I believe all good ideas are not equal. Some ideas with insights offer a disproportionate non-linear leverage. There are 3 psychological insights that are game changing when it comes to the way we communicate value. Understanding these 3 game changing insights can give you a definitive edge to craft and execute winning B2B Lead Generation campaigns, and get the most out of your sales conversations.

Attention Vs Interest

As a marketer it’ll be helpful to appreciate the nuances between attention and interest. Attention is often the very first thing that we need. The verb associated with attention is attract. We say “how do we attract attention?” when we want to get someone’s attention.

Interest is a deeper and less transient phenomena. For most of us, we are interested in an idea or a person for sometime and not just in a moment. For some of us, we remain interested in something or someone for a long period of time. The verb that we associate with interest is ‘develop’. As parents we say “how can we develop a child’s interest in music?”

Attention starts more as momentary phenomena where our brain refocuses attention from something to something else. This can be triggered via ‘senses’. Interest develops or builds over time via a more complex neurological mechanism around ‘meaning’.

A CV can get you an interview, but you need to back it up during the interview. A date can get someone in front of you, but you need to be interesting. Big point - all social engagement and marketing tools promise ‘attention’. But being attractive is solely on you. Getting more attention will not mean anything if you are not pretty enough.

As a marketer, we need both Attention and Interest. To be precise, we need attention of those individuals who are most likely interested (or can develop interest) in our idea (or product or offering). There are different set of instruments for Attracting Attention and for Developing Interest.\

People buy based on Perceived Value, not the actual value

This is a crucial point and a delicate one too. There are two related aspects that we need to understand here. First is that in every transaction, there is a perception or judgment of value involved. Every individual has a unique perceptual filter that’s shaped by his or her life experience. When we transact, we always agree to a price or exchange based on the value as we perceive it. So the transaction happens based on the perceived value and NOT the actual value. We experience or discover the actual value during consumption, and then we form an impression about fairness of the transaction. We develop a notion of was it a good deal? or was I taken?

Second aspect is that as humans we are poor in judging the efficacy and sufficiency of our communication. That’s why George Bernard Shaw said “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” This has a bearing on the way we communicate.

Third aspect is that we need to clarify our intuitive understanding of our value proposition and articulate it in a way that’s plain and direct. We must not assume that it’s obvious and anyone can understand it.

Most people’s perceptions are flawed. You need to do a stellar job of ‘dumbing’ it down so the most critical value of your offerings comes out clearly. Most prospects are busy, and they don’t have any inclination to ‘interpret’ your value proposition from abstract messages! You need to tell what it can do - simply, clearly, and directly.

Your “What?” >> “How?”

Your core value proposition, your ‘What?', is vital to getting the attention of the right buyers, evolving that into interest, shaping into an opportunity, and fructifying into an engagement. If what you’ve to offer has tremendous value (as per the customer), you’re 80% done. The rest, 20% is about ‘How?’ you will deliver. ‘How?’ is crucial after you’ve sold for maximizing client experience and lifetime value to the client.

For example, you meet a distressed CEO who’s been forced to consider filing for bankruptcy due to negative cashflows and a leveraged position. If someone can help him boost the cashflows overnight, there’s practically 100% chance he will say Yes! to the deal. Sometimes, even if this deal might rip him off in the long run. If the problem you’re solving is painful and urgent enough, people care a little lesser about the means. To be clear, I’m not alluding or suggesting that we shortchange any prospect. I’m just driving home the point by making the argument a bit extreme.

So what does this mean? This means that finding an urgent and important enough problem is the key. After that, if you can show ‘what will be to solve that problem?’, in 8/10 cases you’ll have the deal. Of course, you’ll have to demonstrate some credibility and track record of executing it in the past. But if the problem is crucial and urgent, and your promise is a savior, people will say yes. Just think, why would otherwise desparate terminally ill patients say yes to new treatments that are still in clinical trials.

Moral of the story: Clarify and Sharpen Your What. Ask the questions: Can this be understood by a 10 year old? If you were in your prospect’s shoes, will you say yes to this value proposition?

One of the ways we do this for our clients is to Quantify the value (via our Value Quantification and Articulation Framework) and then juxtapose the price against it. Deal always looks sweet to a client. You can do the same to help your prospects grasp and appreciate the full value of your offering.

PS: Are you a technical founder or a CEO of B2B business? Currently registrations are open for The 2-Hour B2B Revenue Blueprint, my FREE course that will help you build a clear and powerful B2B revenue growth plan to crush your revenue goals in just a few hours. In this course I teach the same methods I have used to generate $ 300 MM+ in qualified pipeline working with large corporations and VC funded startups.

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