“A simple flashback of Why, What, Why, will answer that question and provide those results.” – Scott Savage in today’s Tip 1330
What’s your thought about this?
Join the conversation below and learn more about Scott!
FranklinCovey
Scott Savage on LinkedIn
FranklinCovey on LinkedIn
FranklinCovey on Instagram
Strikingly Different Selling: 6 Vital Skills to Stand Out and Sell More Book
Have feedback? Want to share a sales tip? Call or text the Sales Success Hotline: 512-777-1442 or Email: [email protected]
Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Scott Savage. Scott is the Managing Director and global leader of the Sales Performance practice at FranklinCovey. He is the co-author of Strikingly Different Selling: 6 Vital Skills to Stand Out and Sell More. For decades he has helped executives from a wide range of clients grow and expand their business including Ford, Microsoft, Verizon, and more. Here he is:
Scott Savage: One of the most common questions coming from a client is, where have you done this before? To address this in an appropriate way, we have developed something we call flashback. A flashback is a record of past achievement of either a person, a solution, or even a company. It allows us to answer that question, where have you done it before and it provides proof of results and establishes you as credible.
So what makes up a great flashback?
We’ve developed a pattern that we found very helpful, very simple. It’s three steps: Why, What, Why.
So the first why is why did this client need help? What were their business issues? The one that you want to share. What was behind this? And what were the challenges or results that they were trying to create?
And then the next step to what is what did you do for that client and what did you achieve?
And finally, the final why is why do you think that’s most important for this particular client?
Now you’ll notice something’s missing from the Why, What, Why format, and that is the How. Let us tell you the reason that we’ve left out the how here.
After years of research with client executives on sharing past experiences and having participated and listened to thousands of them, we found with direct feedback that they want to get the context, in other words, they want us to simply set the table for what happened, what did they need? What were the things we did? What did we achieve? And just take three or four minutes and give them the context and some of the details. And then the client said, I’d like to get deeper and maybe even into the how, but we’d like it to be a dialogue.
Doesn’t that interesting? Where most people get into trouble is we spend too much time sharing all the details of the how and all the things that happen and it actually disconnects with the client. So this simple formula of Why, What, Why meets the client where they need to be in setting the context, getting started, setting the table, and then allows us to address it with our client around the how and any other questions they might have around credibility, helping them feel more comfortable about what’s happening.
So let me give you an example. Let’s suppose this was an actual situation for one of our clients. And let me walk you through the Why, What, Why format here. So let’s suppose a client said to me, where have you done this before? And I might say this;
Our other client was a large hospitality company, a big hotel chain. They too were under a lot of pressure to improve operating performance, ineffective analytic models, and they were disconnected with many of their processes. And they needed to turn things around. So what we did, we conducted a digital strategy assessment and developed a comprehensive roadmap to a future vision state. And there are three aspects of what we did in this engagement that strikes me as something would be spot on for your situation.
First, we set up an analytics center of excellence and found opportunities to reinvest in their data supply chain. Second, we created a digital solution for a push poll reporting for a common set of data and analytics. And third, finally, we developed a data supply chain operating model to enhance quality, security, and access. Our client’s results have been pretty impressive. We’ve achieved 21 million in annual savings. We were also able to reduce their management reports from an incredible 4000 down to 60 unique reports. And then we also identified $315,000,000 of profitable growth opportunities. Now, as you might imagine, our client was thrilled with the results that we achieved.
Now, while I have analyzed your specific situation in depth, based on what you’ve described, at least initially, I believe we could likely realize similar results in helping your operating performance help you become more data-driven and also connecting you to your processes and people. I guess the final question I would ask is what are your thoughts about what I’ve shared? In other words, your speed is relevant.
So as you think about this Why, What, Why model. It allows us to do the very thing clients want. Set the table, provide context. Why did the other client need help? What did you do and achieve? And then why do you think that connects to them? Followed by a final question of validation, Is this helpful? Where would you like to go next? One of the most common questions to be asked is where have you done this before? A simple flashback of Why, What, Why, will answer that question and provide those results.
Scott Ingram: To get a copy of Scott’s book, “Strikingly Different Selling: 6 Vital Skills to Stand Out and Sell More,” just click over to DailySales.Tips/1330. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!