Selling Value comes down to one question: What can you provide that your competitors can’t (or won’t)?

Salespeople who realize this are eager to learn everything they can about their prospects. The more avenues they go down, and the more they devote to understanding their prospect’s needs, the stronger their selling points are.

Any salesperson knows that price is only one component of value. And really, what prospect wouldn’t pay twice as much for a product that promised three-times the Return on Investment (ROI)?

So what becomes important throughout the selling process is maintaining focus on exactly what your company can provide to solve the prospects biggest problem.

1. Prepping the prospect and yourself. First things first. You want a prospect to be excited about meeting with you. The more they’re looking forward to it, the more inclined they ‘all be to give you their full attention.

That means when you get on the phone to call prospects, have your smartphone, laptop, IPad, etc to the calendar to book the appointment at the first available time and date. Sounds simple, right??

But the longer you’ve been at it, the easier it is to put the appointment off for a few days or perhaps a few weeks. Scheduling quickly keeps everything you talked about on the phone fresh in the prospect’s mind, and it diminishes the chance they’ll postpone or cancel the appointment.

Salespeople are well acquainted with the practice of sending promotional items, catalogs, or white papers to buyers. With e-mail and overnight delivery, it makes it much easier to send information the prospect can review prior to the meeting.

Here are some examples you may have used to get the prospect engaged prior to the meeting with you, and provide them a chance to form questions of their own:

*A plain-English breakdown of any clinical research on your product, so the customer can understand what makes it superior.

*A list of ways your product/service can be used and how it can be used based on the company’s need.

*A list of customer testimonials that focus on how the product/service has been effective, and/or

*A comprehensive list of product benefits, and additional services your company provides.

2. Selling value at game time. It’s what the voice in the back of very salesperson’s head is saying to them before each presentation: Don’t oversell.

You want the prospect to expect great things from you, but you also want to promote a feeling of mutual trust and respect.

Here are some quick reminders of ways you can translate value and promote your company’s reputation during the presentation;

*Handle objections head-on. Salespeople have heard every objection in the book. Over time, you create your own responses to each objection-answer that address concern, place the prospects at ease, and bring the meeting back to the center.

*People do judge a book by its cover. It is unfortunate but true. Image is everything. There’s an old exercise where you write down four words that describe how you want a prospect to view your company. Your appearance should reflect those four words.

*Ask pointed questions to uncover needs. A lot of salespeople are familiar with the phrase “perceived value”. You may have the best benefit statement in the world. If they don’t help fill the prospects’ particular needs, they’re useless.

3. Playing for the long-term. When a buyer signs on the dotted line, a sale ends and a relationship is born.

Potentially, that a buyer could mean a great deal of repeat business. So it’s wise to keep three loyalty-builders in mind:

a. Resolve problems quickly and completely.

b. Maintain a regular-follow up schedule, so nothing falls between the cracks.

c. Communicate each action to the customer. It helps to further establish trust.

Try this and let me know how it works for you.

Happy Selling!

Thomas Ellis