Whiteboard Selling: Empowering Sales Through Visuals

Chapter 18

Choosing the Right Topic for Your Whiteboard

If your objective is to embark on a serious whiteboard design project, you will no doubt have already put some thought into what your objectives are for the whiteboard. You probably have finite resources, and you probably want to respect the time and effort of your working team, once it is formed. So you need to think carefully about the topic you choose for the whiteboard. The topic will then drive the type and scope of the whiteboard, tell you who should be on the working team, determine the materials and key whiteboard ingredients you'll need, and define the project timeline.

Selecting a Whiteboard Topic

A PowerPoint presentation can be built rapidly, in a vacuum, and distributed to sales to be used tactically. A whiteboard is the basis for a well-conceived campaign that touches a x-functional group and has high visibility. What might seem like an obvious first candidate whiteboard topic may not be aligned with the needs of the sales force. When considering the topic and objectives of your whiteboard, you should test your assumptions by asking and answering these 10 key questions:

1. Can the majority of customer-facing personnel communicate the “elevator pitch” of your organization in a consistent and compelling fashion? If not, this is a clear indication that the right place to start—above all else—is a higher-level Why Change Whiteboard.

2. Are salespeople investing sales cycles in poorly qualified opportunities? Qualification ...