If you’re in business, then you’re in sales. This truism isn’t a new one. It’s a concept that for years has animated motivational posters, books, talks, startup cultures, and management meetings alike. Every business, technology, and communications role—whether managerial, administrative, marketing or ESPECIALLY the all-in-one solopreneur—functions at its core, proximal to selling. That selling may not be represented by a monthly quota—but in these roles we are always selling our ideas, competencies, motivations, and trust in hopes of receiving a specific response, method-adoption, or signal of a completed task.
Our presenter today—B2B Member, Group promotional products professional, and yours truly—Matt Hall of Hierank Marketing Solutions is now a 4th year solopreneur who understands this concept firsthand.
One of Matt’s insights on the sales process is to make the next action you’d like taken as clear and simple as it can possibly be. In his line of work, clients often ask for everything from quick offhand quotes to in-depth proposals—so to streamline this process’s delivery (and do his best to keep from getting buried under a pile of quote requests), he’s defined Levels 1-3 for the style his quote-outputs in terms of their level of presentation, based on the need, seriousness, and level of the opportunity. He laid these out for the group today:
- Level 1 – This delivers suggestions in-line text in an email body. All suggestions are clearly visually separated with column pricing and light detail to delineate choices, and are easy for quick scan or review.
- Level 2 – This delivers Hierank’s product suggestions on templated form slides that show product code, column pricing, product detail and a suggested mockup with pricing for recommended art & quantities, and are great for getting a full idea of product concepts.
- Level 3 – This is an in-depth proposal presentation that identifies the client’s spoken and unspoken needs and goals, as well as a specific plan for incorporating Hierank services and promotions to satisfy them. He spent some time here digging into what a specific proposal would look like for a client apparel store program.
There are no hard and fast rules for which opportunities warrant which level of response—but as Matt and many sales professionals would tell you is that after enough repetitions in this game, one will just sort of know.
Examples of each presentation-style can be seen below. Connect with Matt if there are any brand materials you’d like to level up your presence with. He will get you what you need!
If you’re interested in joining a group of like-minded business professionals and networking with individuals like Matt, check out our business networking group at border2border.biz/join! We always welcome visitors and new members, and look forward to connecting with you.
