Almost all companies claim to have better people, better service, and more technical expertise than all their competitors. The problem is that your competitors often say the same thing. And not all of them can be right.
This factor becomes even more confusing when salespeople are asked what they think value-add is. Some claim that their clients require more frequent visits, while others believe that this is their experience.
However, the one thing that defines value in the eyes of the customer that is overlooked by most in the sales field is that buyer value can only be defined by the customer, not the customer. supplier. Because it doesn’t matter what the salesperson thinks value is, it only matters what the customer thinks it is, and because customers don’t always think the same way, the operational definition of value-added varies from customer to customer.
Do you understand sales with added value?
Unfortunately, most salespeople don’t, because value-added selling is more than just a sales concept or some kind of new sales technique. Many of the people I’ve talked to seem to think they know what it is, but in most cases they don’t understand what value-added selling really is.
The reality is that value-added selling is a way to enhance a packaged solution for the prospect that tends to promise a lot, but in essence, when driven with only buyers’ needs in mind, typically delivers more, usually exceeding customer expectations. .
Put even more simply, value-added selling is a proactive way for the salesperson to personally take the initiative to add value. In essence, it is handled similar to how a professional would handle an objection previously by generating more value up front so that price becomes less of an issue during the sales process.
Value-added selling is simply a course of action taken by the seller based on trust, because trust is the foundation of the relationship. The philosophy here is simple, if two people trust each other and want to do business with each other, they will work out the details. Shoppers may have a preference for brands, but they will give up their loyalty for the people they like.
Value-added selling is the desire to achieve beneficial results for both the buyer and the seller, however, transactions should be more about the buyer than the seller because it is their problem; their money and a solution they must live with.
Also, value-added selling should be focused on the customer and not the seller. If the closer defines value in terms of the customer, he is willing to pay a little more. But when a salesperson imposes “value” on the customer, the salesperson pays for it at a higher discount.
Because of this focus on customer value, value-added salespeople approach selling by looking for where they can help make the biggest impact on the customer’s business. By doing this, the closer helps the buyer achieve higher levels of success, because the attitude of the closer is primarily the essential motivator of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
When the seller understands these principles, he will also be aware that if he sells only the product, he opens the field to competitors. Alternatively, sympathetic salespeople add value with their problem-solving skills, knowledge, ability to get things done, and initiative.
THE ROLE OF THE VALUE ADDED SELLER
In traditional selling, sellers focus on seeking new business. In fact, some are so obsessed with finding new business or developing new opportunities that they often ignore existing customers in the process. Whereas salespeople focused on customer satisfaction will follow up, and it is during this follow up that they discover additional business opportunities.
The role of the value-added seller evolves throughout the sales process, adapting to the needs of the buyer in further business opportunities by cross-selling additional products or services. While traditional salespeople focus on selling products, value-added salespeople focus on solving problems.
Perhaps a better way to put it is that where a traditional seller will try to create the buyer’s needs to sell a product or service, alternatively sellers focused on adding value on behalf of the customer seek to understand the buyer’s needs and take action. Consequently, and where traditional salespeople are primarily focused on making deals, those salespeople who are focused on adding value are the ones who want to make a difference for the customer.
The fundamental difference in the two groups is that traditional salespeople’s primary focus and sales skill is closing, while value-added salespeople’s primary focus and sales skill is listening and adapting what they’ve heard that are the main needs of the clients and combine customized solutions, whether they are product or service oriented solutions.
Here are some tips on adding value
By applying value-added as a sales concept, today’s effective salespeople will not only need to create much more positive business relationships with everyone they work with, but they will also need to further hone their existing skills in asking questions, listen constructively to others. as well as understanding better ways to eliminate the deepest needs of your customers.
These are the same salespeople who want to understand what each customer finds valuable to them, and can then work to apply creative solutions to what those customers value in their day-to-day business. It is then, and only then, that the customer will find the seller worthwhile and an effective value-added seller.
But the most encouraging thing here is that each of these value-added selling skills can be learned. That’s right, a learned behavior that we can all benefit from. The fact is that no one is born with the ability to ask penetrating questions, build positive relationships, listen constructively, or even develop creative proposals and solutions.
Remember, there has never been a born salesperson, nor will there ever be. Some think they may have natural sales talents, and we’ve all met plenty of them, but on closer examination, they’re usually fast-talking bullies bordering on unethical behavior, and most don’t last long anyway. in the field of sales.
The good thing here is that the knowledge and processes applied by the best and most effective value-added salespeople can also be learned by anyone in sales today. Then, once a minimum level of experience is reached, these same salespeople (now retrained) can continually improve these more-enhanced behavioral skills for the rest of their sales career, and will only improve over time to serve their customers at optimal levels. .
