Understanding What You Are Selling/Offering, And How To Sell It (PART 1)

Understanding What You Are Selling/Offering, And How To Sell It (PART 1)

by David Wright (dwright@artmaze.com) - Artmaze (http://www.artmaze.com)

One of the main changes for the business-to-business executive sales process is to think differently regarding what you are offering. Generally speaking, most of us just offer rendering services, animation and the like, and frequently we are told what to do and how; such as “we need 3 renders from these angles, and a 45-second walkthrough animation from here to here”.

If you want to bring your services to a different level, you should start offering solutions rather than just renderings. You start by understanding what you are offering and how your services affect your client business. Clearly you are aware of the basics of your services, and in simple terms you may understand why your client needs them, but you can always expand your services by bringing in additional consulting. It is key for the artist to know what the use will be for the actual rendering; perhaps it will serve multiple uses such as public relations, permits, bids, competition, but if you learn the actual uses, in your particular case, your offering may change, and you may become not only an architectural artist, but also someone to consult with, to get advice from, which in my opinion, is more interesting and is something that our clients really need and frequently do not know.

Many of our clients do instruct us on what they want in great detail. Some know what they are doing, but many do not; We know what we’re doing because we’ve learned over time that our virtual cameras serve as communication tools, our textures, our shadows, our color treatment, and, for those in motion graphics, our camera paths, our editing and music. We clearly do this more frequently than our clients do, therefore we should be capable of recommending to them what should be done; a custom-made solution for each case.

Communication Skills:

Besides understanding what your offer really is and what it does, the way you communicate it - the words you use - also affect your negotiations. It is a given that the word “rendering” will come about during a conversation, but we must strongly emphasize other words such as “solution”. The main reason we need this emphasis is that rendering alone does not verbally communicate “success,” “problem fixed,” “better,” “improvement,” or “achievement;” it is like saying “blueprint.” On the other hand, this other word, “Solution,” communicates all these words and also closes the link. Now you may ask, “What Link? What are you talking about?” When you use the word “Solution” you are indirectly communicating that there is a problem, which is true, and with the same word, you are communicating how to fix it, this is a word that makes your case. You may also use other words such as “my/our answer” and “resolution,” but in my personal opinion, solution is the most powerful.

Examples:

• What I propose as a solution is 10 renderings and a short 1-minute animation edited into 10 scenes.
• A rendering with partial transparency to understand the structure and an animation that illustrates it solve the problem.
• With the information provided a solution is as follows: 3 eagle views and…

Wording: Can vs. Will

When in a meeting, the communication for the proposal and the creative solution are directly controlled by the words used to communicate them. Another important word note is this: It is very important to avoid using the word “can” during conversations, email, or letters that relate directly to a bid, or during negotiations or proposals, verbal or in writing. It is common to read and listen to “we can do this and that” or “we can render this…” So, you may ask yourself, what does “can” mean? Is this word positive?” It may not be apparent, but it is not as positive as we might think; “can” communicates “might not,” “sometimes,” “depending on the case,” or “up to a limit.” Now rephrase the sentences and use the word “will.” I think we can all agree that it is indeed stronger and more positive. What does this have to do with architectural rendering? Well, visual communication is our job, and how well we explain it, and how we verbally translate our thoughts are key components to that. The words we use are definitely a part of it.

Examples:

We will offer you good drafts (instead of We can show you good drafts)
We will take your notes for the final rendering
We will increase the shadow quality

Synonyms:

To be able to
To be capable of
To resolve to

Communication, The Basics: Executive Sales

Selling to firms is completely different than selling a product. By now we’ve learned that it is in our interest to provide solutions rather than just a simple rendering; but we not only want to say that we are selling a solution, but we also need to apply basic business-to-business skills. The following represents the behavior and attitude to uphold when you are in a bid meeting:

General guideline:

• Businesses need business, and have to give business to others; this differs from a personal level where we do not need many of the products we buy.
• As much as is possible, hide your ‘sales’ persona; a great sales person is someone that does not look like a salesperson. (Some would say that you need to act like one to understand how not to act like one).
• Only use strong words, we learned that the word “can” is not completely positive.
• Believe that you’ve already got the project, have self-confidence about it.
• Never interrupt; let the client speak, even if he interrupts you.
• Never mention cost, wait for them to ask you, respond maintaining eye contact.
• Maintaining eye contact (throughout the meeting) is very important, it communicates that you are someone that can be trusted.
• For meetings, use semi-formal clothing as much as possible, even if your clients are not formal.
• Always provide them with savings & improvement; this is part of your solution.
• There is always a project on any budget limitation.

During a phone call:

Many of us (including me years ago) are afraid of the phone, especially cold calls. Let me tell you something: you will not get any business if you don’t call potential clients; don’t expect them to call you, or to discover you, or to beg for a project, no matter how great your portfolio is. You have to call and call and call. Most calls do not bring work immediately, but they are all seeds that you plant and many do come to fruition months or even years later. Remember that business needs business, in other words, your call is needed. You will get accustomed to this with practice, even though this is against most of our core beliefs, and very few people really enjoy doing this.

At the beginning, you may use a phone script as a guide, but never read from one live on the phone. Detect the ’tone’ of your client’s voice; ask yourself if he/she has the time to listen (refer to general phone workflow). No phone conversation should be longer than 5 minutes, unless the client requests more information.

Never mention cost, wait for them to ask you, and respond firmly. In the end, and only if the client was responsive and positive: ask if they can give you names of people in other departments and even other companies.

What can you get from this phone call?

• Identify who in the firm may be the right person or persons that will be interested in your services
• Names, so you can do a mailing of brochures or videos.
• Leads on the company you called, and possibly outside that company; most have friends and most will help you.
• To set a day for a presentation, to finally get their business.
• Identify influential personnel as well as those with purchasing power
• To learn as much as possible from each firm.
• To imprint your name or company name into their memory

During a meeting:

The most important thing in a meeting is to keep it short; most of our clients do not, or like to think that they do not, have time for anything. Show your best work, explain the way you work, what you need from them to work, and be clear on what are the possible deliverables, such as posters, color prints, VHS and so on. Always give your business card so you can receive theirs, and upon receipt of theirs, read their name again out loud and keeping eye contact, this trick, one that a friend of mine taught me, works well for learning and remembering names. Keeping eye contact, or in the case of a group, balance your eye contact between those present, don’t stare just at one person. Any presentation must not be longer than 15 minutes, unless there is noticeable interest from the group. Never mention cost, wait for them to ask you, (they will!) and respond quickly, maintaining eye contact. The idea is to communicate that your services and solutions are smooth and without complications. In the end, depending on how cold or warm the meeting was, ask someone if they can give you additional names in other firms. After the meeting you may send a quick email about the meeting, keeping it very short.

• Keep it short
• Show your best work only
• Explain what you need to start a job
• Explain your output, your deliverables
• Give your business cards so that you receive theirs
• Again, keep eye contact, and balance it.
• Wait for “how much,” don’t mention it unless asked.
• Send email or contact them as a follow-up to thank them for their time.

Most of these skills you learn automatically by doing them, by practicing them, but a quick reminder helps to identify these when they come up in a meeting. We provide services, that is clear, but we must move into offering more than that. Software products are getting better and better, and most of our clients have the capacity to render; something that they do not have is the understanding on how to mix this media, how to put it together on per project basis. Some may need animation, some other projects won’t. Our service has the expansion space to offer this consulting, and in my opinion, we will begin moving in that direction.