VBR: Valid Business Reason. Most of us have heard this overused acronym. I am guilty of saying, “find a VBR to give a potential client a touch” and nothing much beyond that. Too often this “touch” is only valid for the seller and not the customer.
Let’s dive deeper into VBR’s by defining what it means and how we can measure them. A real “VBR” should be about what matters most to the customer. There are two crucial elements in defining whether a VBR is truly valid:
WIFM – What’s in it for me – Our customers get inundated with salespeople sending them stuff. What problem is our product helping them solve?
WIN – What’s important now – Know your customers and know what’s important to them right now. It will help to position your VBR, which in turn will help position us as true advisors to them. That should be our WIN when making a VBR.
A way to measure an effective VBR is if the recipient responds with something like, “Thanks, I’m glad you sent that to me” or “I’m glad you told me that.”
An example of a VBR touch that would not be valid is when a salesperson sends over an article they read or a video clip they saw and says something like, “I saw this and thought of you”. Even worse, the salesperson sends the article with the connotation being, “Look at this article. This shows how great my product is, and you should buy more from me.” This message has little to no context, and it is not really a VBR for the customer.
Instead, send over an article and say, “based on what you told me about your current goals, I saw this article and I thought it made sense for you. Next time we talk I can fill you in on how some of our customers, with similar goals to you, are using this to help them succeed. Let me know if you can grab lunch next Tuesday at that new outdoor restaurant we discussed.” By making this email about their goals, you have now made this “touch” have a valid reason for your customer…not you.
I’m not saying to make less VBR touches, but instead make it about the customer, give it some context and always remember to be thinking about their WIFM and WIN.
