Over the last few months I have been having more conversations with small training firms as well as people thinking about hanging out a shingle as a sales trainer. In addition to talking about key issues like their Exit Strategy I have, almost without fail, brought up the challenge of how they talk about what they do with their prospects in a simple and concise manner.
Disclaimer: Working closely with a company that does sales messaging (Force Management) influences my bias to the importance of this area.
When I was at OnTarget/Siebel Systems I worked for an executive, Nick Nascone, who was fond of talking about Big Animal Pictures¹. Big Animal Pictures in the training world are the graphics that you use to talk about your business – and can be represented on a Powerpoint slide or hand drawn on a whiteboard, flip chart or napkin.
I believe all firms need Big Animal Pictures that are easy for your sales team to remember and articulate – and that resonate with your customers. You need one picture for “What we do” and another for “How we do it.”
Here is my main Big Animal Picture – what I call the Value Chain for Training and Consulting Firms. Below are some examples from inside the sales training world:
and I assume that means salespeople complete the Whiz Banger form for only the most complex deals, but mentally use the Whiz Bang processes on all deals.
