I wanted to pick up where I left off in the last article about value based selling. If you have not yet read that article, I suggest you do so before reading this one. You can read it HERE.
In this article I would like to focus on 4 very important steps to value based selling. They are:
Give the customer options – In the last article I mentioned giving the customer options. People, by nature, want the ability to choose. Most people are comfortable choosing between two options. If you only give them one option (“You need to have this done”), they will usually turn it into two options (1 – Get it done, or 2 – don’t get it done). They want a choice. If you give them three or more options, that gives them too many choices and they will often choose to do nothing, or choose to take time to think about it. That is not usually the desired result.
If given a choice between two viable options, people will often choose one of them. That is good news for salesmen. An approach that I have often used is to tell the customer: “We have two ways that we can go about this.” I then explain the benefits of the most expensive one, followed by the benefits (and limitations) of the cheaper alternative. I then gauge their reactions before giving them the prices for each option. I always list the most expensive first. That is called bracketing up for money, which I will explain in another article.
So, if you notice, the customer has two choices – both of which involve having me address their needs. There is no “wait and think about it” option. In sales, you are always looking for the immediate commitment.
Continue to build value – Often times, the services that we offer can seem very similar to our competition. In order to differentiate yourself from your competitors, you need to sell your customer on the one thing your competitors do NOT have: you. What makes you different (better) than that other company who does the same type of service? I do not want it to be that you are less expensive. That is too easy to say, and too hard to accomplish. It is also not the mark of a true professional salesman.
You need to know what your competition is offering and offer more. Even things that seem silly to you will often mean a lot to the customer. Sometimes, your service is very similar, so in order to build value, you need to mention things that the others will likely do, but neglect to mention. Often it’s that silly little step that you mention that they other guys don’t that will give you the job. Your customer needs to know that you are thorough and are going to great lengths to give them the service that they need.
Focus on the customer’s needs – I went into this a bit in the last article, but let me expand on the concept a little. If you have been listening to them, you should have an idea of what’s important to them. Still, it’s often a good idea to ask questions. The right questions can accomplish a few things:
An example of this might be: “So, if I understand you correctly, you want…, while…, without having to worry about…, and you want it done ASAP. Am I on the right track?” Then you can follow it up with letting him/her know that you have a couple of ways to accomplish those things and go on to tell them what those options are and ask which one he/she feels will work best for him/her. Believe me when I say that not nearly enough salesmen do this, and it is very powerful.
Build a lasting impression – When I was in the field, the one thing I tried to accomplish more than anything else was having people call the company that I worked for and asking for me. You want to make more money than anyone else at your company? The best way to do that is build a list of repeat customers. There are a lot of ways to do that, but I am focusing here on building a lasting impression.
One thing I see a lot is people getting the okay to perform their service and switching to “let’s get it done and get out”. That is the worst thing you can do. During the entire time, you need to keep the customer’s interest. Interact with them while you are working, do little freebees for them, pet their dog/cat, etc. By the time you are done with your service and are leaving, they should be asking you to stay for a beer or cookies or something.
After you leave their home or business, your customers will have three ways to remember you:
Two out of the three of these needs to be good. It is the difference between calling your company to complain and calling your company to ask for you to do more work for more money. It is really that simple.
Finally there is one, VERY POWERFUL tool that you can use to accomplish all four objectives.
In this article I would like to focus on 4 very important steps to value based selling. They are:
- Give the customer options
- Continue to build value
- Focus on the customer’s needs
- Build a lasting impression
Give the customer options – In the last article I mentioned giving the customer options. People, by nature, want the ability to choose. Most people are comfortable choosing between two options. If you only give them one option (“You need to have this done”), they will usually turn it into two options (1 – Get it done, or 2 – don’t get it done). They want a choice. If you give them three or more options, that gives them too many choices and they will often choose to do nothing, or choose to take time to think about it. That is not usually the desired result.
If given a choice between two viable options, people will often choose one of them. That is good news for salesmen. An approach that I have often used is to tell the customer: “We have two ways that we can go about this.” I then explain the benefits of the most expensive one, followed by the benefits (and limitations) of the cheaper alternative. I then gauge their reactions before giving them the prices for each option. I always list the most expensive first. That is called bracketing up for money, which I will explain in another article.
So, if you notice, the customer has two choices – both of which involve having me address their needs. There is no “wait and think about it” option. In sales, you are always looking for the immediate commitment.
Continue to build value – Often times, the services that we offer can seem very similar to our competition. In order to differentiate yourself from your competitors, you need to sell your customer on the one thing your competitors do NOT have: you. What makes you different (better) than that other company who does the same type of service? I do not want it to be that you are less expensive. That is too easy to say, and too hard to accomplish. It is also not the mark of a true professional salesman.
You need to know what your competition is offering and offer more. Even things that seem silly to you will often mean a lot to the customer. Sometimes, your service is very similar, so in order to build value, you need to mention things that the others will likely do, but neglect to mention. Often it’s that silly little step that you mention that they other guys don’t that will give you the job. Your customer needs to know that you are thorough and are going to great lengths to give them the service that they need.
Focus on the customer’s needs – I went into this a bit in the last article, but let me expand on the concept a little. If you have been listening to them, you should have an idea of what’s important to them. Still, it’s often a good idea to ask questions. The right questions can accomplish a few things:
- It let’s the customer know that you care about what’s best for them
- It tells the customer that you’ve been paying attention
- It opens the door to explore options
- Helps to set you apart from the competition
An example of this might be: “So, if I understand you correctly, you want…, while…, without having to worry about…, and you want it done ASAP. Am I on the right track?” Then you can follow it up with letting him/her know that you have a couple of ways to accomplish those things and go on to tell them what those options are and ask which one he/she feels will work best for him/her. Believe me when I say that not nearly enough salesmen do this, and it is very powerful.
Build a lasting impression – When I was in the field, the one thing I tried to accomplish more than anything else was having people call the company that I worked for and asking for me. You want to make more money than anyone else at your company? The best way to do that is build a list of repeat customers. There are a lot of ways to do that, but I am focusing here on building a lasting impression.
One thing I see a lot is people getting the okay to perform their service and switching to “let’s get it done and get out”. That is the worst thing you can do. During the entire time, you need to keep the customer’s interest. Interact with them while you are working, do little freebees for them, pet their dog/cat, etc. By the time you are done with your service and are leaving, they should be asking you to stay for a beer or cookies or something.
After you leave their home or business, your customers will have three ways to remember you:
- By looking at the work you did (or results of your service)
- By the new hole in their pocketbook
- By what they remember of you
Two out of the three of these needs to be good. It is the difference between calling your company to complain and calling your company to ask for you to do more work for more money. It is really that simple.
Finally there is one, VERY POWERFUL tool that you can use to accomplish all four objectives.
Be Creative!
Find new and innovative ways to service your customer’s needs. Most salesmen in the service industry all focus on the same standard way of going about doing things. If you can approach it from a different angle that can save the customer time, inconvenience or money, it will speak volumes! Here is an example:
Mrs. Smith had a sewer main back-up. A plumber came out and cleared her main, but said that it was in bad shape and needs to be replaced. This kind of scared her, so she decided to get a few estimates. She calls out 3 plumbers and tells them she is collecting estimates to replace her sewer. All three plumbers give her an estimate to do just that. She calls me out for her fourth and final estimate. My first question is, “What makes you think you need a new sewer line?” She tells me about the plumber telling her that it needed replacement. It turns out that nobody has run a camera down her line to find out exactly what is going on.
My next statement is obvious, right? “Well, I can replace your sewer line if you want, but there’s a really good chance that it’s unnecessary. The only way to know for sure if you need an entirely new sewer line is to run a camera down the line and see what’s causing your problems. The camera has a locator on the camera head, so I will know exactly where the problem is and how deep. You may just need a simple spot repair, which is a whole lot less expensive than a replacement. I have a camera on my truck and can do the survey for you right now. It’s $250, I can burn it to DVD for you, and if you have me do the repair, I will credit the camera survey back towards to cost of the repair.”
I may still not get the job, of course, but being creative and finding a way to start with a smaller scope of work that may save her a bunch of money has greatly improved my chances. Is there still a chance that the line needs replacement? Sure, but by offering to credit back the camera, I now have $250 worth of leverage to use to help me get the entire job. Most importantly, I have a chance to get started and show off my stuff. :)
Hopefully that wraps up value based selling. Stay tuned for another sales tips article coming soon!
Thank you for reading.
Steve
