Your prospect is an upstart MMA promotion company. They are a smaller version of the UFC targeting up and coming fighters. They are trying to position themselves as a breeding ground or minor leagues for new fighters to fight their way into the UFC. They are looking to leverage content marketing and social media in order to improve their fight awareness. They are looking at you and your competitors. They are very price sensitive and have been moving slow.
Your SaaS is a perfect fit. It can address many of their challenges and needs. It’s a viable solution that can deliver substantial value.
This is a typical sales scenario sales people face all the time. A need has been identified. The customer has a desire to buy. There is a real challenge the customer is trying to overcome. The product or solution is a good fit. A sale is going to be made. However, whether or not a sale is going to be made isn’t the question. The question is, what is going to win the sale?
Well, that depends on the sales person. The sales person who frames the situation best is going to win it.
“Frames?”
Yes, frames it.
“Framing it” refers to how the sales person positions or structures all the information in the sale for the prospect. It’s the story the sales person creates to demonstrate why their solution is the best choice. Framing is how the sales person delivers the story outlining the problem, the potential outcomes, what happens if they don’t chose their company, why the decision is so important, where the pitfalls are, where the win is etc. And, in addition to all of that, it’s how the sales person frames it emotionally. In other words, how much emotion the sales person can invoke from their frame?
Most sales people aren’t very good at framing. We let the customer frame for us. In the example above, most sales people would frame the deal around price. Knowing the prospect is very sensitive to price, they would frame value around the price of the solution. The customer said price was important, so they frame around price and why their solution is a better value for the price. That’s a frame.
Others might frame around why they are better than the competition. That’s a frame too. They will frame the sale around the features and capabilities they have their competitors don’t, or around their better customers service. This frame will be a competitive frame, focusing the prospects eyes and attention towards the competition. It’s a frame, just not a good one.
How else could this situation be framed?
How about framing around maximizing fight promotions. MMA, like boxing, relies heavily on promotion to maximize ticket sales, pay-per-view sales, merchandizing, advertising revenue, etc. There isn’t a fight every day or every week like football, basketball or baseball. Fighting has only a few fights or cards a year, therefore maximizing those dates is critical. Framing around promoting, increased ticket sales, more pay-per-view, increased merchandizing, etc. is another way to go. It’s a good story.
Another frame could be talent acquisition. Fighters have a choice who they fight for. Getting and retaining the best “new” talent before they blow up would be critical to this upstart MMA promotion company. Framing the story around attracting and retaining the best and most promising young fighters is another framing choice.
Ask some more questions and two, three or even four possible new frames could present themselves.
Framing is absolutely critical to sales. It’s where the deal is won. Shitty frames, driven by the customer rarely win. Powerful frames steeped in good stories, that create emotion; fear, excitement, confidence, happiness, sadness, etc. win. Frames drive the deal strategy. Shitty frame, shitty deal strategy. Framing around price, that’s a shitty deal strategy. Well, unless you are Walmart. We don’t need anymore Walmarts.
How good are you at framing?
Do you create compelling frames that capture your prospects and customers? Do you pull them toward your solution with engaging stories that frame their problem and solution in the most compelling and emotional way? You should. The frame is what wins the sale.