Six steps to getting clarity around your corporate offer

by Davina Schonle | Mar 25, 2022 | Strategy

The first step in our ‘6 C’s of selling into corporates’ is clarity. Clarity is essential for setting yourself up for success with your corporate proposals. 

The clarity step is probably the chunkiest step in our 6-steps to selling into corporates but it’s really important to spend some time finding clarity in all of the following areas - because when you have clarity it fuels confidence, and sets you up for success. 

There are 6 areas you need to establish clarity around when selling into corporates. Here’s a breakdown of

1 - Clarity on You:

The first thing to be clear on and to get clarity around is you!

Start by thinking about what you can bring to the table in your corporate work, make a big list of…

• What your credentials are
• What experience you have
• What work you’ve done previously (with corporate clients as well as in employment)
• What you’re an expert in and what your strengths are

This is not the time to be modest! Think of everything you can bring to the table and write it down. 

Another key area to have clarity around is your values. These are so important, not only in who we decide to work with us as clients, but also how we want to live and work. Take some time to write down what’s important to you and what you value - and therefore what values you want the clients you’re going to work with to have too. 

2 - Clarity on Them:

When we run businesses, whether it's just us or a team, we get to choose who our clients are. We do that by focusing on who we're targeting. This step is about identifying who you want to work with and what they need help with. Spend some time getting clear on:

• Who you want to work with?
• Who have you enjoyed (and not enjoyed) working with in the past?
• What industry will your corporate clients be in? 
• Will you go super niche, or will you be focused on an industry or a specific problem?
• How big will the company be? 
• Where will they be located? 

The corporates you work with, and the work that you do has to match your values and ethics. As a final exercise for this step, spend some time listing out some examples of businesses you’d love to work with.

3 - Clarity on Their problem:

Time to clear on the problem you’re solving for your corporate clients. Spend some time getting clear on

• What problem they have, that you can help with? 
• Why is it important to them to solve it? 
• What impact is it having? 
• What is the risk of them not solving it? 
• What's this problem costing the organisation? 
• Why do they want to fix it? 

Keep looking back on this as you work with more and more clients and expand on this over time. 

4 - Clarity on Your Solution:

At this stage you’ve identified a range of problems you can help organisations with. So what are you going to do for them that will help them solve their probelm? Spend some time thinking about:

• How will you solve their problem?
• What will you offer? 
• What will your offering be like?
• How does your solution impact them? (make them money, help their reputation etc)

It’s really important to have tis clarity around how your solution is going to help your clients and what impact it’s going to have, before you more onto the next step. 

5 - Clarity on Your Implementation:

You now know what problems you want to solve for your clients, and what impact it;s going to have. Now you need to get clarity around HOW you are going to implement your solution, and how you’re going to deliver it.  Have a think about:

• What will your solution be delivered? Eg. training, talks, research etc
• How will it be delivered? 
• How long will it take to deliver your solution? (for you, and your client)
• Will internal changes need to happen?

6 - Clarity on Your Pricing:

Now pricing. This is a big one and one of the areas we get the most questions about, but the truth with pricing is - there’s no direct science to it. It’s all to do with the value that you bring.

Think about your solution and consider the impact it’s going to have - on their bottom line, on their reputation, on their ability to hire talent etc. 

Think also, about the impact you have made from previous experiences. Demonstrate your worth by sharing case studies that illustrate the impact you've had for previous clients. 

Really think about the value that you bring and the transformation and the impact you have. How much is that worth? 

We hope by now that you’re feeling a lot more clear on what you can sell into corporates, and the benefit to them. But something we always say is - know that you can never be 100% clear on everything. Your business will evolve, and so will the corporates you work with. So don't get stuck on this until you're a hundred percent clear. Aim to be 80% clear and then move on to the next step. 

If you want to delve deeper into our 6 steps to selling into corporates, you can find out more about our online course The Six Steps To Selling Into Corporates.