Do you sell opportunities to the market, or just overheads?

If you were to go into business for yourself in the near future, you would immediately become the target of a multitude of suppliers wishing to sell products to you that you will need to operate your company…including a car, PC, Laptop, copier, fax, internet services, a mobile and much, much more. At the same time as the countless numbers of suppliers are trying to get you to spend money, you would be trying to figure out how to find customers and earn money…and, unlike suppliers, not one customer will be ‘waiting’ for you. Using this line of thought, it should be obvious that the customers you sell to now are focused on making money and not spending money…so be careful not to position yourself or your company as ‘just another supplier’.

The critical question is this: ‘are you selling a product or service that represents a cost, or are you selling a proposition that will contribute to an improved, attractive business result for the customer…in earnings or savings (due to improved process, not lower price)?’ If the reality is that you are offering an overhead and not an opportunity, you will send your sales people to certain defeat…or, at best, to average performance. Fortunately, there is a very simple way to move into the area of ‘opportunity’, providing you have the courage to move away from the overhead zone. Key questions need to be answered by you, and perhaps your team…

• Concerning the buying process…what are the very best ways for customers to purchase our kind of product or service, and how do most customers compare to ‘best buying practice’? Obviously, if the majority of customers operate below the best practice level, you now have a platform to sell opportunities to this group

• Concerning the usage or resale process in relation to our product or service…how do the most successful customers produce the best business results? Again, if most customers do not follow the lead of high-achieving customers, you now possess a way to sell them opportunities for improved results

• Concerning indirect factors…what do the best performing customers do in various ‘general’ areas of their businesses that see to it that they buy more product (or service) from our company? As an example, if your customers are retailers and the top performers are strong in marketing, management, sales, service, staff development, etc., and you understand how they do things well, you then have a basis for selling such strategies as opportunities for all customers to improve their results. This is not stealing, it is gathering intelligence that benefits the market at large, and sometimes the top performing customers can work with you to educate lesser performers

At Schwarzkopf, aside from offering salon customers various forms of product merchandising, we also created management systems for the owner and staff, selling tools, staff training programmes (small and large), a focus group device, local marketing initiatives, a serious business education forum, and much more. Customers paid for some of these ‘opportunities’, however we derived no profit and so they paid relatively little for big contributions to their businesses, and were so impressed that they bought our products…as part of their overheads! It is an exhilarating feeling to go to market with much more to offer than your competitors, while charging the usual prices for the products you offer. So, when you go to market, do you appeal to the earning or buying side of the customer?