Shawn McManis, a sales representative for a manufacturing equipment company, had given a lot of thought to a recent training session on pre-call preparation planning. The trainer told the sales representatives, "Use the template we provide to be sure you have included all of the relevant information in planning your sales calls. Don't develop a script from the template. Make it your own and add your own ways of doing things to make it more effective." Shawn knew that customer value propositions should be as specific as possible and should not over-promise on what could be delivered to the customer. Shawn also knew that customer cost-savings in the range of 5-15 percent were possible, but that actual savings would depend on the situation. Shawn was strongly considering stating the 15 percent savings figure early in his sales dialogues as an average savings, which would make a lot more prospects willing to listen to a full sales presentation.

What should Jack do?

a) Be conservative and continue to state the average savings as 5-15 percent. Be prepared to show the customer how to maximize savings.

b) Go with the 15 percent figure and back it up with testimonials from customers that had achieved 15 percent savings.

c) Early in the sales dialogue, learn more about the customer's situation and then estimate the potential cost savings for the customer.