Arrows in the quiver: Tools for your sales reps

by Paul Muller

My knowledge of archery is limited to Robin Hood and William Tell, but even I know you can’t hit road kill at five feet without taking an arrow out of the quiver before shooting. Send your sales reps out there with an empty quiver or broken arrows, and they can’t even hit dead meat.

Truth is, the supply of marketing tools for sales reps is nearly endless, including everything from hats and coffee mugs to catalogs and the sales speech. Some of these items are part of marketing tribal tradition, apparently retained for ritualistic purposes and doing little to close the sale. There is no reason you can’t do smarter and better. Arm your reps with strong, pointy arrows and they’ll soon start bringing home the prize game. Here are some of the most important arrows for the sales rep’s quiver.

The Elevator Speech: What the heck does your company do, and why should a customer care? If you can’t explain yourself to a stranger between the first and third floors of an elevator ride, you have a problem. Beyond stating your company’s name, deliver a clear message that will attract the prospect, something that makes you different from, and better than, your competitors. If it’s not short, sweet and loaded with something for your prospect, this arrow needs a sharper point.

The Long Speech: This is a more detailed version of the elevator speech, usually given when there is time to talk. Take the elevator speech and add detail, explain how and why you have something more for the customer. A story-telling approach works well and allows your reps to make the speech their own (and much more powerful). Use examples from the company experience that demonstrate your commitment to the customer, your willingness to listen or how your special expertise saved someone big bucks. Keep in mind, if you don’t point out how you’re different — and better — you’re gonna shoot yourself in the foot.

The Company Identity: If you claim to be something special and your business card looks like something dragged out of the local flea market, you have a credibility problem. Your company identity and its presentation via business cards, sales materials, catalogs and other tools must match the message that your offerings are high-quality and field-proven. If they don’t, the best you can hope for is confusion. Trust me, this arrow just will not fly straight.

The Line Card: Everybody has a line card. Plop a few logos on a sheet of paper and bingo, you represent General Electric, General Motors and Colonel Sanders. So what? You need an arrow that flies further, one that makes you stand out from the competition. So don’t just paste a logo on the page, add to it. Make your services visible, tell ’em you got the tools and the accessories. Maybe the repair service, too. And speaking of service, what about your delivery service? Maybe you can zip to the job site faster with radio-dispatched delivery (cell phone-dispatched sounds funny, stick with radio-dispatched in your copy). All the national brand identity you get with the big name logos is great, but what do you do that’s different and better? Lay it out on that line card, and you add an effective arrow in your quiver. 

Language is critical in these items. Speak with clarity and force, and be sure your claims are believable. Chances are, if you repeat the same old tired lines, they’ll come across as, well, old and tired. If your reps don’t believe what they say and cannot deliver it with conviction, guess what?  Customers and prospects won’t believe it either.

Don’t get all tangled up in rules and theories about when to use which arrow. A few years ago, I created a bang-up line card for a customer, who spent a few bucks on the project. They sat in the shed while the customer set all sorts of restrictions about which rep got how many cards and theorized about how to psychoanalyze prospects to see if they were “worthy” of receiving one. Meanwhile, the line cards weren’t selling a thing, and the return on investment was far down the road. Let your reps choose the arrow and determine when to fire. If they are pros, they know how to do this. And if they are not, you’ve got some training to do!

Yeah, I know, if you start talking about arrows and quivers, pretty soon the entire sales crew will want every arrow imaginable. The truth is, they don’t need them. A few of the right arrows — the ones that set you apart from the competition and do so with clarity and force — will do the job.

This article appeared in the May/June 2005 issue of Progressive Distributor. Copyright 2005.

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