Do you think your competitors are a smart bunch of people?

Maybe when it comes to solving computer problems. But as far as marketing is concerned, they are in the Stone Age.

Once a computer consultancy is up and running, the owners often get lazy. Business is coming in and they are making a handsome profit - so they adopt the attitude “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

This leaves the door wide open for someone like you. As a newcomer to the industry, you are highly motivated to do well. You have the energy and commitment to make a fast start. With this mindset you will be eagerly hunting for opportunities to take business away from the competition.

There are so many ways you can make your new computer consultancy appeal to potential customers. Make yourself look either better or different to the competition. I have outlined some of the key areas for you to consider.
Spying on the competition for benchmarking your company
You must, I repeat must, know what the competition is doing, offering and charging.

Do the following:

1. Get your local papers and cut out the computer adverts. Type the names of all these companies into Word. Next, get your Yellow Pages and look up all the computer companies. Add them to your list and eliminate duplicates.
2. Write down a list of questions that you would like the answers to regarding these companies. It will include such things as: how much do they charge, are there call out charges, do they have specialist skills, what size company are they and is there a minimum charge.
3. Call each competitor and pretend you are a company seeking help. Make sure you have your story well thought out or they’ll think you are one of their competitors. Don’t go overboard on the questions and sound a bit ignorant of the business. You don’t want to telegraph that you are an IT consultant.
4. Analyse what rates your local competition is charging. See what help is easy to get and what is scarcer. Then decide where you might be better than your competitors.
Creating multiple USP’s so you go to the top of the pile
A USP, or Unique Selling Proposition, is something that uniquely identifies you in relation to your competition. It answers the question: “Who are these people, what do they do and why should I choose them over someone else.”

You will find most of your competitors have poorly thought out USPs or none at all. This is good news because it makes it easier to create your own unique, compelling identity.

Lets look at some sample USPs so you get a feel for what they are.

USP #1: “We specialise in helping the out-of-work get jobs by improving their computer skills.”

USP #2: “We design database systems to help improve business efficiency.”

USP #3: “We specialise in training staff on MS Office.”

USP #4: “Our main focus is in improving the computer skills of senior management.”

“But I do a bit of each? How can I combine them all together?”

Don’t! That’s my advice. If you try to appeal to everybody, you’ll appeal to no one. You’ll be bland and vanilla like the rest of the competition. The more highly targeted you appear, the better. Why should your clients bring in a generalist when they can get a specialist?

What I’m really talking about here is perception. You want to be perceived as a specialist.

I recommend you create a compelling USP for each of your marketable skills and for each market. Then use the USP that suits you at the time.

If someone phones and you know they are out of work, use USP #1. If it’s a director looking for training, use USP #4. This will improve your chances of getting the sale.

Once they’ve become a client and they like you, they will forget your USP. They will ask you to do all sorts of IT related work. Just get in the door using your USP as the bait. It will help knock away the competition because you are the specialist and not a generalist.

Formulating a killer sales presentation

Want to lose potential sales when meeting a client? It’s easy. Just don’t bother creating a sales presentation. I know because I’ve made this mistake many times.

I’ve got in the car, driven to a potential client and had in-depth discussions on what they were looking for. But when it came to pressing home why they should choose me, I was flummoxed. I would give some general, fuzzy, vanilla answer that every IT company seems to give. My reasons would not distinguish me from the competition. The potential buyer would not see any clear-cut reason why I was the one to choose.

This is not good enough.

The secret is to be prepared. If I created a list of 10 specific reasons why we were the company of choice, my chances would have improved drastically. I remember one instance that happened just recently. I was off my guard because I was told I was going in to price up a database system. What I didn’t realise was that the goalposts had changed. Instead, the meeting turned into, amongst other things, a discussion of what my company could offer over the competition. “Competition? What competition?” I thought. I wasn’t prepared for this. I had no sales presentation ready. If I were being professional about it I would have a prepared presentation in my briefcase.

As it happens, I could hardly think of any convincing reasons why they should do business with me instead of the competition. I mumbled on about we are specialists in this area (but so were the competition) and that we are established (but so were they).

When I got back to my office, I hunted for my sales literature that had 10 reasons why a company should do business with us. It was brilliant! But I had only remembered about 2 out of the 10 reasons. When you’re in a pressured sales situation it can be difficult to remember all the reasons why you’re so great. You can’t sit back and say, “Wait a minute. I know there’s a couple more reasons why we are so great…” They want instant answers. If it was on paper, you could take them through each point one by one. Then they get to keep your list for future reference.

I am convinced to this day that this buyer would have viewed me in a different light had I used my written sales presentation. As it happened I left knowing that I had done a poor job.

The moral of the story is:

1. Create a written sales presentation
2. Devise a list of reasons why you are the company of choice
3. Make copies and always have some in your briefcase.

If structured well, your sales presentation gives your prospective buyer all the facts in a clear, orderly and persuasive manner. Your chances of success will then go up 10 fold.

I suggest you structure your presentation along the following lines:

1. Your company name
2. Your USP geared to what the customer is looking for (or a generic USP if you don’t want to be too highly targeted or are unsure what the customer wants)
3. The specific services you offer
4. Examples of companies you have worked for and what you have done for them (skip this if you only have a couple of months experience)
5. 10 reasons why you are their number 1 choice. Try to be as specific as possible e.g. don’t say, “We have extensive in-house Visual Basic resources.” Instead, say “You get dedicated Visual Basic resources - a large library of Visual Basic related material including our extensive in-house Knowledgebase, TechNet CD's, books and periodicals. This ensures we have the resources to cater for any project you may throw at us.” Get the idea?

I suggest you also buy yourself a sales book. One of my favourites is “How to Master the Art of Selling” by Tom Hopkins. He is an excellent sales trainer and his book is one of the best out. It also makes fascinating reading.

Grooming your image for high fee sales

When large sums of money are involved, buyers want assurances they are dealing with a competent professional. They won’t want to part with their money if a scruffy individual turns up expecting to close a high fee sale. They just won’t have confidence in your ability.

To come across as professional, ensure the following:

• You’re immaculately dressed. If you are wearing a suit, make sure you have it pressed regularly. Keep your shoes highly polished.
• Your briefcase well organised – if it is stuffed full of rubbish make sure you dump it on the back seat before you go into the appointment. Keep it tidy with all your materials to hand, including: business cards, spare pen, blank paper, clipboard, sales literature and magazine cover CD’s.
• Your car is regularly washed and vacuumed. Don’t pile up old sandwich boxes on the back seat. Sometimes your client will walk you to your car - you won’t look the part if you appear slovenly.
• Keep your car out of sight if it’s a banger. Yes, I am not joking. How will they believe you are a pro if you drive something that’s about to break down? No, I am not advocating going out and upgrading straight away. Just park it down the road so the client won’t want to walk you that far.
• Act as though you know what you are talking about and you have been doing this for years. Fake it until you make it.
• Don’t appear desperate for the business. There is nothing more off-putting than someone over eager to make a sale. It helps to go in with the attitude that you are going to advise them and no money is involved. Forget the money; just concentrate how you can help them. If they don’t want to spend the money, then don’t push for it. They may always come back to you later. Think long term.

Do what they don’t do and holler from the rooftops

If you are good at something then make sure your clients know it. Don’t be shy or you will come second. Constantly remind them how good you are in a particular area and they will come to believe it.

There’s a well-known phrase that if you tell a lie long enough and loud enough, people will start to believe it. This is so true but I’m not advocating lying. Just educate your clients so they can remember what your skill set is.

Tell them once and the decision-maker will forget it. Tell them twice and they still won’t remember. But tell them 10 times and you will come to mind when they are looking for that speciality you focus on. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking “I won’t annoy them anymore by repeatedly telling them what I do.” You won’t annoy them and it will pay you further down the line.

One good way to remind clients of your skills is to create a “flyer” that you put in with all correspondence including invoices and appointment confirmations. If the invoice doesn’t go to the person you normally deal with, at least the accounts person now has an idea who you are and what you do. They may have IT needs that you cover which your usual contact doesn’t know about.

The top 3 disastrous mistakes IT people make when selling their services

We all make mistakes but what are the top ones? These ones stand out for me.

Mistake #1: Slagging off the competition
Its well known in the sales profession that slagging off the competition is a no-no. This is not because we are such a nice bunch of people. No, its because it will reflect poorly on you.

Slag them off and the client will think:

• “They don’t seem that good. All they could do was slag off the competition. I want reasons whey they are good and not why their competition is poor.”
• “I know the people at XYZ Company very well and I rather like them. I take great offence when someone talks badly about my close acquaintances.”
• “Why do they fear the competition so much? Are they not that good after all?”
• “What a load of nonsense. If they are so naive that I will believe their competition are rubbish then they have another thing coming.”
• “Let me make up my own mind over who I think is the best. Don’t do it for me.”

A better way of presenting yourself favourably is to say:

“I’ve heard XYZ Company are good at what they do. However, I think we have some unique benefits that gives us an edge. They are…”

You are not slagging them off and are saying you are just a little bit better. This is much more believable that trashing the competition and claiming you are miles ahead of the game. Be understated when making these sorts of comparisons.

You can even boost your credibility by conceding a weakness you may have:

“We’re not trying to claim we are perfect - that would be unrealistic. Sometimes our workloads are so heavy we have to prioritise our response. But being busy does ensure our IT people have highly honed skills. That can only be of benefit to you.”

It gives the buyer the impression you are being honest with them. Before you meet them assume they are going to be sceptical – this is likely to be close to the truth. . Most of the time a buyer will be quietly sifting through their mind what they believe and what they don’t. You’re job is to sound convincing and this concession ploy can help.

Notice how I turned this weakness into a benefit.

The buyer might think “I appreciate them being realistic with me – I don’t expect them to be perfect. Anyway, I like the idea of dealing with a highly skilled IT team.

Mistake #2: Getting too technical
I make this mistake even today. Sometimes I get caught up in describing how I can help my client and then cross the fine line between the overall client goal and the specifics of how I will achieve this goal. Most of the time the client wants to know if you can achieve the result. If they are convinced you can and they go ahead then the detail comes later.

If a client asks how you will design their all-singing all-dancing internal system, they don’t want to hear:

“I’ll start off by having a main screen which you will see when you open the application. There will be a list of buttons…”

This is too specific at this stage. Instead, say something like:

“We can use XXX program. It lets you create systems faster than the average programming tool, which helps keep the cost down. We usually work closely with the end users who tell us in detail what their requirements are.”

Notice the difference? When selling your services you must always talk in benefits. Also, keeping the detail as general as possible makes it more understandable to the buyer. After all, they will normally be taking on board a lot of new information when talking with you for the first time.

If you are showing, for example, a website you have created, then you can explain why specific features you’ve implemented were of benefit to the website owners – “Notice how we’ve made ordering easy by using this onscreen form…”

Examples are great sales tools because it lets the buyer know exactly what you can do. It’s more tangible and you can give live examples of how you can be of help.

Mistake #3: Not preparing a presentation
As already stated, no presentation means lost sales. I’m referring to a written presentation too. But written doesn’t necessarily mean on paper. One of the best ways of giving a presentation is using a laptop and software such as PowerPoint.

If you don’t already know, PowerPoint lets you create onscreen presentations that look professional and can be interactive. They even have ready built templates for Sales Presentations so you can be up and running in minutes.

I know one client – a president of a large company – who used to attach an “applause” sound file to the last page of his presentation. He said it always used to get a laugh!

An inferior alternative to a laptop, but still good, is to create a website with your presentation. Ask the prospective buyer if they have an internet connection and take them through your website presentation. This is also handy on a phone enquiry because you can refer the enquirer to your website presentation. I’ve done this many times and you can take them through your presentation while they are on the phone.

You have no excuse not to create a structured presentation. Do it at the start of your business so you minimise lost sales.

Scripting answers to common questions

When a prospect asks you a question, you want to give your most persuasive answer possible. This will be next to impossible if you haven’t done your homework. It is just too difficult to wing it when in a sales meeting. The prospect will smell bullshit and your credibility will drop.

Do the following:
1. Make a list of all the possible questions you think the prospect will ask you.
2. Write down the best response you can think of. Try to keep them short and persuasive, but go for clarity over brevity if in doubt.
3. Put them on 3 x 5 cards - a question on one side and your response on the other.
4. Drill yourself daily with these cards. Look at the question and respond out loud with your answer. Keep doing this until your responses become effortless and they start to sound natural. Take these cards with you when you go out in the car and practice, practice, practice.

What will the result be of all this hard work? More closed sales and therefore more money for you. When you have persuasive answers for all your prospect questions, you will have improved your batting average.

I clearly remember one case where my lack of practice let me down. My client had seen examples of my software design work and was impressed. He hadn’t seen my competitors but he liked the competitors overall approach.

I knew our software looked good so I said, “Before you make a decision, make sure you see examples of work they have done before. There can be a big difference between companies on the quality of work.”

I kept repeating this during the presentation. Each time I said it I got the distinct impression that he was not interested in checking. He seemed pleased with their approach and he was not going to change his mind. This is despite the fact that the end product would be bespoke software that he hasn’t seen any examples of.

I could not think of a better way to present my case than reiterating what I had already said. I was too busy listening to all their other requirements.

Then, driving home in my car I started to analyse the meeting. Like a bolt from the blue I came up with my ultimate response.

I should have said:

“When you get some furniture custom made, you wouldn’t place an order unless you’d seen the quality of their workmanship, would you? The same principle applies to software development. Be sure to check examples of their work so you can check yourself to see if they match your expectations.”

The nature of software development is very intangible. By creating an analogy like this it brings into perspective how the prospect can make a sound decision on which company to choose. After all, they are as baffled as the next person over the whole process. They are scratching their head for pointers on what criteria is important when choosing a software developer.
What makes the difference between an amateur and a pro?
The professional does what the amateur is not prepared to do. They do the rehearsing of their 3 x 5 cards, they create the sales presentations, they also actually use them.

Being a pro doesn’t mean to say you have to be gifted or on a higher intellectual plane. All you need to do is many small things well. And to be a super pro with a competitive advantage, do many small things very well, preferably better than the competition.

The competition don’t confirm all appointments in writing, but you do. The competition never confirms what was said over the phone, but you do. All these small details build up a picture in the customer’s mind as to how good you are. They are simple things to do but effective in giving you a professional image.

Amateurs try to get away with doing the minimum work possible. While the client may be happy with this person, it won’t make them stand out from the crowd. They won’t get the referrals and they won’t get the customer loyalty that stops them shopping around to competitors.

The cost of acquiring a customer can be so high that retaining them should be a priority. Be a pro and both sides of the equation will benefit.