If your messaging isn't landing, how do you know if it's because it needs to be reworked or because sales has poor delivery?

When your messaging needs to be reworked there are typically multiple signs pointing this way. Not only your reps may not be getting traction, but your competitive losses start climbing, fewer qualified leads enter the funnel, and when talking with customers you start hearing more “you were cheaper than the competition” instead of “we saw greater value in your product”. Analysts (Gartner, Forrester, etc.) can also help serve as early warning signs that your messaging needs work, as they will fla ...Read More

I often see marketing spending a lot of time understanding the customer - doing customer research, and interviews, but completely bypassing understanding sales and their interaction with customers.  Sitting in, and/or listening to recorded calls can really help inform - not only if your messaging is working, but also if it's not - what is working? This level of visibility into sales calls will help evaluate how sales pitches the messaging and if this was what was invisioned by marketing, and ult ...Read More

I'd watch some recorded sales rep calls to form my own opinion on what's going on. I'd also follow up with the rep to get their perspective on challenges. Once you've diagnosed the problem, there's a few steps you can take: Is the rep nailing your talk track but the customer just isn't convinced? If so, this is definitely a messaging problem.   Is the rep doing their own thing, for example using old messaging or just skipping straight to a demo? Here, the rep isn't sufficiently trained on the me ...Read More

So if the main problem is: The message isn’t resonating with our audience, what should we do? I would break this into two separate pieces, similar to what you already have thought of above. Does messaging need to be reworked? Are my sales reps delivering this adequately? Does messaging need to be reworked? If the messaging isn’t resonating with your target audience, regardless of delivery, then you have a messaging problem. A messaging problem requires a messaging solution. Some ways to figure o ...Read More

I think Dave's answer covers a lot here, so consider me co-signed. I do want to add a few things though:  1. The problem is almost always the messaging. If you have developed a clear narrative and messaging for the customer segment, it would take an extraordinarily untalented sales rep to mess it up.  2. The best way to evaluate your messaging is by sitting in on a live demo or sales call. Where is the customer falling off track? Do they have trouble understanding the value prop? Are they stuck ...Read More