The fact that we’re constantly blogging about price suggests to us how much it is in our minds, and psyche, as salespeople. Competing with lower priced competitors whose quality of product and service is questionable can be difficult when we as salespeople spend so much time thinking about price.
So how can we justify an investment in quality for our clients when compared to the short term issue of price. How do the high performing salespeople do it?
The best way to add value to your clients is to fully understand their needs. You’ll read a lot in these pages about the importance of needs-based selling, that is fully understanding the needs of your clients before you think of any products or services to offer them. If you do this you’ll be able to sell the value and benefit of what you do to meet their specific needs. High performing salespeople match needs identified with the benefit of their solution. In this way your client will be interested in what you’re offering them – why wouldn’t they, it’s meeting their needs, and they’re seeing the benefit?
You wouldn’t walk in to a car showroom and ask for the cheapest car. Selling the benefits of what you do to meet the real needs of your clients is clearly the best way to get over the question of pricing. But you might also think of mediums such as social media to build your capability. If you build a reputation for offering quality solutions, you’ll become known for the quality of your product rather than how cheap it is.
The majority of salespeople bring up price way before the client has even thought about it. This sends the message that you have a cheap product rather than a quality product.
So, what do you want to be known for? Great solutions and products or cheap discounts?