The University of Texas at Arlington Colonial Life Insurance Discussion

Colonial Life Insurance. You will be making the first call to a small business. Each product/service sales plan will provide information on the products/services that you will sell in role plays and contain the following deliverables.

Style: Times Roman

Font: 12″

Spacing: Double-space between paragraphs and single space within paragraphs.

References: APA formatting Note: Don’t forget to include research citations and references.

ANSWER: All 5 questions:

(1) Product(s)/Service(s) to be Sold What company are you representing? What are the primary features and benefits of your product(s)/service(s)? What is your product’s competitive advantage? What are you really selling?

(2) Elevator Speech (Value Proposition) This part of the exercise requires that you gain the attention of a buyer in a very short period of time which is about the time it takes to get from the first floor to the top floor of a high rise building in an elevator. This exercise is real and it is commonly used by prospective entrepreneurs seeking venture capital. In a sales context, buyers do not have time for listening to sales professionals drone on about details of their offerings. They want to become excited and see the financial potential in an invention or idea in 30 or 40 seconds. The goal is to get someone’s attention early.

(3) Identification of 2 primary competitors Key features, benefits, and advantages provided by each in a “bullet point” format.

(4) Data on the business customer Includes a brief overview description of the buying firm (size, number of stores, number of employees, what the business customer does, and why they need your product/service.

(5) 10 Questions These are questions you think prospective buyers might ask about your selected product/service. You do not need to provide answers in your product/services plans, but you should be prepared to answer questions similar to the ones you have provided when you make your presentation.

(Overview of elevator speech: This is a prepared presentation that says a lot in a few words. The core message markets yourself and your organization – make them want to know more.

Uses: Anywhere – “What do you do?” Must know audiences and adapt to them.

Focus: Customers are buying your company and you, not the product. They want longevity!!! Customers are buying benefits like improved capabilities, not products.

No-No: Don’t tell them what you are (e.g. salesperson, marketer) – tell them how you help others

Following is an outline of an elevator speech focused on improving the reading levels of young people.

Pain (the hook): A graphic picture of the pain your customers are suffering; young people working hard, excitement disappear, studying is stressful, never seems to be time for important things in life, families suffer, they feel there must be a better way but cannot find it.

Credibility: Why they should listen to you; no quick fixes, we are not consultants we are teachers, we have worked “x” schools and “y” students, we have seen what works and what does not, we use unique skills to make sense of all we have seen.

Solution: Explain how you can help; working with…. We have developed a proven , structured _____ program called _________, contains some of the most powerful _____ to help young people _____ , helps students get their school lives under control, helps them find a “better way”.

Gain: Explain benefits they get; helps students develop, improve, and grow skills, ultimately provides time to spend on life’s important things – family friends, etc.

Impact: What difference benefits make in lives; what students say – better grades, better learning, reduced stress, happier.

Emotion: Describe how this makes them feel; set free from a school environment they used to feel trapped by, now feel in control, excited about school, families are excited too.

Prove: Provide evidence to support claims; one or two key stats.

Money: Make cost look small; your investment is…….., a small price to pay for helping young people improve.

Risk: Remove doubts by removing risk; how can you lose helping kids?

Close: Repeat key points, if time; ____ helps young people read, improve, grow, develop; what to you want? (money, sale, business card, schedule for full presentation, referral.

NOTE: WEB SITE INFORMATION, WHILE USEFUL, IS NOT SUFFICIENT. As a professional sales representative, you must be able to extend the information contained in a Web Site and fit it to a particular prospect’s needs, wants, and preferences. You can include Web Site materials in your write-up as long as they are cited correctly. If a salesperson does little more than re-transmit the materials on a Web Site, that salesperson really is not necessary. )