How To Present Your Impact Statement in a Compelling Way

By: Tom Heinmiller of Heinmiller Consulting. A seasoned fractional sales manager serving Dublin & Columbus, Ohio. His expertise is among Sales, Sales Training, Prospecting, and most importantly revenue growth for all companies he works with.

You do not sell in the impact statement – instead focus on the buyers’ issues. In the most basic form, an impact statement is a new elevator pitch. You are getting across the benefits of doing business with you. The impact statement should be about 45 seconds long, should speak the buyer’s language not yours, address their needs not yours, and create opportunities to move forward.

Let’s review the basic framework in a little more detail:

1. Articulate the benefit you provide. Describe the challenge other customers in this industry have faced and how your solution addresses those challenges.

2. Talk about how you work with clients and how your product or service provided value.

3. Suggest similar benefits are available to them. You cannot be sure you can solve their specific problem at this point, “ we might be able to provide similar Results for you”. Don’t frame it as a certainty - only a potential opportunity for the client.

4. Trial close - The last component is a trial close. Ask the prospect if he is willing to walk through the discovery process with you.

5. Get an appointment to advance the sale, before you end this conversation.

Example:

“If you are like a lot of manufacturers we work with, you probably are looking to increase revenue over a period of time and fill the pipeline with new opportunities. We help our clients do just that by understanding where they are and where they want to go – then designing and building a process for them to execute. Would you mind if I asked you some questions about your current pipeline?"

You see the four components. Using such an impact statement, the sales rep can communicate a succinct and powerful message, without selling and without positioning for manipulation.

An Impact Statement Does Two Things:

1. Qualify the prospect to see if they are a good fit for your services.

2. Qualify the salesperson in the prospect’s eyes. This helps build rapport, trust, and understanding.

“If you are like many entrepreneurs, you’re concerned about a steady flow of new opportunities to keep revenue flowing at a predictable pace. We’ve done this! We do it now. Were able to help businesses like yours because we walk every day in the same shoes and clearly understand what you’re trying to do. We have several approaches that we have applied to build a repeatable process. I’m not sure if we can do the same thing for you and if we can it will have a profitable impact. Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions, or would you be willing to meet with me over a cup of coffee?"

When opening a sales call you must be able to speak with the impact and credibility. It took a lot of effort to get in front of this prospect – don’t waste it! Don’t start out on a fishing expedition or pitching your product. Instead, know how you’re going to work with this prospect and get his interests. Your goal is to have the prospect want to know more.

Before talking with your next prospect create an impact statement. Answer the questions:

1. What do I do ?

2. How I do it?

3. Why is it important to this prospect?