Ever heard of the term “gobbeley gook” before? Here’s our definition: All sorts of phrases that generally have the terms “market leader”, “convenient locations”, “friendly, knowledgeable staff” etc in their message

Ever heard of the term “gobbeley gook” before? Here’s the SPIA definition: All sorts of phrases that generally have the terms “market leader”, “convenient locations”, “friendly, knowledgeable staff” and “competitive rates” strung together in an attempt to gain more clients for a particular company. Salespeople, when trying to convince a potential client to switch from their established vendor to the salesperson’s company usually repeat them – a lot. Furthermore, when a potential client doesn’t seem interested, the salesperson keeps emphasizing them (read: says more “gobbeley gook” – but louder) and throws in the ultimate reason to switch to their company: “You’re more than a number with us”.

More and more, as I work with companies of all shapes and sizes, I’m realizing that the ones that really do well (read: sell for more profit) are the ones who have had the guts to challenge the norm – the status quo. When I get calls from potential clients, they’re usually calling me because they heard that at SPIA, we work with sales teams building the processes that make them more profitable and successful. That part is true. The part that most of these CEOs and sales executives miss is that before we can build any processes, we have to know exactly why your particular company deserves success in its marketplace. Generally, when I pose this question – I tend to get a lot of that same “gobbeley gook” repeated to me.

What do American Airlines and Staples have in common? At first glance, not much, but when you are in the sales and marketing industry like me, you can see that they both took steps to set themselves apart. Let’s start with American Airlines. I’ve always wondered why you had to stay over on a Saturday night to get a half way decent fare with any airline. Here’s the sad but true answer: that’s the way it’s always been in the airline industry. Check out those commercials on TV, at the end you’ll see an advertised rate but the words at the bottom always say, “Saturday night stay required”. What did American Airlines do? They eliminated the Saturday night stay and they’re probably angering their competitors. Good for them! Things always change and in order to be successful you’ve got to challenge the norm.

Staples turned the office products industry on its ear in 1985. If you know the story behind the launch of the office products giant – you know that the CEO came from the supermarket industry and he was going to challenge the way that the office products industry did business. The industry for decades was populated with a ton of small to midsize dealers that did a good job of servicing its clients. In comes Staples with its supermarket concept and mega-purchasing power and the industry was never the same again. Many, many of those dealers are gone now and the ones that are left are complaining that the margins just aren’t there any more. They’re unhappy about Staples – and have been for years, but instead of challenging themselves to come up with new and creative ways to service their clients – they’re trying to compete on price and losing. Staples did such a good job on building a brand that it’s just about become a household name. It’s something that the other office products dealers were never able to accomplish.

What’s all of this have to do with having salespeople excel? Everything! Salespeople are out there in the trenches every day attempting to sway potential clients away from their current vendor by delivering the message of your company and why it deserves success in the marketplace. If all you’re giving them in their toolbox is a bunch of “gobbelly gook”  (competitive rates etc.) then they’re essentially finished before they even start. Even the best of salespeople will fail if they don’t truly believe that their company is better than the competition. You see, they can mouth the words, but not feel it inside and the prospect knows it – instantly.

So, if you’re ready to help your salespeople excel just how do you get started?

1. Stop being so afraid to shake things up. According to Seth Godin in his book Purple Cow: “If you’re remarkable, it’s likely that some people won’t like you. That’s part of the definition of remarkable. Nobody gets unanimous praise – ever. The best the timid can hope for is to be unnoticed. Criticism comes to those who stand out. Where did you learn how to fail? If you’re like most Americans, you learned in first grade. That’s when you started to figure out that the “safe” thing was to fit in.”
2. Look inside your company, recognize what you’re really good at and back it up – in writing. What is it that makes your company particularly strong? Is it the fact that you can deliver outrageous service – well above and beyond industry expectations? I’m about to start a project with a company where the president is so confident that his technicians will do an outstanding job that he’ll give clients all of their money back – every penny – if they’re not satisfied. How’s that for a strong belief in his employees and more importantly – how much do you think that turns on his salespeople? Not only does that get his salespeople talking about his company but the clients will start talking too – to their friends! Now that’s what I call gutsy!
3. If you’re not particularly good at something, then it’s time to go to work! You can start with your competitors and find out what they’re not doing for their clients and start doing it. It sounds so easy, but hardly anyone takes the time to check out the competition. How do you do that? Call them, ask for a salesperson and ask them to send you a brochure. You don’t know until you ask – right? Go to their website and see what they’re offering. Finally, ask all of your clients and employees what they think would make your company absolutely outstanding in the marketplace. You’d be amazed at the amount of great info that they can give you.
4. Last but not least, take action and make the necessary changes to build a Unique Selling Proposition for your sales team to share with the world. Your USP is a pitch with all of your newfound ideas put together in a form so that your target audience will actually want to switch their services to your company. New USPs always get salespeople excited. Why? It gives them something new to say to their clients and more importantly to their potential clients.

Without a strong USP, even the best salespeople are reduced to talking about your company’s “great service” (read: more gobbeley gook).

If you’re interested in really getting into building a great USP (or USPs for that matter) for your company, you can give us a call at SPIA (978) 640 0803. We get asked about the USP so much that we’ve built a special program just to help you develop yours!