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Build Value Not Discount To Avoid Becoming A Commodity in Your Industry During Good or Bad Times

Guest post by: Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Article Overview: Many sales professionals to small business owners to C Level executives believe that by discounting their products or service during good or bad times that they can increase sales and maintain customer loyalty. However, what these folks are really doing is just the opposite because they have turned their products and services into a commodity.

Build Value Not Discount To Avoid Becoming A Commodity in Your Industry During Good or Bad Times

Many sales professionals to small business owners to C Level executives believe that by discounting their products or service during good or bad times that they can increase sales and maintain customer loyalty. However, what these folks are really doing is just the opposite because they have turned their products and services into a commodity.

The price of your products and services is directly tied to the value that your product or service provides your customers. Why would you even consider diminishing that value by discounting your price? Does this make good business sense?

Of course with many in sales still embracing a sales based marketing approach, discounting your price is part of that mentality. Within this approach, the traditional focus in on the benefits that your products or services deliver. Unfortunately, today’s market place where technology has dramatically raised the level of knowledge, benefits can be found on almost any website.

To add value means that you must educate your customer by providing knowledge he does not have. That knowledge is all about the results that you can and have delivered to your existing clients. In some cases, you may actually have to spend some of your own dollars to be able to demonstrate your value in real time. Provided you have done your homework and this person is a qualified potential customer you have a golden opportunity to earn a sale with far less strain on your resources of time, energy and dollars.

Sometimes you may have to add additional value to your products and services for your potential clients to commit to buying from you. This added value can have a nominal cost such as three monthly follow-ups. You may already engage in this behavior, but by front loading it as added value, your customer sees your commitment to her or him.

Sales Coaching Tip: When you discount your prices, you are truly discounting your value and putting yourself in the Sea of Sameness with all those other Gray Suits. To be that Red Jacket, you must know the actual results that would be considered valuable by your target market. Then your only challenge is to build a value bridge between your results and the desired results that your customers are seeking.

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Article Tags: added value, business sense, c level, commodity, customer loyalty, follow ups, golden opportunity, good business, gray suits, homework, level executives, mentality, real time, s market, sales professionals, sameness, small business owners, time energy, traditional focus, ups



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