Are you getting paid what you know you are worth, or do you somehow feel that you are often shortchanged? If you feel this – then you have to work on improving communication of your worth to your customers. Here are eight tips that will help you sell value—not price:
1. Stand out
It is not enough for you to explain what your product or service is; you have to highlight how you are distinct from your competitors. You need to give your buyers reason to choose you for a factor other than a good price. How do you do that?
First, take stock of your skills. Think about the knowledge and experience that you know you offer. Are you a specialist in a certain field? What areas do you pride yourself with expertise in? Make an inventory of the things that makes you special and thus increases your value.
2. Be Choosy with Your Clients
In every deal that you close, you want to make sure that it is you calling the shots and not the other way around. Every true sales professional has his or her client under control; not the client taking the reins. So learn to choose your clients instead of them choosing you and do so carefully.
How?
Make a list of the qualities or attributes that you are looking for in the people you want to have as clients and target your marketing strategies with them in mind. Foremost in your list should be people you have fun working with; it makes business even more challenging when you are dealing with people you do not like.
What if you meet people who wish to do business with you but just do not fit your criteria? Do not accept them. Do not lower your standards just to accommodate them. If you stick to your criteria, you tell everybody else that you do not just work with anyone who can bring you a paycheck which, in turn, increases your perceived value.
3. Set your Standards High
Make sure to keep your standards high. Lower it and you lower your perceived value. At times you will find yourself dealing with a buyer with no intent of buying from you, so learn to distinguish a serious buyer from one who is just fooling around.
Do not waste your time meeting up with clients who you cannot vouch for. Only set appointments with clients who you know are serious about your service and are also financially qualified to avail of your services. Move on to the next client if they do not satisfy your criteria.
4. Focus on Value, Not Price
When you choose to compete on price, you no longer bring to the table your unique set of expertise and knowledge. No offense intended to businesses that focus on setting a competitive price, but doing so Is a losing game.
When you bid for the lowest price and the rest of your competitors follow suit, you just end up lowering everyone’s profit margin and losing your value in the process.
Again, sell value not price.
5. Improve Your Perceived Value
The thing about many of us in the sales industry is that we often fail to let others see just how much hard work it is to accept clients. As a result, they tend to decrease our value. Here is how you keep that from happening to you.
Keep track of all the activities that you do on behalf of your clients. Let them know what it takes to make sure that you get the job done right. Once they fully realize what you are doing, they will understand why you price yourself the way you do.
6. Educate Your Clients
Educate your clients as to how much you make on an average deal. They are likely not aware of how you determine your prices and how little is actually left after you pay off your taxes and cover your expenses. When they finally do, it will be less likely they ask you to reduce price.
7. Provide a benefit that no one else does
It’s in your client’s interest to be aware of what working with them fully entails. When you inform your clients of what they can expect when dealing with you, you give them the opportunity to see the unique benefits that you have to offer. That way, you get to charge what you are worth.
8. Turn away price shoppers
Research shows that some 15-18% of buyers make price their primary deciding factor for making a purchase. That clearly shows that majority of your clients appreciate you for what value you can bring them. They are willing to pay for the benefit they perceive you can offer. So do not make the mistake of cutting back on your price! Work on increasing your value instead.
Follow the eight ways listed above to maximize your value and shift your clients’ focus from your price to the benefits you offer. Be a real sales professional and earn what you deserve.
To listen to an explanation of these 8 tips visit the Monday Sales Coach Episode by CLICKING HERE
