Selling Value: is it the right strategy?
Greetings folks!
How many of us see videos of sales gurus speaking of selling value. How many of you have been coming down on price to meet the consumer's demands? How many of you actually sold actual retail price or the sticker price? Let's dive into this and see how you can actually sell value and why consumers are on the defense for a better deal.
Let's dive in!
Buyer's Journey: Let's begin with a consumer, and let's call him, "Bob." Bob is shopping for a particular product to solve his current challenges. Bob, from the surface sees Product A, B and C. Bob doesn't know what makes each company great, unique and in some cases better than the other. Bob's only choice is to shop price. As a sales professional, we all know this is where we get involved to provide a 'Unique Value Proposition' and really sell the difference between each company.
Keep in mind, Bob only sees price as the differentiation. Our job now, is to help Bob and facilitate the sale.
Value Examples: Grant Cardone says, "When value exceeds price, people buy." Now, this is the direction we need to take this conversation, we need to sell value. I know a lot of people will sell something unique about their company. We have been around for 35 years and have a great reputation. Does your 35 years of company existence and reputation solve his problem? Likely not. You may mention the fact that you have a guarantee. Tommy Boy states, "Why would someone slap a guarantee on a box... Hmmm, very interesting... Because they know they're selling you a guaranteed piece of sh*t." Yes, that's a stretch, but you get where I'm going, here.
Value Proposition: Let's actually dig into how you can sell value, now. First, I like to, personally, ask the consumer some questions, and fact find to ensure I have the best solution to fit their needs. In some cases, they only need a quick fix and in some cases, they're looking for a long-term solution, or a progression of steps to ensure they're challenges are solved. This sets the stage for facilitating the buyer's journey. Here are the areas I like to touch upon, to ensure I'm finding them the best solution possible and selling value, versus only looking at price or price matching.
- Insights: This particular product is the economy solution and will help you in the interim, but based on what you told me, we may need to look at this particular package to help accommodate your other purchases of X, Y and Z. In addition, this particular solution is getting modified as we speak and there are newer upgrades coming out in 3 months.
- Perspective: I like the fact that you're trying to go this route, and were you aware this doesn't have upgrades to meet compliance measures, or the market actually sees this as a defective product based on poor reviews and poor quality? We can certainly get you purchasing this today, but I want to make sure you're more than informed about this product before making any final decisions.
- Navigating Alternatives: We spoke about this product briefly, let me show you some alternatives that will meet your demands for the future, as well as some higher end solutions to help you scale, and grow. This step in navigating alternatives, I like to hit on three different solutions to meet their needs, and they're price sensitive, but justified by need. First, I look at a budget solution. Let's meet the current needs and get them a quick fix. Second, let's look at a deluxe package, something that will help them with the quick fix, and move them into the next 6-12 months of operations but still has some limitations. Lastly, I look at the elite package, this is going to quick fix your current challenges, help you with the next 6, 12 and 18 months, when you're ready we'll help you unlock the rest of the features to assist with marketing, production, operations, management, and even financial management. This is your go-to system to provide data, insights and analytics.
- Avoid Minefields: I would advise you, as a professional in this field, and helped my other clients move from this particular strategy, this likely isn't the solution for you. Here's why.... (explain in detail the pros and cons based on their current business model, operations, and future plans).
- Help them sell it: This is on two different levels. I have sold various products and solutions in the past. I found that helping them identify the proper solution, then coming up with an insightful strategy to sell it to their board, upper level management, or ownership. In addition, if they're in fact re-selling the product, we need to help them come up with ways to actually sell the product in the best fashion to the end-user. I like to call this, "Solutions-based Selling" as you're helping the customer not only find the best fit, but also sell the solution to their key decision makers up the line, as well as end-user.
- Justify the Purchase: This is key. I make sure there is an ROI calculation, Total Cost of Ownership, and key metrics put in writing to ensure they have the proper data to realize this solution is their best fit. As an example, if you can save support staff an hour a day on their daily tasks, or management 45 minutes on key end-of-day reporting, or finding information quickly vs spending 40 minutes on a phone call really expedite the decision making process and help justify the purchase. Use examples, "Company B is actually using this right now, and they're down 18% in overtime expenses, productivity is up 31%, sales are up 22%, or overall expenses are down 13%." These are all crucial data points that need to be discussed during the sales process.
- Training and Implementation: I sell merchant services and POS equipment through one of my businesses. You will not believe the amount of times I have heard a business owner tell me how long it took them to become accustomed to their current system. Their growing pains took them 30, 60 and in some cases 90 days to finally become comfortable with the new system. They never see their rep, and if they have any questions, they have to call an 800 number for 24/7 support. I actually take this as an opportunity to sell value. This particular system is what I know the best and can guarantee it will meet your needs. I state, "I'll provide a 3 day fully immersed training for you and your staff." This conversation takes a turn as we discuss others who have had growing pains for those 30, 60 and 90 day periods. That's money lost, poor customer reviews, and even in some cases tax filing issues as the systems isn't reporting properly. My clients are up and running within 7 days, fully trained staff, management pulls reports that are accurate and categorize sales and inventory as needed, to ensure a smooth and profitable transition. There are no 800 numbers to call, as we can access their dashboard to pull all reports, transactions, items sold, frequency, and the like to help build out specials, and reduce inventory on items that do not sell. Inventory is a hidden cost that most businesses carry the burden for, until now, as the data points to the items that aren't selling and carry the cost of shelf space, or storage space. (This was a long explanation, but very useful in my opinion, as value was sold, not price of system).
Summary: Now, let's use this information to help Bob facilitate the sale. Provide greater insights, give Bob some perspective on this buying decision, help him navigate some alternatives for his secondary goals and priorities, help Bob avoid minefields he may not be aware of, help Bob sell it to his managers or ownership, justify the sale through ROI calcuations or Total Cost of Ownership, and finally, help with the training and implementation process as a value-add. You can even state, "I charge $150 per day for training, but I'll toss in 3 full days of training over the next 30 days to help you implement this at no cost. Does that sound fair?" Bob now has been shown value and can differentiate between products A, B and C, whereas initially price was the only difference.
I hope that helps, please feel free to comment below on any of the points and see if this can help your current sales strategy to turn more prospects into paying customers.
Best wishes,
Curtis DeCora