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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.
You can learn a lot about your prospect’s business
by getting involved in their business. Attend
their staff meetings, go on a plant tour, go into
the field with their people, and just spend time
with them learning. As a result, you will position
yourself as a valued business partner. All this
effort will add value to the relationship and,
therefore, the sales process. This is what
value-added selling is all about.
To do a good job of selling value, you must first
ensure that the prospect knows enough about you
and your company to establish your credibility.
The time to do that is after you asked good
questions and listened, carefully, to your
prospect so you can learn about their needs, pains
and problems. Establishing credibility is part of
the value that you and your company bring to the
negotiating table. Hence, establishing credibility
is the first part of the discussion about adding
value.
Establishing Credibility
At this point in the sales process, you should
have already established some personal credibility
by showing you care more about the prospect than
yourself, or about their problems instead of just
making a sale, or about their bottom line rather
than your own commission. Now is the time to make
sure they know everything they should about your
company and, if needed, about yourself.
While this is a necessary step, it can’t occur
until this point in the sales process. You first
must qualify the prospect by asking the right
questions and listening carefully. Then you need
to make sure you understood the prospect’s
requirements and verify that you both agree to
what was said.
Once those vital steps are done, it is your turn
to do the talking. Establishing your credibility
is necessary at this time -- after you’ve done
these other steps and before you present the
solution -- so that the prospect understands whom
they are dealing with and feels comfortable about
you and your company.
What does the prospect need to know about you?
They need to know things like who you are, your
products, your customers, your company’s history
and their track record. They need to know your
company’s reputation and what they stand for.
Basically, they want to know whom they are working
with, and they have a right to know this.
You can’t assume that they already know any of
this information. Just because you may have sent
them a literature package or they said they went
to your web site, that doesn’t mean they read the
key points that you want them to know, or that
they remembered it, or even understood it or
related to it. You need to make sure you cover
these points so they are comfortable with doing
business with your company.
All you need to do is simply ask, “Can I ask how
much you already know about my company?” They’ll
typically say they know a little or even nothing,
which opens the door for you to fill in the
blanks. So let’s talk about what those blanks
should be.
First of all, what corporate literature do you
have? Do you have, and carry with you, brochures,
data sheets, case studies, testimonials, press
releases, information from your web site, and
more? If not, get them. You can never
underestimate their value. Even if it remains
unread, a well-produced piece of collateral shows
you are for real and professional. Whereas a
black-and-white photo copy of your product sheet
looks substandard and unprofessional. It makes you
look like you work out of your garage. Even if you
do work out of your garage, you don’t have to look
like you do. As they say: It’s all in the
presentation. I always get a kick out of a
prospect who grabs my 4-color, glossy,
professionally printed brochure, and immediately
places it in a folder, very carefully, just so
they have it for their files. It means a lot to
them.
What’s even more valuable is the Case Study. As
long as you have at least one successful,
satisfied client, you can write a case study. It
doesn’t have to be more than one or two pages
long, but it should be well written and printed
professionally. The case study simply states what
problem or challenge the client had, what solution
they deployed (which would be your product or
service), and what the ultimate results were. It
helps your prospect visualize your solution in the
eyes of one of their peers, instead of from you.
Very valuable.
Testimonials are equally valuable. You should get
a one-to-three sentence statement from every one
of your clients about what a great product you
have or how wonderful you are, print them on a
sheet of paper, or multiple sheets if you have
that many, and hand them out to your prospects.
(Click
HERE to see an example of my Testimonials)
Not only will testimonials help establish your
credibility because they are other people bragging
about you instead of doing it yourself, but it
often prevents the prospect from even asking you
for reference accounts. Once they see all the nice
things other clients have said about you, their
need to check on your reference accounts usually
goes away. It’s like preventive medicine. Of
course the Mother of all marketing material is the
article written about your company in a magazine
or newspaper. Reprints of those are worth a
fortune to you.
Having good professional marketing material will
help build credibility and add value to the sale.
But this is just the first step. There’s more,
lots more. In the next issue of “got sales?”, I’ll
discuss Selling Your Company and how to
differentiate yourself from your competition. In
the third installment, I’ll discuss Relationship
Selling. In issue four I’ll cover How to Engage
With Your Client. And in the fifth and final issue
in this Value-Added Selling Series, I’ll discuss
Selling Benefits versus Features. Till next month,
start working on establishing your credibility.
Good
luck and good selling!
Russ
Lombardo
PEAK
Sales Consulting
russ@peaksalesconsulting.com
(702)
655-5652
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