I had a very interesting podcast chat with James White of Sales Success Academy, where we touched on how to show value to your customers. Essentially how to make them value you and willing to pay your price without question. I loved the point he made, ‘show value before vanity’ and I want to take you through some of the ways that you can do that.
The first thing to understand is that business doesn’t just come to you – you have to be proactive and go out and find it. The work we do now will have an effect on our sales pipeline in 2-3 months’ time, so what value are you adding to your prospects right now?
Price is never the issue when it comes to value
People who attempt to negotiate over your price or choose not to work with you on that basis just don’t see the value enough. For example, you’d never ask to pay the price of a Greggs steak bake for a Rick Stein Cornish pasty because you appreciate the differences in the process behind the production of each item. You know the value.
Be selective when choosing your audience
Choose an audience that you know inside and out and engage with them on a regular basis. Talk about things that are specific to their wants and needs, demonstrate empathy for their pains and offer solutions.
When it came to a question about targeted audiences, James said, ‘If you want to be of value, be something to someone instead of being everything to everyone.’
Make your prospects believe in you
Give them things that make them believe you are useful and helpful in their world. That might be something to download and keep for future reference from your website, it might be something to make them feel happier on a Monday morning through your social media, or it might be a special gift to thank them for a referral or purchase.
Once you know that you can build value in people’s minds, you can be very clear about your prices and why you charge what you do, safe in the knowledge they will accept it.
Prove your value
Talk about the impact your services will have on their business or homelife and how they will use what you do to make their world better. People tend to buy when they can envisage a return on their investment, so show it to them.
Talk directly about your prospects’ solutions in proposal meetings, share testimonials on your website and share your opinion on news articles or curated content on social media.
Share your expertise
This goes back to my point about giving your prospects something to make them believe in you, but it also refers to telling people in your network what you can do to help their own customers. Building a professional network of potential referral partners can mean that business does come to you in the end, but you have to put the effort in to begin with.
Take a moment to think about how you already demonstrate your value, and where you can expand and develop those areas. If you’d like to hear James talking about overcoming the fear of sales and delivering value, the podcast is available now: Sales with James White. And as ever, I am on hand to have an informal chat to help you identify where you’re hiding your value. Get in touch with me on LinkedIn or book some free business consultation time in my calendar.