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Jeffrey Biala

Fall 2013 - The Public Manager

An ambulance is screeching toward the hospital, as the life of its precious cargo hangs in the balance. Response teams are battling multiple forces as an oil spill wreaks havoc off the coast. Analysts weave together pieces of the puzzle as the terrorists they seek scuttle to their retreat.     

Process, Tools, and Culture: Three Dimensions of Knowledge Management

What Is the Most Misused Word in the World of Sales?The most misused word in sales may surprise you. It’s “value.”Value is a misguided, misused, maligned word, whose meaning has gone fallow. It is often used without understanding of its true meaning or implications. It’s bantered about in a way that customers (including yours) are becoming numb to anything related to the word.Value has become an empty buzzword. Value is like the word paradigm, only worse because you can’t define value in terms of the customer if your life depended on it.Reality: When you print or speak the word value, it’s usually from your perspective. It is your self-defined interpretation of value. The value you put on your product or service—your value statement, your value proposition, your added-value, or worse, your “value-add” (the slang that no one can define).Grim Reality: Whether implied, given, added, printed, or spoken, the key word that makes “value” both misused and misunderstood is perceived. If the customer or prospect does not perceive value, no matter what you say, there is none. The customer’s perception of value is your reality, and the customer’s perception is all that matters. Your sales hang in the balance.Value ClarificationWhen a salesperson says, “The value-add is: and whatever said implies you must buy before you get any value,” it’s not good. It sounds insincere, but is usually somewhere close to bogus. It’s not value; it’s JACK – and “jack,” in case you’re not from Philly, is half of a word.Ask yourself these questions to discover if there’s any real value in your value offering:Do I have to buy something to get the value offered?Is there a pitch at the end of the free valuable information?Am I required to do something in exchange for the value?Am I stating value in terms of me, my company, or my products?If any of these questions are answered in the affirmative, then the value you’re offering is perceived as negative.Value PropositionIf you have a “value proposition” (most companies do), and you talk about it as your “value prop,” it’s probably self-serving. My advice is to get rid of the value proposition and create a new one. A value proposition is NOT about who you are, what you do, or what your benefits are – rather it’s how the customer wins. Value must be expressed in terms of customers.“Added value” is a phrase that raises my blood pressure. Don’t add value, GIVE value. They are simple words, but there’s a big difference. Adding implies you have to “buy to get.” Giving means the customer receives before buying. Give value – don’t add value. Value AttractionMy marketing philosophy and marketing strategy is this: I give value first. I put myself in front of people that can say “yes” to me, and I deliver value first. Doing that creates “value attraction” – it’s the real law of attraction.Also, consider providing continuous, value-based information after the sale to ensure loyalty.Here are some specific examples of before and after the sale “value ideas.” Think about these and then create your own!Sharing industry best practices.Manufacturing components and offering plant safety tips.Medical devices to doctors and teaching bedside manner.Teaching clerks how to close sales when a customer comes in to buy using your coupon or voucher.Office supplies and teaching customer service to receptionists and accounting.Anything in favor of your customer that helps them increase productivity, communication, operations, morale, and especially profit.Value PerceivedIf you really want to deliver value, ask your customer what he or she considers valuable. Whatever they say, do that, offer that, share that, communicate that, teach that, print that, and say that. In a nutshell, that’s value. Real value. Value perceived.For more value insight, go to www.gitomer.com and enter the words VALUE MOTIVE in the GitBit Box.

Sales Moves by Jeffrey Gitomer 11-30

What is the value? Where is the value? Who perceives the value?You have been making value perceptions and value judgments your entire life. You may call them decisions, moments of truth, or actions. Intuitively they focus around value – and your perception of it – or the weight you put toward it as these decisions or actions are taken or made. It’s the same in sales, but in the selling process there are two values of perception and two value judgments. One is the value perception and judgment you make, and the other is the value perception and judgment the customer makes. Obviously the customer’s value judgment and perception rules the selling process. However, you, the salesperson, have a major impact on how the value is perceived and ultimately how their judgment is made. Your value judgments come from:How you feel about your company.How you feel about your product.How you feel about yourself.How you feel about the customer and their buying process.You’ve placed a value on yourself that reflects in your selling skills, your attitude, your belief system, your truthfulness, and your ethics. If you are willing to compromise any of those, you’ll never be a successful salesperson in the long term.   That’s you. And then there is the customer. Whether they’re an existing customer or a prospect, they’re making all kinds of value judgments about you, your product, and your company – in that order. Much of their judgment about you is being made during the presentation itself, but as the digital age progresses many of these perceptions and judgments are made way before you (the salesperson) enter the scene.These days, Mother Google can create preconceived value notions that don’t simply revolve around your product or your price; that's just one part of the equation. Your personal reputation and your company’s reputation play a major role in the customer’s perception and judgment of value. MAJOR UPSIDE-DOWN CLUE: Every salesperson uses Google to find more information about the company and the person they are going to meet. That same salesperson NEVER takes the same amount of time to Google themselves to see what the potential customer is finding out about them. It’s a major mystery to me why salespeople still believe they are invisible. Meanwhile, your reputation (and/or lack of it) is totally available to the customer way before you ever enter their office. The majority of salespeople, most likely including you:Do not have a business Facebook page.Have never tweeted.Do not have a personal website.Do not have a blog.Do not have a YouTube channel. Have less than 500 LinkedIn connections.What could they (you) be thinking? It will take your prospective or existing customers less than one minute to do a complete Internet search on you, and it’s most likely you have never done one on yourself. Your sales hang in the balance. WRONG THINKING: People with no internet presence, people with no brand presence, and people with little personal reputation will all make the feeble excuse that the customer is only buying price anyway. They (you) are foolishly incorrect. If your customer is looking to make a value judgment before you arrive, what are they going to find? NOTE WELL: If a customer is looking to make a value judgment or value perception during your presentation, a good portion of that will occur way before the presentation takes place. I’ve just given you a re-definition of the word “value” by adding the words perceived (perception) and judgment. These are the words your customer mentally uses as he or she is deciding. Notice I have not used the words “add” or “added” when referring to the word value, nor will I ever. Your biggest job as a salesperson is to create you own value and reputation in the marketplace, so that when your prospective customer is looking for information about you, it will credibly be there. I have listed the value-based elements you need to succeed. I am challenging you that youprobably don’t have them, and now it’s time for you to make your own value judgment if it is worth the investment of time to create them. In my opinion it’s not an option, it’s an imperative.Show me the value, and I’ll give you the sale.

Jeffrey Biala

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