Why is it so difficult to remember even a short speech, but so easy to remember an entire song? For example, what do these 7 digits do for you? 867-5309. Humming yet? Now that I’ve probably lost your attention to Tommy Tutone, I’ll try to make my point. We are creatures of rhyme, story, and imagery. Great salespeople use this trait to leave memorable impressions with the customer.
Let me give you another quick example by telling a story about overcoming the challenging trends service contractors face today:
You know One Truck Chuck? He’s the low-price competitor that steals your customer by undercutting your invoices.
Competing on price was fair game when technicians were easy to hire. That game has changed with the skilled labor squeeze which is predicted to worsen over the coming decade.
Feels like you’re stuck in the tightening jaws of a vice; right between increasing price pressure from One Truck Chuck and rising costs from the skilled labor squeeze. Fortunately, these challenges are not insurmountable.
But, before I present a solution, I want to point out the tools I’ve used so far to make this narrative memorable. When you step away from this blog post, you won’t remember this particular sentence but you will definitely remember the phrases “One Truck Chuck” and the “skilled labor squeeze” because of the imagery, rhyme, and alliteration I used. That’s powerful. You need to leave the same lasting impression with your customers and prospects.
Now, back to our story. You can’t afford to beat Chuck on price. You have to differentiate yourself and show the customer how you offer more value. A good portion of this blog post is dedicated to just that, but I think this image helps sum it up:
Your pitch can go something like this:
Prospective customer, this is what happens when you go with my cheap competitor, One Truck Chuck. It will take him twice as long, causes twice the aggravation, and results in twice the expense due to shoddy workmanship. He is undercapitalized, under-equipped, and under-experienced to provide the expertise you need. You will spend more time and more money dealing with him.
Obviously, this shouldn’t be the entirety of your sales pitch, but this is a great piece of ammunition to support the case that you are a high-value provider. Feel free to use any of the images or rhymes in this post during your next sales call and please let us know what you use to get your point across to the customer. Check out our webinar “Don’t sell on price. Sell a premium program.“ to learn more about using these tools and others to outsell your competition.
