Most of your prospects will focus on price once they think they have found a product or service that will meet their needs.
It’s normal to want to know how much something will cost. However, it’s best to avoid responding directly to this question until you have established the problem and the value of solving that problem.
While it may seem like customers only focus on price, many of them actually place a higher importance on other attributes. By skillfully framing the conversation using your knowledge of those attributes, you can move their focus from price to value.
You begin by building rapport with the customer. During this time, you will want to ask questions about the business and focus the discussion on what problem the customer needs to solve. From the answers the customer provides, you will learn most of the attributes s/he responds to, providing you a pathway away from price.
The most effective way to motivate buyers is to quantify a solution’s value.
While marketing and sales organizations often produce rich content that supports various aspects of the buyer’s journey, they often fail to communicate value as a bottom-line differentiator. When this happens, they lose an important opportunity to persuade buyers and business decision makers.
In order to capitalize on this opportunity, value must be communicated to three distinct audiences: buyers, the buying committee and the finance team. Each group has a unique perspective, and their interests must be clearly addressed by your sales reps.
A challenging new B2B sales paradigm has emerged from today’s volatile economy and marketplace. The buying process is now longer and more complex, and is often conducted without direct vendor participation until very late in the game, making it harder to capture the attention of buyers and decision makers.
Has your sales cycle grown longer and more complex? Are you challenged by new buying behaviors that exclude you in the early stages of discovery? Chances are you’re also faced with more restrictive corporate and financial oversight, which shifts purchasing authority to CFOs and inter-departmental committees.
How can you get the attention of buyers and decision makers in such a dynamic sales environment? A proven approach is value selling, a strategy that develops distinct sales messages focused on the bottom line. When all is said and done, prospects want to know how investing in your solution helps save money, increase sales and revenue, and achieve pertinent business goals.
Everyone loves a good story – from fables and folktales to case studies and compelling copy in marketing campaigns. A well-crafted story clearly illustrates how your solution adds value to an organization, and elicits a positive emotional response from the reader. If you can help readers visualize the benefits of your product or service, you are many steps closer to closing the sale.
Many sales and marketing teams at B2B technology and manufacturing companies fail to maximize the total value of their offering. Consequently they restrict their capacity to achieve profitable revenue growth.
Sales and marketing teams are not necessarily doing this on purpose. However, during our ten years of working with B2B sellers and marketers, it’s become apparent that many people talk about value without truly understanding it or how to leverage it as an integral part of a winning business strategy.
One of the greatest advantages in selling is the ability to understand how CFOs (a typical approver) think. That’s particularly true if you’re selling a technology solution. Why? Tech sales generally represent large investments, and the job of any CFO is to make sure that any major expenditure will yield measurable results and a good ROI.
As the steward of money within the company, CFOs wants to make smart investments. Your job as a seller is to provide proof of value. Although you might be extremely personable, likeable, and engaging, it’s important to realize that the typical personality of CFOs is not built to make decisions based on whether or not they like you.
In today’s economy, having a compelling business value proposition and being able to deliver against that promise is not a "nice to have," it’s the price of admission. Companies today constantly vie for business decision makers’ attention and the opportunity to sell their product or solution.
How well can you describe the value of your offering to different market segments? Correctly communicating value at the segment level is critical to any successful business strategy. Unfortunately, many B2B sales and marketing professionals communicate value in broad, generic terms, or fail to customize their language to appeal to different market segments.
