One of the reasons salespeople don’t get the price they want or are pushed to offer a discount to close a sale is due to their value proposition.
Too many salespeople use a single value proposition. They do so because they’ve had success with it and they’re comfortable with it.
In my mind, the reason you might be comfortable with what you’re using is the very reason why you’re not making as much profit as you might be able to make.
In an earlier blog post I listed the 3 main reasons customers buy. Each reason is unique and because of this, each value proposition must be unique as well.
Challenge we all face as salespeople is we want to close sales as rapidly as possible and that means jumping into our value proposition quickly. That right there is the problem.
We can’t jump into sharing our value proposition until we know which one of the three reasons the customer is looking to buy.
This is not to say we can’t sell fast.
What it does say is we have to make sure we’re asking the customer questions as early as possible in the sales call as to why they’re buying. Not only does this help to know which value proposition to use, but it also gets the customer to more fully express why they’re buying.
Anytime a customer expresses why they’re looking to buy something, it moves them to a greater sense of urgency to make the purchase. The outcome is you can wind up closing the sale even faster and at a higher price.
It comes down to doing 2 things on every call. First, ask questions to find out the reason the customer is looking to buy. Second, craft your value proposition to fit the reason.
If more salespeople would follow this approach, they would be amazed at the success they would encounter.
For more information, check out this blog on critical factors in pricing.
Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
