WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO CREATE VALUE IN SELLING?
If you believe you are creating value for your prospects/customers I have a crucially vital question for you. And that question is, are you really creating value (in the way you sell) for your customers, or just claiming that you are creating value based on your personal opinion of what constitutes value?
Over the years, whenever I have asked salespeople to tell me precisely how they added-value in their selling, I have had responses similar to this:
1. Most will offer a response based on a somewhat arrogant but naive belief that the product or service they are selling itself creates sufficient value and that they have no need do anything more than present it to a prospect/customer the way it is.
2. They will either avoid the question, or when pushed will generally offer little or no comeback. In the main, these same salespeople believe that it is OK to simply claim to have a value-based product or service than to actually understand what value-adding really means to their prospects/customers.
3. They take as ‘gospel’ a portrayal of customer value from a statement devised by someone at head office with little or any appreciation of ‘real’ customers and their unique challenges.
4. The seller believes that there is a ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to building value on any product or service without stopping to think how this ideology will be accepted by the buyers. And just because your product or service is more costly than other products or services (within the category you represent in the marketplace) does not mean very much when it comes to the buyers perception of the value of your product or service specifically for their application.
Much of this disengagement from reality generally is determined by who defines the value – the one doing the selling or the one doing the buying. If the seller or any part of the selling hierarchy decides what represents value for your customers, then how would you be aware that you could be imposing your definition of value on them. The problem with this approach is what the seller perceive as value and alternately what the buyer perceives as value could possibly be miles apart. In fact, you both may be so far apart that there may be no synergy between you. So then, how could a sale be made?
The salesperson when broaching this issue should remember that value is a personal thing. Why? Because in most cases value is a personal perception. It’s also not the sellers perception that matters, because the buyers perception of value is the only one that should matter.
Now Let’s Debunk a few More Myths
Here are some of the other myths many sellers today believe to be fact:
1. Many believe that value-added is generally best used to combating price objections. This thought may appear to have merit, but is not a true. Your customers are reluctant to spoil their relationship with you by ordering from your competition. The role of the salesperson should always be to ‘deliver more than they promise.’ When you’ve gone the extra mile for them they feel that they can rely on you to ‘deliver’ for them even if they have to pay more for the service you provide. That’s what value-adding is all about.
2. Others believe that value-added selling can be a lot of work. Well this idea is partially right, but generally wrong. Value-added selling does require more effort initially, but it should also be realised that keeping an existing customer happy is generally far easier than finding a new one. In fact, the cost of getting a new customer generally costs six times more money than keeping an old one. Generally the extra time and energy used here is worth it.
3. Another misconception is that all buyers are value-added targets. The real rule of thumb that the salesperson should apply is that all your customers are equal, but it should also be realised that some are more equal than others. The fact is the 20 to 25% of your customer base will represent 80 percent of your profitable revenue. So it should be determined that although all of your customers deserve to be treated well, a good ‘rule of thumb’ to be used here is that the top 20 to 25% should never be denied the intensity of value-added selling on every call that is made.
4. A very common myth amongst salespeople is that value-adding should only be applied to the most sophisticated and complex of products. Yet this couldn’t be further from what really happens. Manufacturers always work to deliver value to their buyers. Characteristically, they develop their products with valued extras incorporated into them. This is why understanding the benefits of the features these products have is so important to the seller and customer alike. And once the seller grasps the benefits of these to the customer, it becomes just another step in the value-added selling process.
5. Others believe that if everyone value-adds then the process is no longer of value to the customer or prospect. The problem with this assumption is that those salespeople have underestimated the brilliance of those in competition to you. The same sellers may also underestimate the importance of the benefits their products or services bring to the marketplace – that’s why they have existed as long as they have. And they are the same sellers that are generally not aware of the value-added extras their product or service already offer. In every case the value-added story needs to be told well in order to get the sales advantage the seller is after.
6. This is the one myth that makes me wonder whether the one thinking this way is really in sales or just telling others he/she is a salesperson. These people believe that the value-added applies only to a product. Now this is why I have a concern. The additional value may be product related, company related or salesperson related. The value-added process is generally related to the way a company delivers, services, and supports the benefits the product represents. The salesperson then further value-adds by the support and follows-up given to the customer. Value-adding needs three factors working at the same time to be of value to the customer – the product, the company and the salesperson.
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This Article is by Peter Collins – In a sales career spanning more than 50 years, Peter Collins has focused on helping and bringing out the best in others – whether it involves training or mentoring salespeople, managers, business consulting to SME’s. Since the 1970’s Peter has built a reputation as a Nationally and Internationally Published author, and has 68 business books to his credit, but he is mainly known for one book based on the Audio Tape series of the same name, Over 50 Ways of Closing the Sale. Peter had his first book published in 1969 and now has over 133 books in all, including Business, Marketing, Sales, Free Publicity, Body Language, Music and over 30 Christian books to date. Peters books have sold over 2.5 Million copies over 48 years. In his personal life, Peter has been sought after as an encourager and motivator that has given of his time and talents freely despite his busy schedule. Subsequently, he has assisted churches, pastors, community and charity groups, as well as individuals through his teaching, training, development and on-going mentoring.
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