In previous installments of this series on the seven deadly sins impeding your sales team from successfully selling innovation, we defined innovation and discussed the importance of understanding the customer’s business and how your company can help customer’s innovate. Once your sales team has avoided these first 3 sins, you want to be sure they dodge sins four and five by:

• Understanding which customers are good targets for innovation
• Being curious

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To Sell Innovation, You Must Uncover Why Customers Want Innovation and How It Helps Them

We are going to discuss the second and third deadly sins related to selling innovation. Think back to the ‘Shark Tank’ situation described in part 1. Contestants invited to the show are confident that they bring with them an innovation that customers will buy. After they briefly introduce the sharks to their innovation, contestants who have a chance to succeed must address:

• Why their target customers would need/want their innovation
• How their innovation (and only their innovation) will help the target customers innovate

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Selling innovation should be easy but selling innovation is hard.

The product experts have created the next breakthrough. Or maybe the services team has developed a new approach to customer service and maintenance. It is handed off to the sales team and the breakthrough or new approach will sell itself when presented to customers and prospects. If innovation sells itself, why are there so many stories of innovation failures?

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