Sales Communication projects

The purpose of the selling plan is to prepare your team for a successful sales call. Your selling plan should include: customer value proposition, customer benefit proposition, competitive comparison, delineation of promotional support elements, solution quantification, and a buyer profile.

Your plan should be 3-5+ single-spaced pages and must also include the visuals that you will use during your final sales call with Bob (these can be graphs of your financials, images of a mini-concept store, etc..). If you want to do your visuals as a separate PowerPoint presentation, you can do that – simply upload that document in addition to your written plan.

For this assignment, you can work with a partner from the course or submit your own plan.

Below, please find the required sections for your Selling Plan and the points that will be awarded for each section.

I. Customer Value Proposition (see p.239) [40 points]

This section sets up your whole strategy for your sales presentation to Bob – don’t skimp out on thinking through all of these points
Your customer value proposition should address three key issues:
What issues might be important to this specific prospect?
How does our solution create value for these issues / this specific prospect?
How can we demonstrate our capability to address each of these issues?
The way in which your product will meet the prospect’s needs and how that is different from the offerings of competitors, especially the next-best alternative.
The value bundle contained in a solid customer value proposition includes the features and benefits (financial and emotional) tailored to the prospect, the proof that those benefits actually exist, and the value of the seller and the seller’s firm as the solutions provider.
Simply having a superior product or delivering on your promises is no longer sufficient. Rather, what distinguishes you is how you make your customers feel while using your product. The experience is what bonds your customers to you.

II. Buyer Profile(s) [25 points]

Create a unique profile of the customer (Bob). This profile will serve as your framework on how to behave as the buyer during the SPIN selling and role-play.
You may create a buyer personality much like your own personality, or take on a new personality all together.
A good buyer…
Challenges the knowledge and skills of the seller, BUT is fair.
Is concerned with his/her own welfare as a buyer. That is, he/she wants to be treated fairly.
Makes sure that the seller satisfactorily handles his/her objectives.
Obtains information from the competition and others with similar needs as the role that you are playing
Include information from each of the sections in order to create your buyer profile:
(1) Name: Subject’s name
(2) Background: Describe your demographic and psychographic profile. This information should include your age, marital status, income, values, lifestyle, etc.
(3) Personality Type: Choose one of the four personality types outlined in the Social Style Matrix (i.e., Amiable, Expressive, Driver, Analytic). Elaborate on what this personality type means in regard to how this type of buyer would behave during a buyer-seller interaction (i.e., overly talkative vs. closed of demeanor; informal vs. formal, etc.).
(4) Needs: Discuss your buyer’s needs as an individual and as an organization. These include what short-term and long-term objectives he would like to accomplish
(5) Objections: Create a list of three to five objections your Buyer would likely raise in reaction to your sales presentation

III. Customer Benefit Proposition (see p.210) [15 points]

A feature is a quality or characteristics of the product or service. Every product has many features designed to help potential customers.
A benefit is the way in which a specific feature will help a particular buyer and is tied directly to the buying motives of the prospect. A benefit helps the prospect more fully answer the question “What’s in it for me?”
The way in which a salesperson shows how a product addresses the buyer’s needs is something called the customer benefit proposition. The salesperson’s job is to supply the facts and then point out what those features mean to the buyer in terms of benefits and value creation.
Feel free to create a table of Features and Benefits if that helps your think through this section

IV. Competitive Comparison [15 points]

In addition to presenting the benefits, it is also helpful to know how the benefits of your products are superior or inferior to the benefits of competitive products.
Identify at least one major competitor and compare and contrast your products on multiple key attributes (e.g., product attributes, company attributes, salesperson attributes) (e.g., price, support, features/benefits, strengths/weaknesses, etc.). **This is to be one of Nike’s competitors, not Bob’s.

V. Promotional Support [35 points]

Compile the visual aids (e.g., PowerPoint slide, testimonials, references, cases, demonstration, pricing guide, etc.) you may use during your sales call.
Describe each visual aid and categorize them based on when you would use each one. This can include when responding to certain objectives and/or to provide evidence for certain benefit statements.
Attach visuals in appendix (does not count toward page length max), but include write-up of promotional support in the selling plan.

VI. Solution Quantification [10 points]

Calculate a return on investment (ROI) for your offer to Bob
Calculate a payback period for your offer.

Here is an example from another case if you want to see how a sales plan can be approached: Communication_Projects_SELLING_Plan_example_.pdf

If you have questions, please let me know – thanks!