As Marketers, it pays to step back and think about what we are asking our prospects to do…

Until you have a strong grasp on how your prospects are doing things today, it’s extraordinarily difficult to fully grasp the business value that you can potentially bring them.

If you can’t clearly articulate a strong value proposition based on a deep knowledge, you craft lousy email and voicemail messages – and don’t get your foot in the door. (What is the business outcome that they will achieve if they do what we are asking them to do – that is the value proposition. Not how our solutions work, or why we’re better – but what business driver we can move for them. Cost, time, win rates, etc.)

At its core, marketing and sales is about change.

If a prospect can’t see enough value in switching, they’ll stay with what they have. If it’s hard work to get buy-in, they’ll stay with what they have. Even if what you offer seems better.

By immersing yourself in the status quo, you know WHY people change – the value they receive.

This in turn, helps you create better messaging … which gets you into more conversations. And then, because of what you know, you ask better questions … which helps people realize that changing is the smart thing to do.

Asking prospects to change is a humbling experience – it creates an imperative that we believe fully in an educated understanding of why the change we are asking them to make is the smart thing for them to do. For the company, for their professional development, and for them personally. We need to be sure, and we need to be enthusiastic about that confident understanding of their outcomes.

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