Value-Added Selling – Part 1 of 5

Add value by first establishing credibility

In the last two issues of “got sales?” I wrote about Negotiating and Handling Objections (see archived issues at http://gotsales.blogspot.com/). Now I would like to focus on Value-Added Selling. This topic is big. In fact, it’s so big that I am going to cover it over the next five monthly issues of “got sales?”. In this first installment, I will define Value-Added Selling and talk about how establishing credibility is an important first step in selling value to your customers.

What is Value-Added Selling?

Value-added selling simply means there has to be some inherent worth to the client from what he is purchasing from you. Obviously, to present and sell the right solution (and the right solution means one that has value to the client) you first must understand what the prospect needs, how they operate, what problems they may experience, and more. Therefore, you should learn about your prospect’s business, what products they offer, whom they sell to, what their market is like, who their competitors are, the lingo or catch phrases they use in their industry, their unique business challenges, and any information that will help you better understand them and their business problems.

As a result, your presentations should not be standard, vanilla, boilerplate slides or text. They should be customized to the prospect’s business and their unique situation and problems. They should reflect your knowledge of their business and industry, and they should present solutions that address the problems they described to you in the earlier qualification phase of the sales process.... Read More