Fugitive Thoughts and Lesson from the Fork in the Road

There’s a group of people perpetually defined by their constant focus on selling. They spend most every minute of every day thinking, “sell, sell, sell.” Their product is words and their audience is anyone with an ear. We in the business world should pay close attention.

Politicians wake up each morning on a crusade to convince anyone and everyone to let them have their way. It’s disciplined, transparent, wonderfully effective and built almost entirely on a razor sharp focus on “message”.

2012, of course, is an election year so the full menagerie of candidates is on display for all to see. Each one operates his or her campaign utilizing deeply researched and battle tested “Talking Points” to effectively manipulate the media and voters into accepting their message as the best option come Election Day. We in the business world could learn a thing or two about the power of effective Talking Points in improving our own market share.

Let’s take a look at five Talking Points every company or organization should script, define and communicate in order to compete effectively:

1. “I Pledge of Allegiance.” A “We Believe” statement that expresses exactly what your company or organization stands for, is motivated by or sees as its most passionate purpose or what it can be the best at. Something that inspires WHY, not how or what.
2. “The customer is always right”: Craft a specific response to each of the three most typical complaints you may hear in your industry or in your particular business. Build it with empathy and make it customer concentric; an explanation that doesn’t invoke excuses and never blames the customer. This is often listed as the number one rule in business along with the second most important rule: Read rule number one again!
3. “That guy’s a screw-up.” Every salesperson runs into the occasional client or prospect that has had a bad experience with one of their colleagues, and every organization needs a thoughtfully prepared, well-rehearsed auto-reply for this situation. Varied or inconsistent replies to complaints help only to antagonize the prospect and serve to extend the distaste to the entire organization.
4. “Our competition is….” You can name your competition in your sleep. You know what differentiates you and which advantages you enjoy and which area’s they hold an edge. Every organization needs an approved set of Talking Points for each of their three most direct competitors. These should never include negative comments. They should accentuate favorable distinctions on your behalf and speak to what the prospect might find important, not what you find important. It’s always best to highlight specific examples from people who have chosen you over the competition in the past.
5. “How much?” Every company charges money for its product or service but very few have prepared articulate explanations of how that price is determined. This is easier for some products and services than others but it still needs to be addressed. Trying to explain price as a function of cost is more effective than explaining it as a function of the market, but be careful not to make it a spreadsheet discussion or delve too heavily in your expenses. This one will take work but needs to be done.

Once these Talking Points are established you need to train your entire staff on them: role play, test, mix and do again. It’s also a nice idea to revisit the TP’s for each category every 90 days or so to make sure they’re tight and optimally efficient. No need to do this every three hours like some politicians, after all, you’re not looking to win votes, you’re looking to win relationships.

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