seen countless examples in our practice of sales presentations that fail to engage prospects properly during that all-important start.

How many sales decks out there begin with slides featuring the selling company’s headquarters building, its history, its executive team and/or mission statement? If your company hopes to win through solution selling, then it is a far better practice to engage your prospect in a solution-oriented conversation from the very beginning.

We often help clients break out of “stumbling out of the blocks” selling habits by:

(1) Moving the discussion about the seller. If you need to establish credentials and credibility, it’s better to send a brief and focused background description a few days in advance of the meeting.

(2) Creating with the client a customized, solution-oriented “provocation” that jump-starts an executive conversation far more effectively.

Are your team’s sales conversations getting off track during the first minute of action?

I might have chosen slightly different words, but…anyone involved in sales leadership has to appreciate this result and this passion!

Just last month, my DSG colleagues and I received an email from a client’s sales leader with the subject line “FW: Whiteboard Kicks A**” (he actually spelled out the final word, but I wanted to make this a PG-13 post).

Our enthusiastic client was passing along feedback from a conference presentation which centered on a new whiteboard we had developed with the sales team. The client executive who used the whiteboard wrote, “Presented a bit skinnied version of the whiteboard to between 60-70 folks…people were floored by the presentation and the way it spoke to their business. The most interesting thing is there were grad students all the way up to CEOs of companies and they all got the message…absolute proof this applies in all circumstances.”

We typically use whiteboard development as a key part of sales-messaging engagements for two big reasons. The first is because the tool itself, once developed and tested, enables the right type of interactive business-level conversation (from one-on-one with an executive to a room full of professionals). The second reason is that the process of developing an excellent whiteboard forces the sales team to condense its value proposition and get away from product demos.

And that really kicks.

Several years ago we were engaged by the senior sales executive of a high growth supply chain software company. His company was transitioning to a new portfolio of products and a sales strategy focused on executive buyers. Marketing had created messaging for this strategy, but the sales team was not converting the messaging into successful executive meetings and targeted sales results.

The sales executive decided to join customer meetings to see what was really happening in the field. What he found was a team whose only messaging consistency was no consistency at all. Most salespeople were making up their messages and presentations on the fly. Given the company’s legacy, it was not too surprising that the messaging was still product-oriented and not appropriate for solution-oriented conversation with customer executives.

The sales executive realized he had to find a way to ensure key sales messages were consistently communicated by the organization. A key element of his solution was the development of sales-oriented messaging tools that his top sales performers developed in collaboration with marketing. Due to the direct involvement of top-performing salespeople in creating and validating practical sales messaging tools, the broader sales team ultimately embraced the new messaging.

Are your sales people delivering consistent, compelling messages in customer conversations?

Sales messaging is a word thrown around a lot these days and like any other term its usage defines it. But that said, we believe sales messaging is at its core something really simple – the conversations between salespeople and customers. When salespeople meet with customers they are presenting your company, they are explaining what you do and how you do it, and they are doing that on more levels than just the words they say.

Are your salespeople talking to someone in the front office or the corner office?

Do your salespeople serve your customers as a good product rep or do they provide insight and develop a solution to a business problem?

Do your salespeople lead conversations or give presentations?

Do your salespeople listen actively?

Are your salespeople comfortable with improvisation?

The answers to these questions say something important about your sales messaging. Unlike “messaging” (the ideas, concepts, capabilities, positioning a company tries to present to the marketplace), sales messaging converts strategy and messaging into something salespeople will actually say in a customer meeting.