Why Should I Do Business with YOU?

“Why Should I Do Business with YOU?”

Great question and one that should be pretty easy to answer. The problem is most people don’t really know how to respond. Stumped with a response most often sounding like a rambling journey to nowhere. Or worse, answered with one of those UVPs (unique value proposition), a script so poorly crafted Meryl Streep couldn’t bring it to life in a conversation!

Do you have an answer? As a business owner or B2B professional seller, you want to be prepared and know what you’re going to say. And it needs to be simple.

Look at it this way. Your customers have problems. You help fix those problems so that they can get on with their day, week, month, year, life. When you do that, you become of value. People buy value.

So, let’s break it down and get you on the path to expressing your value in a way so that more people will buy from you – more often, more quickly – and refer you to their friends and colleagues.

Here are three traps to avoid and what to do instead.

TRAP #1: Not understanding the question.

What is your prospect really asking you? They are NOT asking about are the features of your product or service. They want to know that you can solve their problem.  

Problems come in many forms but can almost always be categorized as avoiding a loss or risk. Daniel Kahneman’s research and Nobel Prize in Economics examined the emotional responses we have to losses and gains. I’m oversimplifying here, but essentially people are 2x more motivated to move away from a loss (even a perceived loss) than they are motivated to move toward an incremental gain.

The unspoken question your prospect is really asking is “do you understand the loss or risk I’m trying to avoid – do you solve the kind of problem I have?” Answer this question.

TRAP #2: Over scripting.

The dreaded UVP! You poured your heart and soul into crafting the perfect UVP (unique value proposition). If it doesn’t tell a story, it’s garbage. If it looks better on a page than coming out of your mouth, it’s garbage.

This is your chance to engage your prospect in who you authentically are, what you care about (aka solving problems), why you care and the relief that’s possible, demonstrated and proven through your solution.

Absolutely write it out, practice it, massage it, practice again… but in the end tell a story that pulls your prospect in and creates a sense of hope for them and for a better outcome.

TRAP #3: Making it all about you.

Everyone talks the talk of value. But what does that mean? Value is an attitude of service.

Sales gets a bad wrap and for good reason. There’s really nothing worse than feeling like you’ve been invited to a meeting for an exchange of value, only to get hard pitched!

Robert Cialdini refers to the principle of reciprocity as a mechanism of influence – the idea that givers gain. That doesn’t mean free or giving away your product or service at a discounted price. It means that bringing an attitude of service to your sales calls pays off.

My last boss always said there was a journey to making a sale he called the stages of 'know, like, trust'. The attitude of service and delivering of value lives in all three stages.

A super simple way to check yourself for an attitude of service is in your language. Look at your emails and proposals. How many times do you use “I” versus “you”? Start framing your messages about what your prospect or customer can do with your product and what that might mean to them instead of touting your features and how good and credible you are. They will read on… and maybe even reach out!

One final thing… the biggest trap of all is what we make of the question “why should I do business with you?” Too often it’s heard as a test, an objection.

Treat every sales call believing that this spoken or unspoken question comes from a place of hope. Maybe, just maybe your prospect or customer will finally find the solution to their problem – the persistent, nasty, annoying, time consuming, nagging problem – through you!

Happy prospecting!