Selling Value

All too often it feels as though we work in a market where our products/services have become more of a commodity and it is harder to differentiate ourselves other than on price. Demonstrating added value is becoming increasingly harder to prove. We find ourselves wondering, how can we possibly separate ourselves from the crowd?

If you are like many Sales Organizations today, you are probably finding it increasingly tough and falling prey to “discounting” to bring home the sales because:

Your salespeople haven’t established value upfront
Your customers know your prices are flexible
Your salespeople believe that all price challenges are real
Your salespeople are desperate for the sale
Your salespeople get focused on defending the price rather than on providing the result
Buyers today feel they must ask and would be fiscally irresponsible not to
Your salespeople do not know how to sell ROI
Your salespeople don’t know the difference between negotiating and selling

So, how can we demonstrate the full value of our product/services, avoid the “discount trap” and get paid the margin we should be getting?

Avoiding the “discount trap”

Discounting and giving away margin has become so prevalent that many companies have come to depend on it as their default sales strategy. Discounting erodes your company's margins and leaves you digging a deeper and deeper hole in which your company will ultimately bury itself.

To succeed in B2B sales today, you must sell business improvement, not products or services. That means differentiating yourself from your competition in the unique value you, your products and services, and your company can provide toward your customer achieving their corporate, divisional, business unit, department, or government agency goals.

If your Sales Team is unable to Value Sell then they will continue to be on the receiving end of all sorts of one-sided customer demands, mostly taking the form of answering requests for information, doing presentations, demonstrations, fighting a constant battle against your offer being commoditized by the customer and being on the receiving end of strong demands for discounts.

Value Selling increases your margins

Learning to sell Value effectively defeats price competition, budget limitations and even down market conditions. When learning how to sell the customer's bottom-line, you are invoking one of the most effective strategies in your sales toolbox. Once a client realises the positive financial impact of your offering, many sales close themselves.

Value Selling increases your margins, improves closing ratios and opens lucrative opportunities and new markets. Selling Value is about “show me the money”. Both companies and consumers all want to know how what you do will help them to sell Value more, save more and reduce their exposure/risk. Value Selling focuses on the five fundamental businesses needs, which include:

Improving your prospective client's competitive position by lowering cost of operation
Enhancing their corporate/brand image
Lessening their market exposure/vulner