This powerful question will help you sell Value!

In B-to-B selling, salespeople sell to businesses that have customers. The services or products they offer often have to do with the services or products their (potential) customers sell.

I often coach salespeople in the field, and this practical experience helps me experiment and try different approaches during sales calls. There is one experience I went through, which lead me to the title and content of my posting of today.

Some years ago, I joined a salesperson in Germany for a day in the field. His planning for the day contained a prospect who showed interest in the products he was selling.

During the ride, I asked him what his objective for the meeting was and what made the prospect agree on the appointment. He answered that price was most important and secondary, the product specifications.

The meeting was attended by the owner, the commercial manager and the technical manager. Technicalities and price dominated the conversation. The salesperson was solely focused on the technical manager. Next to that, not one compelling reason to buy his products was uncovered. At a particular moment, the discussion became so dull that I decided to interfere. So, I stepped into the conversation and asked the owner the following question:

“Please tell me what type of customers you sell to and why they buy from you?”

The gentleman looked at me surprised and answered the following:

His father started this business more than thirty years ago. He went on to tell us how the company developed. Their market consisted of users of heavy machinery for farms, trucks and transport. They would be available 365 days a year to service their customers. Their customers bought from them because of their service, involvement and quality of products.

I then asked him: where does price play a role? “Nowhere,” he said. “We don’t compromise on price or service. And our customer retention is extremely high!”

I looked to my coachee and said: “Please continue about how we can add to their success”. Astonished, he pulled himself together and followed through on the customers of his prospective customer.

Conclusion: Find out who your prospect’s customers are and why their customers buy from them. When you get to know that, find out how your solution can help them develop their business more successfully. There is where selling value starts to add to your success story!

How did the meeting end? The order was placed, and we got a tour of the warehouse and technical department. After that, my coachee treated me to a wholesome German dinner consisting of flammkuchen, schnitzel (my favourite) and gebackenen Kartoffeln.

Selling value can be taught and will improve your margins. If you are ready to join us on a journey to enhance selling Value, contact me here to plan a call. You can also book a call with me here.

By phone, you can call me here:

31 (0)642713033

Your salesperson tells you: "my prospect finds us too expensive". How do you react to that?

Every sales or business leader experiences this: their salespeople telling them that their offering is too expensive.

As long as I have been a sales consultant, I have heard salespeople complaining about their product/service being considered too expensive. There are different reasons why prospective customers can find you too expensive. Sometimes lack of funds can be the reason, but often it has to do with not realising that what you have to offer them will satisfy their need. Lack of insights into how to sell value by the salesperson plays an even more critical role.

For people to buy from you, there must be a need. This need can be dormant, which means the demand is there, but they are not actively aware of this need. Or, there is an operational need, but they need to make a choice.

Let's take a closer look at how to avoid getting swamped into price discussions.

1. Preparation: Before the call, research the prospect, market, and what they offer to their customers.

2. Know your product, including your value proposition, features, benefits, and value for the customer.

3. Prepare your conversation, which means having a script in place which should sound natural. Your story should include your introduction, followed by the prospect telling you about their business and followed through by you asking questions. Your questions should be in a conversational way where you avoid behaving like a detective.

4. Above all, pay attention to how you start a sales call with a prospect. The first minutes of the call are crucial for the whole conversation. Your introduction and the way you lead the discussion depends on these first minutes. Either the prospect accepts that you take the lead, or they take it!

Price can be crucial, depending on the value that the buyer sees in your offering. The reality is that professional buyers know that using price is an excellent instrument to put pressure on the salesperson and get the best deal. Quite often, they bring up "price" at the beginning of the sales conversation. And quite often, salespeople tumble right into this trap.

Be aware that a sales conversation with a professional buyer will be different from a C-level manager's call.

Conversations with professional buyers usually focus on price. Still, if you can stay away from price and focus on their deep needs, you will sell on value.

Conversations with C-level managers or VP's are more focused on strategy, shareholders value, the organisation's well-being, future development and much more.

Take care that you discover at least three compelling reasons why they would want to buy what you are offering.

Receptive listening plays an important role here. Sometimes salespeople ignore critical remarks, which can be essential.

I'll give you an example: the prospect just reacted to a feature of your offering with, "this is interesting". Most salespeople would say "thank you" and continue. Wrong! Try the following by asking: "why do you find it interesting" "where does it fit your expectations", "how would it solve the issues you have", any many more questions you can ask.

You will add a new dimension to your sales conversations regarding "price" by trying the above-mentioned approaches.

Contact me here, if you want to know more about increasing sales performance and more profitable margins. Call me at +31 0642713033.