How do you know if you offer enough value in the sale to close it? How do you know if you have enough leverage to not compete on price? How do you know if the client needs to make the deal? Ask this one question;
What’s the impact to the customer or prospect if they DON’T buy my product or service?
Your answer to this question tells you everything you will need to know. This one little question tells a BIG story.
With that said, I don’t want to confuse you, because this question seems rather simple, but it is a little more complex than it seems. The answer to this question is NOT missing out on the value proposition of your product or service. In fact the answer has very little to do with you. The answer to this question must start with — My client . . .
- misses out on
- can’t
- is unable to
- will lose
- will fail in
- will struggle with
- will pay more for
followed by a business issue UNIQUE to the customer or prospect. If your answer to the question doesn’t contain any of the previous descriptions AND doesn’t have substantial impact on the specific customers business, you don’t offer value, you don’t have leverage and the odds of making the sale are slim.
The value of something is measured not by how bad they want it, but rather by what they are willing to give up for it.
If your customer isn’t willing to give up much for what you offer, you haven’t demonstrated value. If you want your customer or prospect to pay more, move faster, chose you over the competition, push through procurement, sign a long-term contract, etc. focus on the value they perceive they are getting, not the value you say exists.
Take a look at all of your current opportunities. Can you articulate the customer’s value? What impact does your product or service have on that buyer and only that buyers world? What happens if they don’t buy what you’re selling? How big of an opportunity do they miss out on? What do they lose? What is the cost of not doing business with you? If you can answer these questions and the impact is substantial, you are in a good place. If not, time to revaluate your sales pipeline as there just might not be enough value.
If the impact is substantial then you’re headed in the right direction, all that’s required is that the customer or prospect agrees with you and well, that’s your job and another blog post.
Value is leverage, knowing if value exists is easily determined if you are looking through your customers eyes, not yours. Find the impact to your customer if they don’t buy your product or service, everything stems from there.