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What is your product really worth?

Written by: Peter Lawless

Article Overview: The secret of selling is the art of value visualization. A natural sales person will lead the buyer through a series of structured questions, whereby the buyer will actually “see” what the product will enable them to do. The Sales person then will encourage the prospect to put their own value on that capability.

What is your product really worth?

In the early days of selling, sales people were taught to discuss their product's features and emphasize those features that distinguished them from the competition. As the art of selling matured, sales people were then taught to emphasize the benefits of their products — in other words what their products did for their customers.

"Help your customers realize the Value that they will Gain from buying your product"

Today's the buzz words are all about solution selling and consultative selling. Sales people are asked to look from the buyer's perspective and match their needs accordingly. This is a huge step from the early days of feature pushing, but I firmly believe they need to go one step further.

The good news about this, for business owners who do not have formal sales training, is that this magic step is actually common sense. The secret to generating a prospect who will willingly become a buyer is to get them to define, in their own terminology, the value of having your product.

OK, so how do we do that? We go back to first principles, the reason why you started your company. You probably saw a gap in the market, felt you could create a product or service to plug that gap, did some market research, found there was a need – and hey presto, you created a company to make, market and sell that product.

So what was that need? What did people really want? If they got your product what did that enable them to do? Could they easily put a value on it?

If the answer is yes to the last question, you need to ensure that your product's cost is less than the value they put on it. Why? Because then buying it for them is good value.

So the real secret to sales success is to help your customers realize the Value that they will Gain from buying your product.

And just when you thought that was enough – there's more! The final two things you need to fix in your customer's mind are;

* When they need to have it.
* What the downside of not having it is.


Once your sales person has managed to do all of that, you know what? They won't be coming to you asking for discounts. The customer understands the Value they are getting, and besides, what good sales person is going to ask you to reduce their commission by giving away revenue they don't have to.

Remember, encourage your prospects to see what they could really do if they were using your product, and then put a value on it.

Let me leave you with one question to ponder. Why does a Porsche 4X4 cost €130,000 more than a Hyundai 4X4 – does it cost that much more to make, is it that much better, and is it worth it? It is truly amazing the value some people put on image – but then that's visual.

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Article Tags: business owners, buzz words, common sense, downside, first principles, gap, last question, market research, perspective, sales success, solution selling



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Viral marketing campaign - Thanks for the generous offer Susan. Have you considered building an affiliate program? I'm not sure if ClickBank or Commission Junction would take on that kind of service instead of a product based company but it's worth investigating. If you can't go with them it could be worth your time developing your own affiliate program. Another good place to start is with satisfied customers. Someone who is happy with your work knows others who could benefit from your service. Usually all they need is someone to ask them to refer a friend!
Warrenties - I don't know if extended warrenties are good for all items, but on occassion have they have really come to the resuce for me. I think it depends on the product, how much it cost and how often you think you will use it as to whether its worth it. However, (and I dont believe this is right) but I know a couple of people, including my brother (age 37) who never purchase extended warrenties on certain items. Instead, what they do is about 6 months or so before the warrenty is up, they bring back the product to either the store or they contact the manufacturer (dependent upon who can replace the item) and regardless of anything being wrong with it, they claim some mishaps about the product (like saying it's a tempermental product, works when it feels like it), or whatever they think is a good excuse, and they get the product replaced, free. The warrenty that comes with the new product covers the item until it's close to the end again and then they repeat the cycle (using different exucses each time). Here's an example- My brother gets a brand new mattress every 5- 7 years- he complains about the springs poking him or that its saggy or something. My neighbor, gets new game systems for her kids right before the warrently is up, she'll say brand new Games won't play in them, but play tey on friends systems or she'll say brand new games freeze, but are fine on other systems...etc.
Re: Service Or Product? - Hi Evan, A late response to your question but I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents worth as it's still a great topic. I like services personally as a business model but products would work as well. It all depends on the demand for the product. I learned a long time ago that if the demand out weighs the supply, whether it be a service or a product, the potential for success is far greater. When consumers or businesses are looking for what you're selling, the sale is that much easier and the risk is that much lower. Think about businesses that never have to advertise and just have websites and yellow page listings to be found. There is normally such a demand for their product or service that there's no need to advertise to find business as their customers will find them. These businesses do exist and if you think long and hard about it, you'll come up with a few that dispite the economy, spend next to nothing on advertising. So, product or service... who cares... demand and finding a niche is what matters and either or could be very successfull.
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