In 9 Critical Beliefs of a Confident Salesperson on The Sales Blog, author Anthony Iannarino lists the ways in which successful sales people create a sense of certainty for clients. They are:
- I am a large part of the overall value proposition.
- I believe that I belong at the table when my prospective clients are considering a change.
- I can help my prospects identify areas where they may be able to improve the results.
- I can create value for any contact who will meet with me.
- How I sell is a greater factor in winning deals than what I sell.
- My experience allows me to recognise patterns and quickly understand some of what I might need to teach my prospective client to compel them to change.
- Because I have sold the outcomes more than my prospective client has decided to buy them, I am the one who should lead the conversation.
- I am a peer to any contact sitting across a desk for me.
- The information I share with my clients is valuable enough to them that they would have to pay a consultant to obtain a similar set of insights and experiences.
Now, this blog is not about sales, a subject about which many readers will know more than I do. But it occurred to me that this type of confidence is something which could equally be useful in creating marketing material. As I’ve often said, a company website is also the company’s most important salesperson nowadays – a whole generation of customers have grown up expecting to largely be able to make a purchasing decision (or at least a vendor shortlist) without talking to anyone. For most of the items in the list above, try substituting “this web page” for “I”, and ask if based on its content, the page has the confidence of the best salespeople.