Proximal indicators as proof claims

We continue the section on proof claims, which are pieces of evidence you include in your prospecting conversations to demonstrate results in an attempt to convince prospects of the value of your products.

A powerful proof claim is the so-called proximal indicator, which is the direct and most immediate outcome from the use of your product or service. It could be, for instance, a claim on increased processing speed, on reduction of reporting time, on increase in forecast accuracy, or on reduction of onboarding time.

We discussed customer profit. This is the final, most distal, indicator. This is the most important indicator. It beautifully allows customers to calculate the ROI of buying your products or services. Indeed, when you sell products or services, your ultimate goal is to influence the profit of the company. Profit is beautiful because it helps the internal conversation or the committee responsible for purchasing the product, and it helps buyers champion your product inside the organization, so that it can obtain the green light from the higher floors.

However, using buyer profit as proof claims has a major problem. Profit is far. The farther you go from your product, the more difficult it becomes to create a solid causal link justifying why your product is the actual cause of an increase in profitability. Profit is influenced by many factors.

That’s why the closer you get to the outcomes of your product, the stronger your argument. Proximal indicators are the best. Now, you are going to be strongest when you combine proximal indicators with profit indicators, along with a logical argument explaining how the former influences the latter. If you can say both how much your product increases processing speed and, ultimately, improves the profit of the company, your argument is going to be unbreakable, and prospects will be amazed. In this case, prospects can calculate the ROI of purchasing your solutions while at the same time understand whether their ROI estimate is reliable or not.

Combine proximal indicator with the distal, profit improvement indicator, along with a clear argument linking the former to the latter, and you have a claim that will impress your prospects and get them engaged in the conversation.

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